Two questions come up at almost every kitchen consult: "what will this cost" and "will I get it back when I sell." The honest answer to the second one is most of it, not all of it, and it depends more on where you start than on what you spend.

The national numbers, and the local reality

Remodeling's annual cost-vs-value reports put a minor kitchen remodel (new fronts, hardware, counters, one appliance, paint) at roughly 70–85% recouped and a major remodel (new layout, cabinets, counters, appliances, flooring) at 45–65%. Those are averages across the Northeast. In the Monadnock Region a few things shift the math:

• A dated kitchen caps your sale price more than a great one raises it. Buyers here walk from a 1980s kitchen or knock tens of thousands off. Fixing that is the highest-return work you can do.
• Buyers expect function, not luxury. A clean, well-laid-out kitchen with solid-surface counters and soft-close cabinets shows as well as a $120k kitchen to most buyers in this market.
• The house sets a ceiling. A $90k kitchen in a $350k house doesn't come back. A $40k kitchen in the same house largely does.

Where the return is best

• Cabinets in good shape → refacing or repaint + new counters and hardware. A few thousand to low five figures, and it reads as a new kitchen.
• Layout that actually works — moving the fridge out of a corner, adding an island with seating, opening a sightline to the living space. Buyers feel this even if they can't name it.
• Lighting. Under-cabinet plus a proper ceiling plan is a small line item that changes how the whole room shows.
• Quartz or granite counters over laminate — near-universal buyer expectation now in this price band.

Where you over-improve

Top-tier appliance packages, exotic stone, fully custom cabinetry, and a second island in a modest house are choices you make for yourself, not for resale. That's completely fine — just budget them knowing you're unlikely to see them again at closing. If you're remodeling to sell within two years, tell us at the consult and we'll steer the spec toward payback.

If you're staying

Most of our clients aren't selling soon — they're fixing a kitchen they use three times a day for the next fifteen years. Resale value is a floor under that decision, not the point of it. Use the cabinet calculator and project budget tool to get a range, then bring your real kitchen to a consult.