Kitchen budget split: cabinets 29%, install 17%, appliances 14%

Cabinets eat 29% of a kitchen budget.

The National Kitchen & Bath Association's widely used split: cabinets and hardware 29%, installation 17%, appliances and ventilation 14%, countertops 10%, flooring 7%, lighting 5%, walls and ceilings 5%, doors and windows 4%, faucets and plumbing 4%, design fee 4%, other 1%. Those top three lines are 60% of the money, so that's where real savings live. On $40,000 that's $11,600 for cabinets alone. It's a planning guideline, not a price list, and your contingency of 10–20% comes on top.