2026 local estimate · updated 2026-07-22
Cost to remodel a kitchen in Raleigh, NC
A typical kitchen remodel in the Raleigh-Cary, NC area runs $64,708, with most projects landing between $9,244 and $120,172 — about 8% below the national average.
Low
$9,244
Basic materials, simple job
Typical
$64,708
What most people pay
High
$120,172
Premium materials or complex job
What's priced: Mid-range remodel of a typical kitchen — new cabinets, countertops, sink and fixtures — without moving walls or relocating plumbing. Excludes permits, structural repairs found mid-job, and premium upgrades.
Why Raleigh is cheaper than average
Almost entirely labor. Carpenters in the Raleigh-Cary, NC area earn about 22% less than the national mean for the same occupation, per Bureau of Labor Statistics wage data. Because kitchen remodel is roughly 35% labor, that difference flows straight into the total.
Cabinets and countertops are the largest line items in a kitchen remodel and are bought rather than built on site, so materials carry most of the cost. Labor share rises on gut renovations that move plumbing or electrical, and falls on cabinet-and-counter refreshes.
Get a number for your own job
The figures above are for a standard project. Your size, materials, and access will move them. Run your own specification through the calculator, then apply the ×0.784 local labor factor to the labor portion.
Open the kitchen remodel calculator →Permits for a kitchen remodel in Raleigh
Issuing authority: City of Raleigh Planning and Development (Building and Safety)
The City of Raleigh Planning and Development (Building and Safety) office classifies a remodel that swaps in new cabinets, countertops, fixtures and a sink for existing ones — without reconfiguring the layout or extending any system — as a Level 1 Alteration, and minimum permit fees per trade apply to that category. A remodel that instead reconfigures space, adds or removes a door or window, or extends a system is a Level 2 Alteration, listed at 50.00 percent of the calculated building permit fee, and the alterations and repairs plan review fee is listed at 50.00% and 55.00% of the calculated building permit in the schedule's two columns.
Any fee the office doesn't list individually falls back to its minimum permit fee, assessed per trade, listed at $123.00 and $124.00. Ask your contractor which level they're filing your remodel under, since that determines which of these fees applies.
Fees
- “Level 2 Alterations include the reconfiguration of space, the addition or elimination of any door or window, the reconfiguration or extension of any system, or the installation of any additional equipment.” — City of Raleigh Planning and Development, Development Fee Guide - July 1, 2026 to June 30, 2027 (FY27) (retrieved 2026-09-23)
- “Level 2 Alteration 50.00% 50.00% % Of Calculated Building Permit ... Fee is calculated by (Building Permit Fee x rate %)” — City of Raleigh Planning and Development, Development Fee Guide - July 1, 2026 to June 30, 2027 (FY27) (retrieved 2026-09-23)
- “Alterations and Repairs Plan Review Fee Alteration and Repairs Plans Review Fee 50.00% 55.00% % Of Calculated Building Permit” — City of Raleigh Planning and Development, Development Fee Guide - July 1, 2026 to June 30, 2027 (FY27) (retrieved 2026-09-23)
- “Level 1 Alterations include the removal and replacement of the covering of existing materials, elements, equipment, or fixtures using new materials, elements, equipment, or fixtures that serve the same purpose. Minimum Permit fees per trade do apply.” — City of Raleigh Planning and Development, Development Fee Guide - July 1, 2026 to June 30, 2027 (FY27) (retrieved 2026-09-23)
- “New Residential Building Permit New Residential Construction Building Permit Fee 0.35% 0.38% % Of Calculated Construction Value” — City of Raleigh Planning and Development, Development Fee Guide - July 1, 2026 to June 30, 2027 (FY27) (retrieved 2026-09-23)
- “Any fee not specifically listed as an individual fee will be charged at the minimum permit fee. This also applies to a minimum building plan review fee. Which are assessed as per trade per review. ... $123.00 $124.00 Per Trade” — City of Raleigh Planning and Development, Development Fee Guide - July 1, 2026 to June 30, 2027 (FY27) (retrieved 2026-09-23)
Quoted verbatim; not recalculated.
Nearby metros
- Kitchen remodel in Winston, NC — typically $64,586
- Kitchen remodel in Greensboro, NC — typically $64,316
- Kitchen remodel in Durham, NC — typically $65,149
Compare kitchen remodel cost across every US metro we cover — the same labor-adjusted model as this page, ranked from most to least expensive, if you want the national picture rather than Raleigh alone.
How we calculate this
We take a national installed-cost range, split it into labor and materials, and scale only the labor half by this metro's actual wage data. That is the whole model — no black box, and reproducible from the figures on this page.
- National range: $10,000–$130,000, from our kitchen remodel cost data (last verified 2026-07-13).
- Labor share: 35%. An industry rule of thumb, not a measured value — the softest assumption here, which is why we state it rather than bury it.
- Metro labor factor: ×0.784, being the mean annual wage for Carpenters in Raleigh-Cary, NC divided by the national mean for the same occupation.
- Materials: held at the national level. We vary labor by metro and hold materials at the national level. That is deliberate: shingles, copper, HVAC equipment, and cabinets are nationally traded and priced, and what actually varies locally is freight and sales tax — both small next to the labor spread. We have no metro-level materials index we can defend, so rather than invent one, we vary only what we can source.
Wage source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics — Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS), metropolitan area estimates, May 2025. A U.S. Government work, in the public domain and free to reuse. Where BLS suppresses wage data for a metro, we publish no page for it rather than fill the gap with an estimate.
Educational estimate only. A real quote for your specific property beats any model, including ours — get at least three.
Related
Frequently asked questions
How much does it cost to remodel a kitchen in Raleigh, NC?+
A typical project in the Raleigh-Cary, NC area runs about $64,708, with most falling between $9,244 and $120,172. Of the typical figure, roughly $19,208 is labor and $45,500 is materials. That puts Raleigh about 8% below the national typical cost of $70,000.
Why is it cheaper to remodel a kitchen in Raleigh, NC than the national average?+
Almost entirely labor. Carpenters in the Raleigh-Cary, NC area earn about 22% less than the national average for the same occupation, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics wage data. Because kitchen remodel is roughly 35% labor, that wage difference flows through to the total. Materials are priced nationally and barely move between metros.
What's included in these Raleigh, NC estimates?+
Installed cost — materials plus labor for a standard project of this type. It does not include permits, which vary by municipality, structural repairs discovered mid-job, or premium upgrades. The range reflects genuine variation in scope and material grade, not uncertainty about the metro. Always get at least three local quotes before budgeting; a real quote for your specific property will beat any estimate, including ours.
How is this different from a national average with the city name swapped in?+
We split the national installed cost into labor and materials, then scale only the labor half using the actual mean wage for Carpenters in this specific metro area, published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Materials stay at the national level because we have no defensible metro-level materials index — shingles and HVAC equipment are nationally traded, and only freight and sales tax really vary. Where BLS suppresses wage data for a metro, we do not publish a page for it at all rather than fill the gap with a guess.