Dublin Kitchens
What a €10,000, €15,000 and €20,000 Kitchen Actually Gets You in Ireland
Contents
- What these three numbers include
- The €10,000 kitchen — full spec
- The €15,000 kitchen — full spec
- The €20,000 kitchen — full spec
- The three tiers side by side
- The same budget in Dublin and outside it
- What’s worth paying more for, and what isn’t
- Using these tables against a real quote
- FAQ
What these three numbers include
Every figure below is supply and fit: cabinets, doors, worktop, sink, tap, handles, plinth and cornice, plus the labour to fit the lot in a Dublin-area home. Not included, unless a line says so: appliances, floor tiling, plastering, painting, rewiring beyond first fix, or moving a wall. Those sit outside the quote in nearly every case, and they’re the main reason a “€15,000” job finishes at €19,000. For builder-side items, the 2026 renovation cost guide is the better starting point.
Sizes assumed are the ones we see most: 9–11 units at €10,000, 12–15 at €15,000, and 15–19 plus an island at €20,000.
The €10,000 kitchen — full spec
A real, properly fitted kitchen, not a stopgap. The compromises are in the drawer count and the worktop, not in how it’s built.
| Item | What roughly €9,000–€11,500 buys |
|---|---|
| Carcase board & thickness | 18mm melamine-faced chipboard (MFC), edged on visible faces. Moisture-resistant board under the sink only if you ask. |
| Back panel | 3mm or 6mm hardboard, pinned or grooved on. The first tell of a budget carcase. |
| Door type | Matt vinyl-wrapped MDF or wrapped Shaker. Usually 10–14 stock colours. |
| Worktop | 38mm postformed laminate, matching upstand. €60–€110 per linear metre, supply only. |
| Drawer runners | Metal-sided soft-close box, often three-quarter extension. You won’t reach the back sixth. |
| Hinges | Entry-level soft-close clip-on, three-way adjustable. |
| Drawer count | 3–5 in the whole kitchen: one cutlery, one or two pan drawers. |
| Handles | Stock bar or cup, brushed steel or matt black. €4–€9 each. |
| Plinth, cornice & end panels | Matching plinth, plain cornice. End panels in the same wrapped finish, not a decor panel. |
| Sink & tap | Inset stainless 1.5 bowl, single-lever mixer. €150–€300. |
| Fitting | Included. 3–4 days, one fitter plus a hand for the worktop. |
| Appliances | Not included. Reusing the existing hob, oven and fridge is normal. |
| Electrical & plumbing | Reconnection of existing points only. New sockets or moving waste are extras. |
| Old kitchen removal | Often excluded. Dublin skip hire is €280–€450. |
Who this tier suits
Galley, one-wall and small L-shaped kitchens, landlords refitting between tenancies, and anyone who wants a sound kitchen now rather than a spec they’ll still admire in fifteen years. Our compact denim galley Shaker kitchen in Raheny and the white Shaker one-wall kitchen in Swords are this kind of footprint. Below it, affordable kitchens in Ireland and the flat pack range are the next step down.
What gets cut first
Drawers, every time. A base unit with a door and a shelf costs meaningfully less than the same unit built as three pan drawers, so when a quote has to drop €600, the drawers go and nobody mentions it. Next is the larder, then the worktop. Watch all three when two quotes sit €1,500 apart.
The €15,000 kitchen — full spec
The busiest band in Dublin by a distance, and the one where the specification genuinely changes rather than just getting bigger. The step up buys hardware and storage, not floor area.
| Item | What roughly €14,000–€16,500 buys |
|---|---|
| Carcase board & thickness | 18mm MFC throughout, moisture-resistant in the sink and dishwasher runs, ABS or laser edged. |
| Back panel | 8mm or 18mm rigid back, housed into the sides. What lets a wall unit carry real weight. |
| Door type | Painted MDF Shaker, five-piece painted or matt handleless slab. Full colour range. |
| Worktop | Premium textured laminate, or laminate with quartz on the island or sink run. |
| Drawer runners | Branded full-extension soft-close metal system (Blum, Hettich or equivalent), around 40kg per drawer. |
| Hinges | Branded soft-close with integrated dampers, 110°, plus corner-press hinges where needed. |
| Drawer count | 8–12. Cutlery insert, two or three pan-drawer stacks, an internal drawer in a tall unit. |
| Handles | Wider range, or a handleless J-profile rail. €8–€18 each, or priced per metre. |
| Plinth, cornice & end panels | Colour-matched plinth, cornice and pelmet, 18mm decor end panels on exposed runs. |
| Sink & tap | Undermount stainless or composite granite, pull-out spray mixer. €350–€700. |
| Fitting | Included. 5–7 days, two-person team, plus a template visit if there’s stone. |
| Appliances | Sometimes part-included: dishwasher and extractor most often. Oven and hob usually separate. |
| Electrical & plumbing | First-fix moves usually included: new sockets, relocating sink or hob, under-unit lighting. |
| Old kitchen removal | Normally included with disposal. Confirm in writing anyway. |
Who this tier suits
Family homes doing the kitchen once and not touching it again for a decade. L- and U-shaped layouts with a decent run of base units, like the white and grey L-shaped Shaker in Raheny or the light grey L-shaped Shaker in Glasnevin. For how this band sits nationally, see our fitted kitchen cost guide for 2026.
What gets cut first
The quartz. Anyone chasing it on €15,000 usually gets there by dropping to a plainer door range and losing a tall unit, a trade most people regret about a year in. The other quiet cut is internal storage — pull-out larders, corner carousels, bin systems — because it can be stripped out without changing how the drawing looks.
The €20,000 kitchen — full spec
Here the kitchen stops being a set of units and starts being joinery. The jump buys stone, an island, and the interior fittings you notice daily.
| Item | What roughly €19,000–€23,000 buys |
|---|---|
| Carcase board & thickness | 18mm MFC or painted MDF, moisture-resistant throughout, colour-matched interiors on open units. |
| Back panel | 18mm rigid back, housed and glued. It matters on an island carrying stone. |
| Door type | Painted timber, five-piece painted MDF or matt-lacquer handleless. Two-tone standard, not an upcharge. |
| Worktop | 20mm quartz throughout, undermount cut-out, 100mm or full-height splashback. €380–€650 per m² fitted. |
| Drawer runners | Branded full-extension with push-to-open on handleless runs; glass- or wood-sided pan drawers. |
| Hinges | Branded soft-close, 155° on corner and larder units, blind-corner mechanisms where needed. |
| Drawer count | 14–20, including internal drawers in tall units and a full pan-drawer bank under the hob. |
| Handles | Solid brass, bronze or knurled, or a fully integrated handleless rail. €15–€40 each. |
| Plinth, cornice & end panels | Scribed plinth, mitred end panels, waterfall stone return on the island, shadow-gap detail. |
| Sink & tap | Undermount composite or fireclay Belfast, plus a boiling water tap. €900–€1,800. |
| Fitting | Included. 7–10 days across two visits; stone templated after the cabinets, fitted 7–12 days later. |
| Appliances | Often included as an integrated package. Confirm the brand tier; the spread is enormous. |
| Electrical & plumbing | Full first and second fix: island power, feature and plinth lighting, boiling-tap circuit. |
| Old kitchen removal | Included, with making good behind the old units before the new run goes on. |
Who this tier suits
Extensions, open-plan kitchen-diners, and any layout with an island on show from the sofa. The two-tone Shaker island kitchen in Malahide and the graphite handleless island kitchen in Rathfarnham are both this kind of job; more in the projects gallery.
What gets cut first
Oddly, the appliances. When a €20,000 kitchen has to land at €18,500, the line that quietly changes is the appliance package, from a mid-tier German brand to a supermarket-tier one, with no change to the drawing. Ask for model numbers, not categories.
The three tiers side by side
The lines that actually move:
| The item that changes | €10,000 | €15,000 | €20,000 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Worktop | Postformed laminate | Premium laminate, or part quartz | 20mm quartz throughout |
| Drawers | 3–5 | 8–12 | 14–20 |
| Runners | ¾ extension, unbranded | Full extension, branded | Full extension, glass-sided, push-to-open |
| Doors | Vinyl-wrapped MDF | Painted Shaker or matt handleless | Painted timber, five-piece, or lacquered handleless |
| Days on site | 3–4 | 5–7 | 7–10, two visits |
The same budget in Dublin and outside it
The cabinets cost the same everywhere. Labour doesn’t. A kitchen fitted in Dublin 6 carries roughly 15–25% more labour cost than the identical kitchen in Cavan or Kerry, and that gap is day rates, parking, access and the price of getting a two-person team onto a narrow city street for a week. A €15,000 Dublin kitchen and a €12,500 Leitrim kitchen are frequently the same specification, so don’t read the difference as quality until you’ve compared both spec sheets line for line.
Our fitting work is concentrated in the Dublin area — see kitchens in Dublin and kitchen installation — but cabinets, worktops and doors ship nationwide from the online shop, which is how many homeowners outside Dublin buy units and hire a local fitter. One regional wrinkle: quartz templating runs 7–12 working days around Dublin and can stretch to three weeks further west.
What’s worth paying more for, and what isn’t
- Worth it: drawer runners. The highest daily return of any upgrade. A branded full-extension runner rated to 40kg opens fully, closes silently, and still will in twelve years. A cheap one develops a sag and a rattle inside three. Compare our drawer options against your quote.
- Worth it: more drawers, fewer doors. Converting two base units from door-and-shelf to pan drawers costs €200–€350 and changes how you use the kitchen more than any other line.
- Worth it: the worktop. It’s what you touch daily and see from the doorway. Standard to premium laminate is a few hundred euro; quartz a few thousand, and nobody who has done it has told us afterwards they’d rather have spent it elsewhere.
- Worth it: hinges. Cheap because they’re small. Branded soft-close hinges are the difference between doors that still line up in year five and doors that don’t.
- Not worth it: high-gloss doors. They show every fingerprint, wipe mark and light scratch, and matt has overtaken them so decisively that gloss now reads as dated.
- Not worth it: cornice and pelmet on every run. Fine over a feature run, wasted above a fridge housing. Our guide to plinths, cornices and pelmets covers where each earns it.
- Not worth it: the very top appliance tier. The gap between a good mid-range integrated oven and a premium one is €600–€1,200, spent mostly on functions nobody uses.
The kitchens we get called back to five or six years later aren’t the cheap ones. They’re the ones where somebody spent the money on a finish that shows and saved it on the hardware that doesn’t. A €20,000 kitchen with three-quarter-extension runners will annoy its owner every single morning, and no amount of quartz fixes that.
Using these tables against a real quote
- Mark every line your quote doesn’t mention. Silence means the cheaper option.
- Get carcase and back panel thickness in writing. Two suppliers at the same price with 18mm and 3mm backs are not selling the same kitchen.
- Count the drawers on the drawing, not in the description. Count pan drawers separately.
- Ask which runner and hinge brand is specified. “Soft-close” on its own is not an answer.
- Price the worktop as its own line so you can swap it up or down without reopening the quote. Our worktop cost guide has the comparison figures.
- Confirm removal, disposal and first-fix electrics separately. Those three account for most of the gap between quote and final invoice.
If the number is above what you can pay in one go, spreading it is normal — kitchen finance and payment options in Ireland covers the staged and credit routes. For the figures behind these totals, kitchen cabinet prices in Ireland has the cabinet-by-cabinet detail.
The honest summary
€10,000 gets a sound, well-fitted kitchen with laminate and few drawers. €15,000 gets the hardware and the storage, which is where daily life happens. €20,000 gets stone, an island and the interior fittings. What matters is knowing which of the fourteen lines your quote is quietly economising on, and choosing those compromises yourself rather than having them chosen for you.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does a new kitchen cost in Ireland in 2026?
Supplied and fitted in the Dublin area, most homeowners land between €9,000 and €23,000, depending on unit count, worktop material and whether appliances are in the quote. Below €9,000 is flat pack or a partial refit; above €25,000 is bespoke joinery.
Is €10,000 enough for a new kitchen in Ireland?
Yes, for a galley, one-wall or small L-shaped kitchen of 9–11 units with laminate worktop and vinyl-wrapped doors. It won’t stretch to quartz, a larder and a full bank of pan drawers at once.
What’s the actual difference between a €12,000 and an €18,000 kitchen?
Four things, usually: worktop material, drawer count, runner and hinge brand, and whether appliances and first-fix electrics are in the quote. The carcases are often near-identical.
Why are kitchen prices in Ireland higher in Dublin?
Labour, not materials. Fitting day rates in Dublin run 15–25% above rural counties, and access, parking and skip costs are higher. Cabinets, doors and worktops cost the same wherever they’re delivered.
Do kitchen quotes in Ireland include appliances?
At €10,000, almost never. At €15,000, sometimes a dishwasher and extractor. At €20,000, often a full integrated package — ask for model numbers, because that phrase covers a huge price range.
How many drawers should a €15,000 kitchen have?
Eight to twelve, including a cutlery insert and two pan-drawer stacks. If a quote at that budget shows three or four, drawers were cut to hold the price. Ask what putting them back costs.
Is quartz worth it over laminate?
On €20,000, yes. On €15,000 it usually means giving up a tall unit or dropping the door range, which most people regret. Premium textured laminate at €110–€160 per linear metre is the middle ground.
What’s usually left off a kitchen quote?
Removal and skip hire, first-fix electrics and plumbing, tiling or splashback, plastering and painting after the fit, and flooring. Any one can add €500–€2,500.
How long does a kitchen take to fit at each budget?
About 3–4 days at €10,000, 5–7 at €15,000, and 7–10 across two visits at €20,000, because stone is templated after the cabinets go in and fitted 7–12 working days later.
Can I get a €20,000 specification for €15,000?
Not at the same size. You can on a smaller one: nine units with quartz, branded runners and a full drawer bank lands near €15,000, because the spec spreads over fewer units.
Related Kitchen Projects & Guides
- Kitchen Cost Guide Ireland
- Fitted Kitchen Cost Ireland 2026
- Kitchen Renovation Cost Ireland 2026
- Kitchen Finance & Payment Options in Ireland
- Two-Tone Shaker Island Kitchen, Malahide, Dublin
Want a quote you can actually read? Book a free design consultation and we’ll itemise all fourteen lines for your kitchen, or get in touch for a second opinion on a quote you already have.
