How Much Does a Kitchen Renovation Cost in 2026? Full Breakdown

Itemized price list for 2026

Prices collected from current tradesmen's price lists and renovation platforms in Serbia in 2026. Belgrade and Novi Sad typically sit at the top of each range, smaller cities at the bottom:

For detailed furniture prices by class — from budget particle board to lacquered MDF — see our complete custom kitchen guide. Here we cover everything else: the works around the kitchen that make up 30–50% of the total bill, and that almost nobody budgets for at the start.

The order of works: who comes first, who comes last

The wrong order is the most expensive mistake in any renovation — because you pay for it twice. Tiles that later get drilled through for a missing socket. A freshly painted wall splattered with tile adhesive. This is the order professional crews use:

1. Plan and measurements — before a single tradesman arrives, create a kitchen layout with exact positions for the sink, hob, fridge, and every socket. All the works follow that plan.
2. Order the kitchen — a custom kitchen takes 3–6 weeks to manufacture. Order it only when the works start, and the crew will finish while you spend a month staring at bare walls, cooking on a balcony.
3. Demolition — the old kitchen, any tiles being replaced, the old floor if needed.
4. Rough works: electrics and plumbing — wall-channeling, new installations, relocations. Everything that goes inside a wall happens now, while the walls are open.
5. Walls and floor — skim coating, laying tile or flooring. The splashback tiling between worktop and wall cabinets follows the kitchen's exact measurements from the plan.
6. Painting — the last "wet" job, once all the dusty work is done.
7. Kitchen installation — cabinets, worktop, sink, water hookup.
8. Finishing — appliance installation, tap, silicone sealing, trims, and a check of everything that opens and everything that flows.

“The most common call we get isn't about kitchens — it's about sockets: "The crew is gone, the kitchen has arrived — and the dishwasher socket doesn't exist." Drilling through brand-new tiles afterward costs more than all six sockets would have cost done on time. Plan before tradesmen, every time.”

Where you must not save (and where you freely can)

A budget isn't built by making everything mid-range — it's built by distributing money smartly. The rule: whatever gets sealed inside a wall, and whatever you touch fifty times a day, must be good. Whatever is visible but doesn't wear — that's where the savings live.

Don't save on these:

• Electrics and plumbing — they get sealed into the wall under the tiles. Fixing them after the renovation means breaking everything open. A proven tradesman and quality materials, no debate.
• Hinges and drawer hardware — the difference between a kitchen that works for 15 years and one whose drawers sag in three. Blum or Hettich hinges cost €2–4 more per piece.
• The worktop — the most used surface in the home. Cheap laminate next to the sink swells within two years.
• The zones behind the hob and sink — quality tile or glass, because they get scrubbed daily.

Save here without consequences:

• Tiles — domestic ceramics at €8–15/m² look excellent today; the difference versus €30 Italian tile shows in your wallet, not on the wall.
• The cabinet carcass — standard melamine particle board is the European norm; there's no need for pricier material in parts nobody sees.
• Appliances — mid-range models from known brands do the same job as premium ones, minus the Wi-Fi features nobody uses.
• The layout — the biggest saving of all: if the sink and hob stay where they are, you skip utility relocation entirely (€300–800).

Renovating a kitchen under €1,500: what's realistic

If the kitchen works but looks tired, you don't have to replace it — you replace what's seen and touched. In this order, by effect per euro:

1. New handles (€30–80) — an hour of work, and the kitchen instantly looks a decade younger.
2. Painting the fronts (€100–250 in materials) — special paints exist that bond to foil and MDF; matte green or graphite over old oak-look fronts is the biggest transformation per euro spent.
3. A new worktop (€150–400) — swapped in a day, and it carries half the kitchen's visual impression.
4. A new tap (€50–150) — tall, with a pull-out spray; you feel the difference every single day.
5. LED strip under the wall cabinets (€30–60) — the cheapest item with the biggest "wow" effect after dark.
6. A new splashback (€80–250) — self-adhesive panels or glass over the old tiles, no demolition needed.

Frequently asked questions

How long does a kitchen renovation take?

The works themselves take 2–3 weeks for a standard renovation, 4–6 for a full gut job. But the total process is longer: manufacturing a custom kitchen takes 3–6 weeks, so the realistic span from decision to first cup of coffee is 6–10 weeks. The key is ordering the kitchen before the works start, not after.

How much does renovating a 10 m² kitchen cost?

A standard renovation: €3,000–6,000 (kitchen €1,800–2,800, works €800–1,500, appliances €1,000–2,500). A refresh without replacing cabinets: €500–1,500. A full gut renovation with new utilities: from €7,000 up.

What comes first — tiles or the kitchen?

The floor goes first, and all of it — under the cabinets too, for stability and in case of leaks. The splashback tiling between the worktop and wall cabinets is done after the kitchen's measurements are locked in, following the plan — so grout lines and edges land exactly on the cabinet lines. That's why a 3D plan with exact heights is needed before the tiler, not after.

Do I need a permit to renovate a kitchen?

For replacing the kitchen, tiles, floor, and utilities within the existing footprint — no. A permit (and a structural engineer) is mandatory if you're removing or cutting into a load-bearing wall, for example to open the kitchen toward the living room. Gas work may only be done by a certified technician, with certification paperwork.

How much does moving the sink cost?

Moving the water supply and drain up to 2 meters costs about €180, plus wall-channeling, wall repair, and tiling — realistically €300–500 total. Beyond 2 meters the price climbs, because the drain has to keep its gradient. If the current sink position works at all, keep it — it's the easiest few hundred euros saved in the whole project.

Plan first, tradesmen second

Every expensive mistake in this article — the socket that doesn't exist, the tiles drilled through afterward, the kitchen arriving a month late — has the same root cause: the works started before the plan. The order that works is the reverse: first a kitchen layout with exact measurements and utility positions, then the kitchen ordered, and only then the first drill. You can build that layout for free, in a browser, in about fifteen minutes — and hand the same plan to both the workshop and the tradesmen, so everyone works from the same numbers.