A homeowner who walks into a Mid-Michigan showroom this summer is usually carrying one of two budget numbers in their head, and neither one is quite right. The first is the HGTV number, a primary bathroom redone in a weekend on a credit card. The second is the worst-case viral number, six figures for a kitchen because someone on social media said theirs was that. The actual planning benchmark, just published in the Houzz Pro 2026 trends report, sits between those poles. The median planned spend on a U.S. kitchen remodel in 2026 is $24,000. The median planned spend on a primary bathroom remodel is $15,000, up from $13,000 a year ago. Roughly nine in ten homeowners who started planning a project in the last twelve months say they are moving forward with it. Those numbers are real and useful starting points. What they buy in Lansing, East Lansing, Okemos, or Holt depends on what your scope actually includes and how many of the big budget drivers you turn on.
What Did Houzz’s 2026 Survey Actually Find?
Houzz publishes an annual homeowner-side study that asks U.S. owners what they have planned, started, or finished in the last year. The 2026 edition, released earlier this month, surveys about 7,400 homeowners and reports planned and recently completed project spend by room. The headline finding is that the share of homeowners moving forward with their planned renovations is holding near nine in ten, even with mortgage rates well off their pandemic-era lows. The overall median planned spend across all project types is $15,000. Kitchens and primary bathrooms pull above that median, with kitchens at the top of the list at $24,000 and primary bathrooms rising to $15,000 from $13,000 the year before.
Two things are worth pulling out of those numbers before they shape a Mid-Michigan budget conversation. The first is that these are planned medians, not finished-project averages, and homeowners almost always plan low and finish higher once scope, materials, and surprises are added in. The second is that medians are not averages. Half of the surveyed kitchens land below $24,000 and half above, and the spread above is much wider than the spread below. A $24,000 kitchen and a $90,000 kitchen are both in the same dataset; they are just very different projects.
For a showroom-led firm working with Lansing-area owners, the survey lands at a useful moment. Search demand for cost-anchored remodeling queries is strong. Topic research run for this market shows 18,100 monthly U.S. searches for kitchen-renovation intent, 14,800 for kitchen remodel ideas, and 8,100 for bathroom renovation cost. Local cost queries in the Lansing metro, like "bathroom remodel lansing mi" and "kitchen remodel lansing mi," quietly run in the 90 to 140 monthly range. Houzz’s national medians do not answer the local cost question on their own, but they give us a calm starting point that homeowners can actually use without scrolling through 200 Pinterest before-and-afters.
What Does $24,000 Actually Buy in a Kitchen Remodel?
At the published $24,000 median, a 2026 kitchen project is almost always a partial remodel rather than a full gut. The kitchen footprint stays the same. The plumbing, gas, electrical rough-in, and structural walls do not move. The scope tends to live inside a defined set of swaps and refreshes that improve daily use without restructuring the room. That is the project a homeowner can finance comfortably, complete in a manageable window, and live in the rest of the time.
What a $24,000 Mid-Michigan kitchen scope usually includes
In practice, a budget at or near the national median in our market typically covers some combination of cabinet refacing or a mid-grade stock-to-semi-custom cabinet replacement, a single new countertop run in a value quartz or laminate, an entry-level sink and faucet swap, a tile or laminate floor refresh, and updated cabinet hardware and lighting. Appliance replacement, if it is in scope at all, is usually one or two pieces rather than a full suite. Cabinet refacing alone draws roughly 12,100 monthly U.S. searches, and that volume signals exactly how many homeowners are looking for the $24,000-shaped project: keep the carcass, change the face, brighten the room.
What a $24,000 kitchen does not usually buy is a fully reconfigured open-plan space with a new island, structural beam, full appliance package, and custom cabinetry. That project, which is what most homeowners actually picture when they say "kitchen remodel," tends to land at $50,000 to $90,000 or more once cabinetry, countertop, appliances, electrical, and finish work are added in. Houzz’s own data set includes those projects too. They just sit above the median, not at it. Being honest about that gap is the single most useful thing a designer-led kitchen remodeling conversation can do early in the planning stage.
Where Does the $15,000 Primary-Bath Median Land?
The $15,000 primary-bath median is the survey number that moved the most this year, climbing from $13,000 in the 2025 report. The driver of that move is straightforward: tile, plumbing fixtures, and shower glass all came in at higher 2025-into-2026 supplier pricing, and the shower itself remains the single most-renovated element in a bathroom project. National search volume mirrors that shift, with walk-in shower queries running at 8,100 monthly searches and bathroom renovation cost queries at the same 8,100 level. The primary bath is the room homeowners think about most often once a kitchen is squared away, and the published median has finally caught up to what a real, designer-led project costs.
What’s typically inside a $15,000 primary-bath project
At the $15,000 median, the project is again a structural-footprint refresh rather than a full reconfiguration. The toilet, vanity, and shower or tub stay in roughly the same locations. The work is concentrated in the shower or tub-to-shower conversion, a new vanity and vanity top, an updated toilet, refreshed tile in the wet zone, new lighting, and a coordinated set of plumbing fixtures. A budget at the median rarely covers moving plumbing walls, adding a second sink to a previously single-sink vanity, or installing a fully tiled wet room. Those choices push the project into the next budget band.
The shape of primary-bath remodeling work in the Lansing market right now tracks closely to that national median, with a meaningful number of homeowners spending in the $20,000 to $35,000 band once a curbless walk-in shower, a custom vanity, or a heated floor enters the conversation. Above $35,000, the project is usually moving walls or expanding the room into an adjacent closet, and the cost math changes again. Knowing which band a project sits in matters more than knowing the median, because the band tells you what is actually negotiable on selection day.
Which Choices Push a Mid-Michigan Project Above the Median?
Three categories of choices do almost all of the work of pushing a kitchen or bath project above the Houzz median. Layout changes are first, material tier is second, and scope creep through the selection process is third. Walking through each one before the showroom appointment is the cheapest way to keep a project anchored to a real number.
Cabinetry tier is the single biggest kitchen line item
Cabinetry routinely accounts for 30 to 40 percent of a finished kitchen budget. Stock cabinetry comes in fixed sizes and a narrow finish palette and sits at the lowest price point. Semi-custom cabinetry adds modifications to standard boxes, more door styles, and a wider finish range. Fully semi-custom or fully custom cabinetry built to the exact wall lengths, with paint-matched finishes and dovetailed drawers, sits at the top of the range. Moving from stock to semi-custom on a 12-linear-foot kitchen run is often a $4,000 to $8,000 jump on its own, and moving from semi-custom to fully custom is often another $6,000 to $15,000 on top of that. Demand for custom-cabinet research is strong nationally at 14,800 monthly searches, but it is the single decision that determines whether a kitchen lands at the median or above it.
Countertop material is the second swing factor
Countertop material can change a kitchen or primary-bath budget by several thousand dollars without changing the footprint of the room. Laminate sits at the bottom of the range. Value-tier quartz, granite remnants, and solid surface sit in the middle. Premium quartz, natural stone, and large-format porcelain slab sit at the top, and large waterfall islands or full-height backsplash runs push the slab count higher than most homeowners expect. The choice matters enough that it is usually worth walking the showroom slabs at the same appointment as the cabinet samples so the tradeoffs land in the same conversation rather than on two different days.
Layout changes and scope creep are the third
Moving a sink, relocating a range, removing a non-bearing wall, or adding a second bathroom sink each carry their own labor, permitting, and plumbing line items. None of them is wildly expensive on its own. A few of them stacked into the same project are. Scope creep on the selection side does similar damage in smaller increments: an upgraded faucet here, a heated floor there, an under-cabinet lighting addition, a slab backsplash instead of a tile one. Each upgrade is defensible. The cumulative bill is what surprises a homeowner who did not budget for it. The published median assumes very little of this. A real Mid-Michigan project tends to include some of it, and the right design conversation surfaces those choices early instead of one selection at a time.
How Should You Use the Houzz Medians at the Showroom?
The Houzz medians are most useful as a sanity check, not a quote. Walk into the first conversation with a range, not a number. A reasonable working bracket for a Mid-Michigan kitchen project is the published $24,000 median on the partial-refresh end and $60,000 to $90,000 on the full-replacement end, with the gap explained almost entirely by cabinetry tier, countertop material, appliance package, and any layout change. For a primary bath, the working bracket is the $15,000 median on the refresh end and $30,000 to $45,000 on the walk-in-shower-and-custom-vanity end. Anything outside those brackets needs a specific reason attached to it, and a good designer should be able to point at the reason on a drawing.
The faster route from a national median to a real Mid-Michigan number is to bring three things to the showroom: a photograph of the room as it stands today, a short list of the two or three things that frustrate you most about it, and the budget bracket you are working inside. With those in hand, the design and project process at the consultation stage becomes a conversation about choices rather than a guessing game about price.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the median cost of a kitchen remodel in 2026?
The Houzz Pro 2026 trends report puts the U.S. median planned spend for a 2026 kitchen remodel at $24,000. That figure represents planned spend, not finished spend, and it sits in the middle of a wide distribution. About half of surveyed kitchens fell below that number and half above. A partial-refresh project with cabinet refacing, a new countertop, an updated sink, and refreshed lighting typically lands near the median. A full footprint change, custom cabinetry, premium countertops, and a new appliance suite typically lands well above it.
How much should I budget for a primary-bathroom remodel?
Houzz puts the 2026 primary-bath median at $15,000, up from $13,000 in 2025. At the median, the work is usually a shower or tub-to-shower conversion, a new vanity and vanity top, an updated toilet, refreshed wet-zone tile, new lighting, and coordinated plumbing fixtures, all within the existing footprint. Adding a curbless walk-in shower, a custom vanity, double sinks where there was one, or heated floors typically moves the project into the $20,000 to $35,000 band. Moving plumbing walls or expanding the room moves it higher again.
Why are kitchen remodels more expensive than bathroom remodels?
Kitchens are larger rooms with more linear feet of cabinetry, more square feet of countertop, more appliances, more electrical, and more plumbing fixtures than a typical primary bath. Cabinetry alone usually represents 30 to 40 percent of a kitchen budget. A primary bath has one vanity, one shower or tub, one toilet, and a smaller tile area. The number of decisions and line items is simply higher in a kitchen, which is why the published medians sit $9,000 apart even when both rooms are renovated to a similar finish level.
What factors push a kitchen remodel above the $24,000 median?
Three factors do most of the work. Moving from stock to semi-custom or fully custom cabinetry can add $10,000 to $25,000 on its own, depending on linear footage. Premium countertop material, especially large waterfall islands or full-height backsplash slabs, adds several thousand more. Layout changes that move plumbing, relocate the range, or remove a wall add labor, permitting, and trade-coordination cost. A new full appliance suite on top of all that pushes the project firmly into the next budget band.
Is it cheaper to remodel a primary bathroom or a secondary bathroom?
Secondary bathrooms, especially powder rooms and guest baths, almost always cost less because they are smaller, have fewer fixtures, and rarely include a shower or tub change. Houzz reports a separate, lower median for secondary baths in the same survey. A primary bath carries the full set of decisions: vanity, shower, toilet, tile, lighting, and fixtures, plus the higher expectation around finishes and storage. Most homeowners who tackle both rooms in a single project find the primary bath spending two to three times what the secondary bath does.
How long does a typical kitchen or bath remodel take?
Design and selection generally take four to eight weeks before any construction starts. A partial kitchen refresh at the median can be installed in three to five weeks of on-site work once cabinetry arrives, while a full kitchen remodel often runs eight to twelve weeks of on-site work plus the cabinet lead time. A primary bath at the median is usually three to five weeks on-site, while a larger walk-in-shower-and-custom-vanity project runs five to eight weeks. Cabinetry, custom shower glass, and tile lead times move those windows more than any other variable, which is why a good designer locks selections early.