Which scope are you leaning toward for your kitchen?
Houzz's 2026 study found 52% of renovators changed the layout but 68% kept the footprint.
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Kitchen Scopebook · Planning quiz
Kitchen remodel quiz: find your scope and check the numbers
This quiz asks ten questions about your kitchen's condition, layout and plans, and about the facts that drive cost. Each answer explains the source, from Houzz's kitchen studies to Zonda's Cost vs. Value data. At the end you will know whether you are looking at a refresh, a cabinet job, new counters or a full renovation, and why.
Start the quiz0 of 10 answered
Homeowners often arrive at a showroom with a door style in mind and no idea whether the boxes behind it will survive another decade. The quiz forces the earlier questions: are the boxes sound, does the layout work, what moves, and what does the budget actually cover. It also checks a few numbers, because knowing that cabinets take a third of the budget or that the sink is out for six weeks changes decisions.
There is no score to pass. Every explanation links back to the stat that supports it, and the result points to the service page that matches. Take it before the calculator if scope is open.
What the quiz is testing, and why those questions
The first cluster is about condition: sink-base floors, face frames, drawer slides. Sound boxes make refacing possible and can save a third of the budget, since cabinets are near ~30% of the total by HomeAdvisor's breakdown. The second cluster is about layout: collisions, landing space, the path from refrigerator to sink. Houzz found 52% of renovators changed the layout, and those are the ones who needed a renovation rather than a refresh.
The third cluster is about numbers you should know before a pro visits: timeline, budget share, island clearances, resale. A homeowner who knows the sink will be out for four to seven weeks plans the temporary kitchen; one who knows that 37% of renovators overspent holds a reserve. Appliance age belongs on the list: our analysis of the EIA's 2024 household survey found 20.6% of occupied homes running a dishwasher at least ten years old and 26.6% a main refrigerator that old. The numbers are not trivia; they are the questions to ask.
How to read your result
If your answers point to a refresh, read the cabinet page and the countertop page and price them together; that combination is the minor midrange remodel Zonda's 2025 report credits with a 112.9% recoup. If they point to a renovation, read the renovation page and decide whether the layout changes inside the walls or beyond them. If an island is the main want, the island page has the clearance math.
Then vote in the polls to see whether your scope is the common one, and take the result to the request form. Write the scope in the first line of the brief so every pro prices the same job, and mention the quiz answers that surprised you; those are usually the ones worth a pro's opinion.
What to check in your kitchen before answering
Three quick inspections make the condition questions accurate. Open the sink base and press on its floor; softness means water damage. Pull a drawer all the way out and look at the slide and the drawer box; wood or plywood boxes on metal slides are worth keeping, stapled particleboard on plastic guides usually are not. Close a door and look at the gap around it; uneven gaps on a door that was once square mean the box has racked. Ten minutes with a flashlight answers the refacing question better than any showroom visit.
For the layout questions, cook one meal and count interruptions. For the budget questions, know that Angi's average across 13,100 projects is $26,940 and that the typical range runs $14,588 to $41,550; where you expect to land within that tells the quiz which tier to assume. Houzz found 87% of kitchen renovators hired at least one pro, so the final question is less whether to hire than which scope to hire for.
Homeowner polls
What other planners are choosing
What bothers you most about the kitchen you have now?
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Quiz questions, answered
Is the quiz result a recommendation to hire someone?
No. It recommends a scope and links to the matching service page, which explains what that scope includes and what a proposal should list. Whether and whom to hire is a separate decision made after collecting written proposals through the contact page.
What if I get most of the number questions wrong?
Then the quiz did its job. Each explanation links to the source, and the numbers are the ones that most often surprise homeowners in a pro's first visit. Knowing the cabinet share, the sink downtime and the overspend rate before that visit changes what you ask and how you read the proposal.
Can two people in the same household take it separately?
That is a good idea, and it is quick. Disagreements about scope, cabinet finish or whether the layout is the problem surface quickly when each person answers alone. Compare results, then read the comparison for the pair you disagree on before requesting estimates.
Does the quiz account for my region?
Not directly. The scope logic is the same everywhere; costs and hidden-condition risk differ by region. After the quiz, read the locations hub for regional adjustments and use the calculator, which states that coastal metros can run above national figures.
Why does the quiz ask about the sink base?
Because it is where cabinets fail first. A slow leak from a supply line, a disposal or a dishwasher soaks the particleboard floor of the sink base, and once it swells the box cannot hold hardware. Checking it takes ten seconds and decides whether refacing is on the table.
What if my kitchen needs two scopes?
Most do. A refresh is refacing plus counters; a renovation includes an island. The quiz picks the dominant scope and the service pages explain what each includes. Sequence matters: cabinets before counters, rough-in before both. The services hub has the ordering.
How long does the quiz take?
About five minutes for ten questions. Reading the explanations and following the links to the stat cards takes longer and is the useful part. Retaking it after a site visit, with better information about box condition and the panel, often changes the result.
More free tools
Free toolKitchen remodel cost calculatorSize, material tier and complexity in, a realistic budget range out.
Free toolKitchen comparisons: the five decisions that move the budgetSide-by-side tables for the decisions that change the price most.
Free toolKitchen remodel polls: see what other homeowners are choosingSee what other planners chose and add your vote.
Read the service guides
Service guideComplete Kitchen RenovationA complete kitchen renovation replaces cabinets, counters, flooring, lighting and usually appliances under a single plan, and may relocate plumbing, gas and electrical or remove a wall.
Service guideCabinet Refacing & InstallationCabinet refacing replaces doors, drawer fronts and hardware and covers the exposed box faces with matching veneer, leaving the layout unchanged.
Service guideCountertop InstallationCountertop installation replaces the work surface, sink and often the backsplash on cabinets you keep.
Service guideKitchen Island Design & BuildA kitchen island is a freestanding cabinet unit with its own countertop, often with seating, storage, a sink or a cooktop.
Ready to price your kitchen remodeling?
Tell us the size, the condition of what is there now, and what you want to change. Kitchen Scopebook passes your request to independent local professionals, who reply with written, no-obligation estimates. The service is free to use.