Where do you live? South Louisiana

Avg household income in my parish 46k

Avg cost of single family home 98k but range from 20k - 500k

Common kitchen countertop material Laminate and granite

Do most DIY or hire out? Most younger generations hire out, older go DIY

Kitchen $ - (new build) $4400 quartz, $6500 alder cabinets, $3500 appliances, approx $1500 sink, faucet, bs, lights, vinyl floor, all DIY, no labor costs.

FYI...some of this information can be found at:

http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/index.html

(Looking it up for my county/area now!)

Note: Some #s listed at the QuickFacts and other sites are "Median", not average. Debrak is looking for average. (Median is the "middle number" in a list - the mid-point; not the average.)

Oh post whatever you want, average, median, best guess! Thanks buehl for the link.

Where do you live? DC/Baltimore metro area (it won't be long b/f it's all one big city!)

Median household income in your county? $110,000 ($140,000 in my area)

Average cost of a single family home in your zip code? $650,000 my zip code. County ranges from $250,000 to $1,100,000. We're in the middle!

Common kitchen countertop material. Granite and Quartz

DIY - Do most DIY or hire out? (Edited b/c I answered it wrong! LOL!) We hired most out. It's a mix in general. Most people of I've talked to hired out but did some DIY (like us). The larger the project, the more hiring out seems to be popular!

We both work full-time jobs and with family activities as well, it was best to hire out. We DIY'd the ceiling painting and the base coats on the new drywall. We also DIY'd the DR floor (engineered hardwood - we DIY'd the Library with 3/4" hardwood a couple of years later and it looks much better than the engineered!)

Kitchen $ - If you remodeled your kitchen what did you spend, materials vs labor? Around $100K total in 2007/2008, but it included a lot more - I don't have a Kitchen-only breakdown nor do I have a labor vs materials breakdown (I checked my records and it's all spread out, I'd have to spend an hour or two to figure it out). [We gutted the Kitchen (to the studs - walls & ceiling), removed a wall and added a wall, moved HVAC, added recessed lights/under-cabinet lights/inside cabinet lights (glass cabs), added Mocketts(TM) & angled Plugmold(TM), added new switches & added new circuits (for double oven & MW), doubled the # of cabinets, upgraded appliances (mid-level, not Pro), used a more expensive granite for our counters in Kitchen & PR, built a pantry, replaced a bay window (from 22" off the floor to 36" off the floor), replaced the flooring in the Kitchen/Foyer/PR/DR, replaced the DR ceiling & lights, completely redid the PR (fixtures, etc.), replaced all the water lines in the house & redid the plumbing hub, moved an upstairs shower drain (to be able to vent outside), replaced the hot water heater, and painted the Kitchen/DR/Foyer/FR/PR - AND we did it during the height of the housing market around here, so remodeling prices reflected that!]

Where do you live?
Oakland, CA

Avg household income
in my zipcode:

Average Household Income $98,527

Average Household Net Worth $869,368

Avg cost of single
family home: $389,950. Ours is worth around $60K more due to full-house
updating including newly installed solar roof panels.

Common kitchen
countertop material: Tile (old) or granite (new)

Do most DIY or hire
out? Most younger generations go DIY, older hire out

Kitchen $: Wrapped
into total house remodel 1989: Estimated $17K, complete rebuild. Updates: $8K in 2003 (flooring
& solid-surface countertops, new sink), another $7K updated appliances from
2003-2008

This is tough because Seattle where I live is growing very fast (though it looks like the case where some of you are as well). I live in a neighborhood of small single family homes that were all constructed in the early 1940s to house Boeing workers. We call them warboxes. The neighborhood has always been a decent working class kind of place but more people are getting priced out further into the exurbs every day.

I don't think I have ever seen a listing close in to my neighborhood with stone slab counters. Mostly laminate or tile with the odd 12" granite tiles or such. For appliances, if there are entry level stainless those are highlighted as a big selling point (same with the granite tile counters). Yet I feel it is only a matter of time before engineers buy the houses and enlarge them and put in marble or something.

Where do you live? NE Ohio.

Average household income in your county? $48,000

Average for sale cost of a single family home in your zipcode? $114,000, but ranges from $10,000 to $1 million+.

Common kitchen countertop material. Laminate. Granite in new builds and remodels.

DIY - Do most DIY or hire out? Depends on income level.

Kitchen $ - If you remodeled your kitchen what did you spent, materials vs labor? $5,000 last remodel - Corian countertops, lighting, barstools, etc., we laid the vinyl floor. $15,000 seems to be high average here, $50,000 is very high. One of my doctors went to $100,000 for his kitchen, which is astronomical for our area. He had a Thermador induction cooktop and a Wolf gas range, 2 Sub-zeros, and everything else was high-end.

Where do you live? Southern California, 35 miles north of downtown LA (1.5 to 2 hour commute in rush hour traffic). I am about halfway between Los Angeles and Santa Barbara.

Median household income in your county? $119,000, 48.0 % adults over 25 have a bachelor's degree, 18.6% have a graduate degree.

Average for sale cost of a single family home in your zipcode? $550K in the county. $770K for the city I live in, with a range of about 400K to 8 million+. My neighborhood average is 800K for very average builder grade homes built in the mid 90s. We've been in our home 18 years, and bought when it was affordable.

Common kitchen countertop material. Almost all homes originally had tile, with the exception of multi-million$ estates built in the past 15 years, which have granite. Many average homes have been updated with granite countertops, but I still see quite a few houses with the original oak cabinets and white tile counters.

DIY - Do most DIY or hire out? Very little DIY, and only in the lower end of the income/housing spectrum, which would include more blue collar workers. Most families here have 2 professional parents commuting and working long hours, so work is generally hired out for everything!

Kitchen $ - If you remodeled your kitchen what did you spent, materials vs labor? I remodeled my kitchen 12 years ago, but it was part of a larger reno that included our powder room, wood floors throughout, new windows and patio door, baseboards, interior doors and master bath. We spent more than $150K for everything, however the cabinet finish (California) has not held up, so we are redoing the kitchen. For cabinets alone, the quotes I got ranged from 60K to 175K. Labor costs are astronomical as well. I wrestled with just having the cabinets painted and getting new counters, or refacing the cabinets, but we don't plan on moving, so we are doing the whole thing again. Most people in my neighborhood have just put in granite counters and ss appliances. A few have replaced or painted cabinets, but most kitchen upgrades are minimal.

Where do you live? I live in the Texas panhandle.

Median household income in my county? 52,420

Average for sale cost of home? 134,000

Common countertop material? Granite in custom, remodeled, higher end homes, laminate everywhere else. Never even heard of quartz, quartzite until GW. Have still never seen or heard of marble in a home.

DIY? I only know a few who have done a kitchen remodel and most were primarily DIY with a few things hired out. I'm certain there are those who have completely hired out, but they aren't in my social circle.

Kitchen remodel $$$? I spent roughly 35,000 on not only putting a new addition onto my house but also altering and updating all the main rooms. The only things we hired out were the slab, the cabinets (which I finished myself) and the granite counters.

Wow, melis918, may I ask what is running your cabinet quotes in that range?

Where do you live? I live in the Central NJ Shore area. My county is about the southernmost in NJ for people who commute daily to Manhattan.

Average household income in your county? $73,990

Average for sale cost of a single family home in your zipcode? $291,000. Our home is probably valued below this.

Common kitchen countertop material. I generally see lower cost granite - verde butterfly, etc.

DIY - Do most DIY or hire out? Not sure. Maybe split about 50/50, but then I grew up with a handy father, have a handy husband, and live on a street full of contractors. Personally, we are all DIY except for rough plumbing work.

Kitchen $ - If you remodeled your kitchen what did you spent, materials vs labor? We are in the middle of the kitchen remodel. IKEA cabinets, all DIY. We will probably end up spending about $10,000. We did already have our appliances, but since we shopped used and scratch and dent, if you include those, it only adds about $2300 to the total. We did pay about $2000 for the rough plumbing and new windows a few years ago, too.

Melis918 those quotes seem high. You must be shopping "over the hill". If you need help I'm in the neighborhood. I'm doing one above Sunset and one in Palisades right now both for half of what they got quoted. Same look . Same quality.

Back to the survey…

Where do you live? Los Angeles. Hillside neighborhood.

Income? 100K plus except for those who bought years ago. Anyone getting into this market today is going to pay 1 mil+. It's not so much a great house it's the area and being up in the hills with a view.

Counter top material? Some kind of stone. Granite, marble.

DIY? Yes, some take out their own trash. But the gardeners take it to the curb.

Kitchen$? There are cheap people in every income bracket. And some that will splurge. The original houses have crappy kitchens. The new Mcmansions have shinny marble kitchens. If I had to guess I would say at least 50K and up. Two I'm working on now both multi-million dollar houses but different scenarios. One very contemporary flip house probably a little under 50k including appliances and countertops the other to be lived in for 5-7 years traditional probably 150k-200k all in. When property values increase the way they have in major cities or at least out here in LA you have people who bought in years ago who really couldn't afford to live there today so they are not going to have the disposable income to do a high end remodel. On the other hand someone who can buy in at todays prices are probably not just getting by so they are most likely to redo the house and most importantly the kitchen to their liking.

Where do you live? San Francisco Bay Area.

Average household income in your county? $88,202

Average for sale cost of a single family home in your zipcode? It is insane here. The worst homes in town -- 850-1000 sq. ft. homes on the busiest street in town (it's basically a freeway entrance) -- are going for over $800,000. We have a one-bedroom condo that my husband purchased before we were married at the lowest point of the market.

Common kitchen countertop material. Stone/quartz. Older/cheaper places might still have laminate or solid surface or whatever, but nobody puts anything other than stone/quartz in new these days.

DIY - Do most DIY or hire out? We are the only people I know who do DIY.

Kitchen $ - If you remodeled your kitchen what did you spent, materials vs labor?
We updated all our plumbing and electrical and HVAC and drywall/mudding and flooring at the same time everywhere in the condo, so I am not sure how to pull just the kitchen out of that.

However, for the kitchen alone:

Base cabinets: $2500 for Ikea cabinets, DIY installation

Upper cabinets: $5000 for custom white painted uppers and pantry, included professional installation

Counter (made from marble remnants): $3600, included professional installation

Sink: $500, installed by counter guys

Faucet: $300, DIY installation

Ceiling lights: $210, DIY installation

Appliances (not purchased yet): roughly $5,000, DIY installation

So roughly $17,000 for materials and some labor just in the kitchen.

Where do you live? DC inner suburb

Average household income in your county? $113K, 77% have a BA, 48%, a graduate or professional degree

Average for sale cost of a single family home in your zipcode? Median sales price is $832,250, which gets you a 3-4 BR, 1-2BA house that's not renovated. 1 BR condos start at about 200K if they are in bad shape (right now, there are 3 on the market, but they are not really in the zip code proper). Cheapest 3 BR house is 750K (1200 sqft). Just a lot will be 600K.

Common kitchen countertop material. Stone/quartz.
Older places might still have laminate or solid surface, but nobody puts anything other than stone/quartz in new these
days. (Copied verbatim from above poster.) Marble is 'in' as are all-white Shaker kitchens although new condos may have glossy and/or espresso cabinets.

DIY - Do most DIY or hire out? Mostly hired out because people work like crazy and don't have time.
Kitchen $ - Haven't bitten the bullet yet, but I can assure you that there's no way I'll spend the "typical" 60-70K for a relatively small kitchen in my neighborhood.
However, see more details on remodeling a low-, medium- or high end kitchen in DC

Where? southern New
Mexico

Median household income in my city: $40,040. 31% have a BA. 16% have a graduate or professional degree.

Median value of owner-occupied housing in my city is $151,700.

Average listing price in my zip code is $139,150. It's an older neighborhood, and our house is one of
the larger older homes, so we're already valued higher than average for the
neighborhood (ruh roh!)

The neighborhood attaches to a golf course built in 1930. In the 60’s this place was the cat’s meow! A
few years after we bought our house, the golf course went up for sale, and
eventually closed. (ruh roh!) Now we’re attached to 100 acres of vandalized
buildings and dead trees. But there's hope; construction of a new
hospital/medical park starts soon on the land.

Our state still isn’t experiencing a recovery in real estate
values. Statewide, home values lost more ground in 2014 (come on, economy!)

Common kitchen countertop material:

- older homes: laminate or tile, some remodeled to granite, granite
tiles or solid surface

- new homes (builder grade low price) laminate, 12" ceramic tile,
some solid surface

- new homes (custom or high price) granite, and a surprising
amount of tile

I’m still waiting to see my first marble or soapstone
counters in the annual Builders Parade of Homes, or anywhere. Wood counters are
rare too. Recently I asked about induction ranges at a local appliance store (a
national chain) and the salesman had never heard of induction.

Do most in your area DIY, or hire out? – It seems like this
should be a strong DIY area, due to low income levels, but we don’t see it. Maybe the older folks don’t want to tackle it, the younger
folks don’t know how, and it’s only a few in the middle who have the skill sets
and interest? Most everyone we know hires work done, except for a few friends
who flip houses for a living. (Currently flipping is more of a slow roll.)

Kitchen $ – Still watching values, and waiting to pull the trigger. Budget
under $20,000, but that will include changes to walls affecting two adjacent rooms as well. Our biggest expense will be labor, for changes to walls/ceiling,
and electrical upgrades. We’ll keep cabinets, most appliances, and flooring. Counters
will probably be laminate or DIY wood, so material costs won’t be high.

I'll do this twice

Where do you live? San Francisco

Average household income in your county? $110K

Median for sale cost of a single family home in your zipcode? For a SFH, $1.3M. Yes, and ouch. Total median including condos is $838K

Common kitchen countertop material. Granite, quartz, and in some new renos, marble, quartzite, stainless and soapstone.
DIY - Do most DIY or hire out? Most hire out or don't bother at all. It's tough to find contractors, especially for smaller jobs.

Kitchen $ We've been focusing on smaller upgrades and planning the remodel of the kitchen and baths, although the 2014 swap out of the appliances may suffice for now. The remodel may be shelved if we buy a new property instead.

Where do you live? Sacramento

Average household income in your county? $72K

Median for sale cost of a single family home in your zipcode? $526K ($255K for the county)

Common kitchen countertop material. Granite, quartz, tile and in some new renos, marble.
DIY - Do most DIY or hire out? Most hire out in the neighborhood

Kitchen $ Hired out in 2013, 68K, 26% on labor. Had we gone with a full service firm, not shopped around and not made certain choices to reign in costs, it would have topped $125K.