Pay over time
A new kitchen shouldn't mean draining the account.
12-Month 0% APR
Spread a full kitchen over a year with no interest for qualified buyers.
Financing, without the fog
Know what the project runs, then decide how to pay for it.
Countertops are a four-to-five-figure project, and we would rather you finance it clearly than stretch for it blindly. The way we handle money is simple: you get a firm number from a free in-home template first, and only then do we talk about how to pay it.
No deposit games either — your money is not ours until there is a countertop being fabricated for it.
Payment options
| Option | Type | Details |
|---|---|---|
| 12-Month 0% APR | Financing | Spread a full kitchen over a year with no interest for qualified buyers. |
Financing subject to credit approval. We will walk you through the actual paperwork numbers before you sign.
What projects actually run
So you can size the financing to the real number, not a guess.
| Kitchen size | Engineered Quartz | Granite | Quartzite | Marble |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Galley kitchens (30–45 sqft) | $3,600–$6,750 | $4,200–$7,650 | $4,500–$8,550 | $5,100–$9,000 |
| Small kitchens (45–60 sqft) | $5,400–$9,000 | $6,300–$10,200 | $6,750–$11,400 | $7,650–$12,000 |
| Medium kitchens (60–75 sqft) | $7,200–$11,250 | $8,400–$12,750 | $9,000–$14,250 | $10,200–$15,000 |
| Large kitchens (75–90 sqft) | $9,000–$13,500 | $10,500–$15,300 | $11,250–$17,100 | $12,750–$18,000 |
| Extra large kitchens (90–120 sqft) | $10,800–$18,000 | $12,600–$20,400 | $13,500–$22,800 | $15,300–$24,000 |
Installed project ranges as of 2026-07 — template, fabrication and standard installation included.
Budget mistakes we watch people make
- Assuming retrofit roll-out trays are equivalent to true drawer-base cabinets. Disappointment after paying for a cabinet refresh: roll-outs still hide behind doors, lose several inches of width to hinges and the center stile, and carry less weight than drawer boxes, so heavy cookware storage stays awkward. Decide the drawers-vs-doors question before choosing between painting and replacement. If most base cabinets should be drawers, that is a replacement-time decision - dealers price drawer bases roughly 20-40% above door bases and they cannot be created from existing door cabinets.
- Budgeting from the slab showroom price instead of an installed quote. Templating, fabrication, cutouts, edge work, transport, tearout, and reinforcement add substantially to the material price - sticker shock arrives with the first real quote. Get installed, itemized quotes from fabricators early and budget from those numbers; treat advertised per-square-foot prices as marketing.
- Comparing contractor bids on the bottom line instead of line by line. The cheapest number often excludes tearout, plumbing disconnect and reconnect, haul-away, or sink cutouts - the savings come back later as surprise invoices. Ask every bidder to price the same itemized scope and compare line by line; make each bid state in writing what is excluded.
- Hiring on price alone without asking about the paint system, prep process, or written warranty. The low bid is usually low because it skips degreasing, primer coats, or uses wall paint — the exact corners that determine whether the job lasts 10 years or 10 months. Verbal promises leave no recourse when it peels. Compare bids on process, not just price: which coating system, how many primer/finish coats, doors sprayed flat or hung, and a written 2-5 year warranty covering peeling/adhesion with labor AND materials.
- Judging materials by per-square-foot price instead of cost of ownership. The cheapest surface can scratch, delaminate, or wear fastest, and resealing schedules or early replacement erase the up-front savings. Compare 5-10 year ownership cost - durability, maintenance products and time, repairability, and expected service life - not just the sticker price.
Money questions, answered straight
Are countertops priced by the square foot or by the slab — and why does it matter?
Quotes are usually expressed per square foot, but stone is bought by the slab, and that mismatch explains several surprises. If your kitchen needs 55 sq ft and slabs run 50 sq ft, you are buying two slabs and paying for the waste — sometimes a small layout tweak that fits one slab saves four figures. It also makes vein placement a real decision: ask to see your countertop outlines laid over the actual slab before cutting, so the dramatic vein lands on the island rather than under the dish rack.
Are countertops really cheaper downstate than in Chicago?
Generally yes - regional surveys put installed granite around $86 and quartz around $78 per square foot in the Peoria area versus roughly $100 and $91 in Chicago, reflecting lower labor and overhead. The slab material itself costs about the same statewide, so most of the gap is fabrication and install labor; downstate you also avoid the high-rise access and permit-parking surcharges common in the city.
Are the ready-to-assemble cabinets I see online actually any good?
They range from genuinely excellent to disposable, and the flat-pack part is not what decides it - box material and hardware are. Good RTA lines offer all-plywood boxes, dovetailed drawers, and soft-close hinges and slides at prices starting around 96 dollars per linear foot as of 2026, a fraction of semi-custom pricing. The trade-offs are real: someone has to assemble every cabinet, sizes come only in standard increments, shipping-damage claims are your problem, and after-sale support varies wildly by seller. RTA shines for standard layouts on tight budgets with a careful installer; skip it for odd angles, non-standard heights, or when nobody on the project wants to own the assembly and parts-chasing work.
Are workstation sinks worth the extra money?
A name-brand stainless workstation sink retailed around $469-$990 in mid-2026, versus roughly $100-$600 for a comparable plain bowl - you are paying for the machined ledge plus a fitted cutting board, colander, and drying rack. In a small kitchen the ledge genuinely adds prep space over the bowl; in a large kitchen with generous counters it is more of a nice-to-have. Two honest cautions: buy accessories from the sink maker, because generic ones often do not glide on the ledge, and plan on a pull-down faucet to reach the corners of the deep single bowl.
Can I replace my cabinets in phases - uppers this year, lowers next year?
You can, but matching is the trap: finishes drift between production runs, door styles get discontinued, and hardware lines change, so boxes ordered a year apart can miss in color or profile - and uppers and lowers sit close enough together that a near-miss reads as an error, not a choice. If you must spread out the cost, either buy everything at once and stage only the installation, choose an intentional two-tone scheme so the difference looks deliberate, or phase by trade instead - all cabinets now, countertops and backsplash later. Splitting the cabinet order itself is the riskiest way to stretch a budget.
Start with the real number
The template visit is free either way — you lose nothing by finding out what it actually costs.
Ready for a real number?
Free in-home template and an honest quote — you keep your money until there's a countertop to trade it for.