Kitchen remodel ROI

The pattern is consistent year after year and it is the single most useful thing to know before you spend: the cheap kitchen remodel pays for itself and the expensive one does not. A minor mid-range remodel — new doors and drawer fronts, new counters, new appliances, same footprint — recouped about 113% of its cost in the 2025 Cost vs. Value report, up from 96.1% the year before. A major mid-range remodel returned about 50%, per NerdWallet's summary of the same data.

That does not mean a major remodel is a mistake. It means you should be honest about which purchase you are making. If you are remodeling to live in the kitchen for ten years, buy what you want. If you are remodeling to sell within a year or two, the data says do less, not more.

Every one of these numbers is a national average. Cost vs. Value ROI moves substantially by metro area, and Fixr notes it varies with regional housing trends, material costs, and local buyer preferences. A quartz-and-shaker kitchen that reads as a premium upgrade in one market reads as the baseline in another. Your local agent's read on what buyers in your zip code expect is worth more than any national percentage.

One 2025-specific factor worth knowing: Fixr reports upscale kitchen ROI fell about 2.0% that year, attributed in part to new tariffs on imported kitchen cabinets. Material cost shocks raise the cost side of the ratio faster than they raise resale value, which is why the high end takes the hit first.

How to choose

Remodeling to sell? Do the minor version

Refacing or replacing doors, new counters, new appliances, fresh paint. That is the scope that historically returns at or above cost.

Remodeling to live? Ignore ROI

ROI only converts to money on the day you sell. If that day is a decade out, buy the kitchen you will actually use and stop optimizing a number you will never collect.

Do not out-build your street

A $150,000 kitchen in a neighborhood of $400,000 houses does not return. Look at what recently sold nearby actually has, and match it or beat it slightly.

Fix the unsexy stuff first

Buyers discount visible defects harder than they reward upgrades. Failing floors, water damage, and a dead dishwasher cost you more at resale than a missing wine fridge.

Ask a local agent before you finalize scope

National ROI averages are a starting point. Fifteen minutes with someone who lists houses on your street will tell you what your specific buyers will and will not pay for.