A kitchen budget is not one number. It is a stack of decisions — cabinetry, structure, mechanicals, finishes — and the order you make them in determines what the project costs and how long it takes. This is a breakdown of where the money actually goes on a kitchen remodel in Cumming and the rest of Forsyth County, and what the local approval process adds to the schedule.
All dollar figures below are directional 2026 planning ranges published in Kade Homes & Renovations' North Atlanta Custom Build Index. They are planning tools, not quotes. Actual pricing comes from an estimate on your specific home.
For a real kitchen renovation in this market — new cabinetry, countertops, appliances, lighting and flooring, not a cosmetic refresh — the Index publishes a directional range of $85,000 to $200,000+.
That range is wide because scope varies enormously:
A useful way to think in tiers: a pull-and-replace that keeps the footprint sits at the low end, directionally $85k–$125k; a renovation that moves walls runs $125k–$175k; and expansion-grade work that grows the footprint reaches $175k–$200k+. Those tiers are published on Kade's Alpharetta kitchen renovation page and hold across North Atlanta.
If you have seen much lower numbers quoted for a "full kitchen," it usually means something is being excluded — structural work, permitting, mechanicals, or the finish level you actually want. Ask what is not in the number.
Cabinetry typically absorbs 30–40% of a kitchen budget. Nothing else comes close, and nothing else deserves more of your decision-making time. Stock cabinets are the cheapest and the most limited. Semi-custom is the balance point for most homes. Full custom lets you build to exact dimensions, which matters most in older or irregular kitchens where nothing is quite standard.
Cabinetry is also the schedule driver. Custom and semi-custom cabinetry is running 8–12 week lead times, and no other part of the finish schedule can outrun it. Selections locked during design means the lead time runs alongside permitting instead of after it. (Kade's sister company, Kade Cabinet Co., keeps a cabinet showroom on Brannon Road in Cumming, which shortens the selection stage for a lot of homeowners.)
Quartz is consistent and low-maintenance. Granite has natural variation and wants periodic sealing. Natural stone with dramatic veining is a different budget entirely. Two slabs can look nearly identical on a mood board and differ substantially by the time they are templated, fabricated and installed.
Appliance packages span an enormous range, and panel-ready refrigeration and dishwashers — increasingly popular in open-concept conversions — pull cabinetry cost up along with them. Mid-range appliances with strong warranties are where most of the practical value sits.
Kitchen flooring takes water, traffic and dropped cookware. Tile, luxury vinyl and hardwood each carry different installed costs and different maintenance realities. If you are continuing existing hardwood into the kitchen, factor in matching, weaving and refinishing the adjacent rooms.
Carpentry, plumbing, electrical, tile setting and finish work are where craftsmanship shows up. Design and engineering are a smaller share of the budget and disproportionately determine whether the finished room works. If a wall is coming out, an engineered beam is not optional and should never be priced as cosmetic work.
Keep the plumbing where it is, if the layout allows. Moving a sink or a gas line means opening floors and re-routing mechanicals. It is a real cost, and it is the most common place a "simple" remodel stops being simple.
Function before finish. A well-planned layout with real storage beats a beautiful room that works badly. Design is the cheapest thing in the project to change and the most expensive thing to get wrong.
Decide everything before demo. Projects that run long are almost always projects where selections dragged or the cabinet order went in late.
This is the part national cost articles leave out, and it is local.
In Forsyth County, the Department of Building and Licensing, Permitting Division issues all building permits, from its office at 2435 Freedom Parkway, Suite 1100 in Cumming. Applications go through the county's online Customer Self-Service portal or in person. The county publishes a dedicated Residential Renovations permit type for interior renovation of an existing house.
The county's own "Do I Need a Permit?" guide is direct about kitchens:
So a cabinet-and-countertop refresh may sit outside the permit process entirely, while the same kitchen with a relocated sink and two new circuits does not. Other verified specifics worth planning around: building permits expire 12 months from the date of issuance; failed inspections carry a $25 trade violation fee that increases in $25 increments for each subsequent failure of the same inspection type; and final inspections cannot be requested until outstanding fees are paid.
If your home is on septic, sequence early. Forsyth County Environmental Health states that if you plan to remodel a home served by a septic system, you must get its approval before you can obtain a building permit — and that applications or reviews may take twenty business days or more.
Directionally, the Index puts kitchen permitting at 2–4 weeks, design and planning at 4–8 weeks, and construction at 8–14 weeks. If your neighborhood has covenants, start architectural review in parallel with the permit application rather than after it; some boards meet monthly, and missing a submission window can cost you thirty days.
Older kitchens hide things. Wiring that was adequate for a 1990s kitchen may not comfortably carry induction, double ovens and dedicated appliance circuits. Supply lines, venting and framing are all easier to correct while walls are open than at any other point in the home's life — which is an argument for pricing the discovery honestly rather than hoping it does not happen.
Two rules apply here regardless of who does the work. If the home was built before 1978, Georgia runs its own lead Renovation, Repair and Painting program through Georgia EPD, and paid work disturbing painted surfaces must be performed by a Georgia-certified Renovator working for a certified Renovation Firm. And any project disturbing ten or more linear feet or ten or more square feet of asbestos-containing material requires notification to Georgia EPD, with a ten-working-day notice period before work begins.
Kade Homes & Renovations was founded in 2008 in Cumming by Dan Cipriani and works throughout Forsyth County and North Atlanta. Kitchen renovations are one of its listed services, and its published process runs from an initial consultation and budget proposal through estimate, construction and a one-year warranty with six-month and one-year follow-up lists.
If you are working out what your kitchen should cost before you talk to anyone, the North Atlanta Custom Build Index is the fuller picture. And when you want a number for your actual house rather than a range, a conversation is a reasonable next step.