2023-2027 Market Expectations and Trends in Kitchen Remodeling Activities

Kitchens are a pop­u­lar space for home­own­ers to focus their atten­tion, even dur­ing mar­ket con­trac­tion, when they are look­ing to refresh their residence.

These rooms get plen­ty of dai­ly use from a vari­ety of fam­i­ly mem­bers, in addi­tion to serv­ing a num­ber of impor­tant pur­pos­es. Not to men­tion, they include sev­er­al major appli­ances; plumb­ing and elec­tri­cal com­po­nents; and oth­er fix­tures and features.

They must be well-main­tained and occa­sion­al­ly touched up to ensure opti­mal func­tion­al­i­ty and appear­ance. Addi­tion­al­ly, kitchen remod­el­ing can improve both the val­ue and liv­abil­i­ty of a home. Con­se­quent­ly, there is a healthy mar­ket for build­ing prod­ucts and sup­plies used in these types of home improve­ment activities.

Kitchen Remodeling Market Size and Forecast

Kitchen remod­el­ing projects involve the pur­chase of mul­ti­ple prod­uct cat­e­gories, includ­ing plumb­ing com­po­nents and sup­plies; cab­i­nets and coun­ter­tops; appli­ances; light fix­tures; paint; floor­ing; and build­ing materials.

They also cov­er a wide range of activ­i­ties, from small touch ups and repairs to major remod­els and expan­sions. Both pro­fes­sion­al con­trac­tors and DIY home­own­ers are active­ly involved in the mar­ket for rel­e­vant prod­ucts and materials.

When it comes to con­sumers, the mar­kets for sev­er­al of the major prod­uct cat­e­gories involved in kitchen remod­els are expect­ed to decline in 2023 and 2024, and then rebound from 2025 to 2027. This includes paint and preser­v­a­tives; plumb­ing fix­tures and sup­plies; kitchen cab­i­nets and coun­ter­tops; and doors and mold­ing. On the oth­er hand, the mar­ket for hard-sur­face floor cov­er­ings is pro­ject­ed to con­tin­ue grow­ing among home­own­ers and DIY­ers from rough­ly $7.6 bil­lion in 2023 to $21.6 bil­lion in 2027.

The pro mar­ket for kitchen remod­el­ing prod­ucts is a bit more opti­mistic. Many of the main cat­e­gories — after expe­ri­enc­ing a neg­a­tive change in 2023 — will expe­ri­ence rebound­ing growth begin­ning in 2024 and through 2027. Addi­tion­al­ly, pro­fes­sion­al remod­el­ing activ­i­ty will con­tribute to ongo­ing growth in the plumb­ing sup­plies mar­ket, as demand for repairs and replace­ments remains steady.

The medi­an spend­ing for din­ing rooms and break­fast nook improve­ments was about $500 in the sec­ond quar­ter of 2023; medi­an spend­ing for kitchen projects was approx­i­mate­ly $1,200. Major house­hold appli­ances—includ­ing refrig­er­a­tors, ovens, and dish­wash­ers — tend to be linked to the high­est aver­age annu­al spend­ing among rel­e­vant prod­uct categories.

Purchase Behaviors and Project Decision-Making Behaviors

Many home­own­ers see their kitchen as the heart of their home. It is a hub for gath­er­ing, eat­ing, clean­ing, and social­iz­ing. Remod­el­ing enables them to main­tain this space and ensure it con­tin­ues to be a reflec­tion of their cur­rent lifestyle.

As the hous­ing mar­ket becomes tighter, home­own­ers may choose to stay in their exist­ing res­i­dence for longer — while they wait for a new res­i­dence to become avail­able. Repairs and ren­o­va­tions, par­tic­u­lar­ly in a kitchen space, make that doable. Home­own­ers can extend the lifes­pan of their prop­er­ty, or at least its suit­abil­i­ty for their needs, by updat­ing var­i­ous fea­tures for con­ve­nience, com­fort, and functionality.

In a sim­i­lar vein, new and first-time home­own­ers have less selec­tion among hous­ing inven­to­ry in the cur­rent mar­ket. As a result, they may choose a prop­er­ty that doesn’t quite check off every box, and then do home improve­ments, like kitchen remod­els, to make it a bet­ter fit.

When it comes to kitchen remod­el­ing and repairs, a major­i­ty of projects are DIY. We’re see­ing more home­own­ers tack­ling DIY projects for their din­ing rooms and kitchen nooks, or about 46 per­cent in the sec­ond quar­ter of 2023 com­pared to 39 per­cent in the same quar­ter in 2022. Mean­while, for kitchen remod­el­ing, the rate for DIY projects has remained some­what con­sis­tent — or 43 per­cent in 2023 com­pared to 42 per­cent in 2022.

About 30 per­cent of home­own­ers hired a pro­fes­sion­al for their din­ing room or break­fast nook project in the sec­ond quar­ter of 2023, and approx­i­mate­ly 34 per­cent hired a pro­fes­sion­al for their kitchen remod­el. There’s also a sig­nif­i­cant por­tion of kitchen and din­ing room projects — or about a quar­ter — that involve some DIY work and some pro­fes­sion­al contributions.

Paint­ing tends to be the most pop­u­lar task involved in kitchen remod­el­ing, as well as din­ing room/​breakfast nook projects. It is includ­ed in about 48 per­cent of projects, which height­ens the demand and pur­chase inci­dences for paint and sun­dries. Installing, replac­ing, or repair­ing floor­ing is also common.

Notably, for din­ing room and kitchen nooks, sev­er­al tasks saw sig­nif­i­cant increas­es in the sec­ond quar­ter of 2023 com­pared to the sec­ond quar­ter of 2022, includ­ing: installing, repair­ing, or replac­ing mold­ing or base­boards; installing, repair­ing or replac­ing win­dows; and installing, repair­ing, or replac­ing clos­et doors.

How 2024 – 2027 Kitchen Remodeling Trends Impact Building Product Manufacturers

For man­u­fac­tur­ers of kitchen remod­el­ing prod­ucts and mate­ri­als, it’s cru­cial to keep track of mar­ket and con­sumer trends and pro­jec­tions, and then respond accordingly.

Where Purchases are Made

For exam­ple, despite the pro­lif­er­a­tion of online options and dig­i­tal shop­ping, peo­ple still tend to pre­fer in-store vis­its to pick out mate­ri­als and prod­ucts for many of their home improve­ments. In fact, a major­i­ty of both plumb­ing and kitchen prod­uct pur­chas­es are made in store, or 72 per­cent and 67 per­cent, respec­tive­ly. Anoth­er 19 per­cent of plumb­ing prod­ucts are pur­chased online and 9 per­cent through a home improve­ment pro­fes­sion­al. About 22 per­cent of kitchen prod­ucts are pur­chased online and anoth­er 11 per­cent through a professional.

About 69 per­cent of in-store pur­chas­es for plumb­ing prod­ucts take place at home cen­ters; the rest are split some­what even­ly between department/​discount stores and ware­hous­es. It’s a sim­i­lar sto­ry for kitchen prod­ucts, with 76 per­cent of in-store pur­chas­es tak­ing place at home cen­ters; 6 per­cent at lum­ber yards and build­ing sup­ply stores; and 5 per­cent through ware­house memberships.

These sales chan­nels must con­tin­ue to be cul­ti­vat­ed and sup­port­ed to ensure you are reach­ing your tar­get audi­ence with your kitchen remod­el­ing prod­ucts and materials.

When Purchases Are Made

Anoth­er trend for man­u­fac­tur­ers to be aware of is the aver­age time­line from project con­cep­tion to com­ple­tion, as that may influ­ence your mar­ket­ing, adver­tis­ing and busi­ness devel­op­ment strate­gies for a suc­cess­ful 2024. Typ­i­cal­ly, the idea to do a kitchen remod­el­ing project aris­es dur­ing the first quar­ter of the year, fol­low­ing the win­ter hol­i­days. About 39 per­cent of home­own­ers decide to pur­sue a project in the first quar­ter and about 30 per­cent make the deci­sion in the sec­ond quar­ter of the year.

Kitchen projects typ­i­cal­ly begin from March toJu­ly, and they take an aver­age of five to sev­en months to com­plete. That means a major­i­ty are com­plet­ed in July and August.

This gives build­ing prod­uct man­u­fac­tur­ers insight for strate­giz­ing mar­ket­ing and adver­tis­ing activ­i­ties, as well as when demand for prod­ucts is like­ly to be high­est, accord­ing to the aver­age project cycle.

Using Key Market Research to Inform Decision-Making

As a build­ing prod­uct man­u­fac­tur­er, it’s impor­tant to know what trends and con­sumer behav­iors are affect­ing the mar­ket for home improve­ment activ­i­ties, such as kitchen remod­el­ing. This includes insights into the size of the mar­ket, where and how indus­try pro­fes­sion­als and con­sumers are shop­ping for mate­ri­als, and what projects are start­ed when and why. The Home Improve­ment Research Insti­tute pro­vides it’s mem­bers access to a wide range of data and insights about cus­tomer behav­iors, chan­nel pref­er­ences, and prod­uct selec­tions to help inform your busi­ness strate­gies and key decision-making.