What Does an Architektenküche Cost?

Rusi KolevArchitect & Founder
Real Estate Economist (ebs)

Last updated: September 2026Rusi Kolev, Architect (AKH)Reading time: about 19 minutes

I am an architect, and we make every kitchen ourselves in our Manufaktur, our own production facility. That is why you get real figures here, the same ones that will later appear in the offer.

What does an Architektenküche cost? The price classes at a glance

Four size classes cover everything we build: a single-wall kitchen from €14,999, an L- or U-shaped kitchen between around €20,000 and €39,000, a large U-shaped kitchen with a wall of tall units between around €27,000 and €50,000, and special projects with free forms from around €45,000. All prices incl. 19% VAT, delivery and installation.

The most important thing about this table is not in the figures but behind them: in every class you get the same fronts, the same fittings and the same construction. We do not build a stripped-down version. A single-wall kitchen for €14,999 has the same Senosan fronts and the same Hettich drawer runners as a kitchen for €40,000. It is only smaller, has a simpler worktop and either your own appliances or basic appliances.

Why do I not quote a price per metre?

A price per metre shows only carcasses and fronts, while the worktop, at €600 to €9,000, and the appliances, at €0 to around €16,000, are what really move the price. For a normal kitchen, the carcass part sits within a narrow range with us, whether L-shaped or U-shaped. Neither of the two, worktop or appliances, is in any price per metre.

That is why kitchen retailers like to advertise “from €1,500 per metre” and add worktop, appliances, sink, installation and travel later. I do it the other way round: you get a range for the whole kitchen, with everything that belongs to it, and a fixed price in the offer. More on the typical traps in the five kitchen-buying mistakes.

What does the price of an Architektenküche depend on?

On three things: the size of the kitchen, the worktop at €600 to €9,000, and the appliances at €0 to around €16,000. Roughly, the budget of a finished kitchen splits like this: around half to two thirds for the kitchen itself including planning and installation, about 15 per cent for the worktop, 20 to 30 per cent for the appliances. Sink and tap from Blanco are included in every kitchen. Installation within three months is an express project and costs around 10 per cent more on the kitchen itself, not on the worktop and appliances.

What explicitly does not move the price with me is the material. Every kitchen is full height to the ceiling, made to measure, with MDF fronts in Senosan Supermatt acrylic and/or real wood veneer from Decospan, or equivalent, with fittings from Hettich, Blum and Kesseböhmer. I do not economise on material, because I do not want repairs. A complaint costs me time, and in a Manufaktur with few people, time is the scarcest thing there is.

Read more: The Kitchen buying guide shows which decisions lie behind a kitchen and why their order helps decide the cost: 35 decisions in 8 modules, from the services to the fronts, each with a short answer and a number.

Why do I make nothing on appliances and worktops?

Because appliances and worktop together make up 30 to 45 per cent of a finished kitchen, and that money is better off with you than with me. I earn on the kitchen itself: on carcasses, fronts, planning and installation. My profit per kitchen is capped: it does not grow if you choose more expensive appliances. So I pass appliances and worktops on to you without my own markup. If you switch from Siemens to a BORA hob with extractor, or from compact laminate to natural stone, you pay the price difference of the product, not my markup on top of it.

That is possible because I run a lean operation. A traditional kitchen studio pays for showroom salespeople, a large display floor, a large team and a lot of administration, and all of that ends up in the price, including the price of the appliances. I do not have those costs, and I pass that advantage on instead of putting it on appliances and worktop as a retail margin. I would rather your budget went into a better kitchen than into my margin on an oven. What I get out of it is simple: more beautiful kitchens in a growing portfolio, and clients who are genuinely satisfied. Both keep the growth of the Manufaktur stable in the long run. A business forgoing the retail margin is unusual, and it is the reason my kitchens with high-quality appliances are often no more expensive than a kitchen studio kitchen with basic ones.

What does the worktop cost?

Between around €600 for a simple laminate worktop and around €9,000 for natural stone, in each case fabricated, with all cut-outs, and fitted. The worktop is the item that moves the total price the most.

In conversation it is almost always about ceramic or compact laminate. If you put a hot pan on a trivet anyway, an HPL worktop will serve you very well, whether as 38 mm laminate or as 12 mm compact laminate with a through-coloured core. From compact laminate upwards, a flush-mounted hob and undermount sink are standard: both work there just as they do on ceramic and natural stone. Only the 38 mm laminate worktop cannot do that. If you want the comfort of never having to think about temperature, and can spend the roughly €3,000 to €4,000 extra, ceramic gives you a worktop that withstands heat, knives and red wine without you seeing a difference in ten years. Both are good decisions. One is the sensible one, the other the comfortable one.

What do the appliances cost?

Between €0, if you bring your own appliances, and around €16,000 for the BORA Professional line. Most clients end up with one of the two middle packages. Sink and tap from Blanco are part of the kitchen in every case.

Why these brands: a hob extractor draws steam and odours downwards before they rise, and frees the cooking island from a hood. BORA is the reference here, Elica NikolaTesla the alternative with the same basic idea at a more attractive price. The Quooker delivers boiling water from the tap: the tank holds it at 108 degrees, the water comes out at 100 degrees. The Siemens lines iQ300, iQ500 and iQ700 are equipment levels, not quality grades of the same appliance, which explains why two similar fridges cost different amounts. Blanco Silgranit is a composite with a high proportion of quartz and granite, through-coloured, scratch- and heat-resistant. More under kitchen appliances.

How much kitchen do you get for €25,000, €31,000 or €40,000?

For around €25,000 to €26,000, an L-shaped kitchen with a Fundermax compact laminate worktop and basic appliances; for around €30,000 to €32,000, an L-shaped kitchen with cooking island, Fundermax compact laminate, hob extractor and Siemens appliances; and for around €39,000 to €41,000, a large U-shaped kitchen with island, ceramic worktop, BORA X Pure, Quooker and Siemens. All three examples are put together the way we typically plan them and include delivery, installation and the architect’s planning.

• approx. €25,000 to €26,000: L-shaped kitchen, full height to the ceiling, Senosan fronts, Hettich drawer runners, Fundermax compact laminate worktop, sink and tap from Blanco, plus basic appliances. The honest entry point to a family kitchen. With a hob extractor and brand appliances it moves towards the next example, so close to €30,000.
• approx. €30,000 to €32,000: L-shaped kitchen with cooking island, Fundermax compact laminate worktop, hob extractor from Elica or Küppersbusch, Siemens oven, dishwasher and fridge-freezer. The family kitchen with hob extractor, the one we build most often.
• approx. €39,000 to €41,000: large U-shaped kitchen with island, real wood in a special colour on selected fronts, ceramic worktop, BORA X Pure hob with extractor, Quooker Flex with CUBE, Siemens oven, dishwasher and fridge-freezer. The full specification, without free forms.

Is the architect’s planning included in the price?

Yes, the architect’s planning, worth €5,000, is included in the kitchen price in the first offer; the offer is valid for three weeks. If an expired offer is taken up again later, I charge the planning as a separate line item of €5,000.

The planning is the real service: site survey, structural checks, ergonomics, material selection, the preparation for water and electricity, the millimetre-exact fit into your room. Retailers quietly price this work into the product and then call it “free”. I name its value because you should know what you are getting. Delivery, installation, planning and consultation are always in the price with me, never as a separate line. There is no top-up at the survey appointment and no travel charge.

I do not limit the number of designs, and I do not charge extra for them either. The goal is the best possible kitchen for your room, and I do not want you to settle for a weaker version just because trying another one would cost planning hours. Additional planning effort therefore appears on no invoice. And if I have not arrived at the best version myself, that is my planning error, which I correct, and not an extra that I invoice you for.

What does an Architektenküche cost compared with a kitchen studio and a joiner?

A kitchen from a furniture store or kitchen studio costs on average €8,000 to €20,000, a joiner’s kitchen €13,000 to €50,000, an Architektenküche with me from €14,999. In specialist kitchen retail a kitchen cost around €14,760 incl. VAT on average in early 2026. The industry association AMK gives €12,404 (GfK data), to which VAT is added, and that figure also includes grid-size kitchens with basic appliances. What matters is not the bare figure but what is in it.

The retail classic is the “from” price: “fitted kitchen from €1,999”. What that price never explains is the worktop material, appliances of real quality, sink and tap, fittings and carcass quality, site survey, delivery, installation, travel and disposal of the old kitchen. That is the gap I fill.

What makes the kitchen itself so durable?

MDF instead of chipboard, fronts with a fixed decor number, and fittings rated for a 70-kilogram load: three decisions that cost you nothing extra, because they are in every kitchen.

MDF instead of chipboard. MDF has a homogeneous structure. Only that way can crisp routed edges without chipping and permanent 3-millimetre joints be achieved, and thickness swelling under moisture is lower. MDF is heavier and more expensive than chipboard. That is my cost, not yours.

Senosan fronts instead of lacquer. Senosan is a co-extruded acrylic surface on moisture-resistant MDF, resistant to scratches, chemicals and UV. The decisive advantage only shows after years: a decor or acrylic front has a fixed decor number and is lightfast. If a single front gets damaged, I reorder exactly that one front, and it blends in. A lacquered front works differently: the colour is mixed per batch, a new batch may deviate within the permitted tolerance, and the installed fronts darken under UV light, white lacquered fronts most noticeably. A scratch there often means the entire visible front surface has to be re-finished to match.

Fittings for double the load. With me, the cutlery drawer runs on a 70-kilogram Hettich AvanTech YOU full-extension drawer with Actro YOU XL runners, although cutlery weighs a fraction of that. The fitting therefore always works in the flat part of its wear curve and still closes as softly after years as on the first day. For tall units I use Kesseböhmer pull-out larders rated up to 100 kilograms, for corners LeMans or Magic Corner. I do not commit to a single manufacturer. I take the component best suited to the task. I do not promise you durability in years; the statutory warranty applies. On top of that come the manufacturer guarantees from Hettich and Kesseböhmer on the fittings themselves, whose terms you receive from us with the kitchen. And in practice this construction leads to very few complaints, which is the reason we can afford it.

What does a special project with free forms cost?

From around €45,000, with no upper limit. A kitchen without a straight line, with ellipses or free geometry, is an architectural project in its own right and needs about three times as much planning and build time as a normal kitchen. With natural stone and the BORA Professional line, a project like that comes to €65,000 and more.

I mention this class here because it shows what the Manufaktur can do. For most clients it is not the right frame, and I say that just as openly in the first consultation as I do here.

Frequently asked questions about the cost of an Architektenküche

What does an Architektenküche from Kolev cost? From €14,999 incl. 19% VAT, including delivery, installation and the architect’s planning, for a compact single-wall kitchen with a simple worktop. Most kitchens fall between €20,000 and €39,000. Special projects with free forms start at around €45,000. The range comes from size, worktop and appliances, not from the material.

Do I get less quality in the smallest kitchen? No. Fronts, fittings and construction are the same in every size: full height to the ceiling, made to measure, Senosan Supermatt acrylic and/or real wood veneer from Decospan, or equivalent, Hettich, Blum and Kesseböhmer, sink and tap from Blanco. A single-wall kitchen for €14,999 is only smaller, has a simpler worktop and either your own appliances or basic appliances. I never economise on material, because repairs cost me more than better fittings.

Is the architect’s planning included in the price? Yes. In the first offer, the architect’s planning, worth €5,000, is included in the kitchen price; the offer is valid for three weeks. If an expired offer is taken up again later, I charge the planning as a separate line item of €5,000. Site survey, structural checks, ergonomics and the millimetre-exact fit are part of it. I do not limit the number of designs, and additional planning effort is not charged extra.

Are delivery and installation included in the price? Yes, always. All prices quoted are incl. 19% VAT and include delivery, installation, planning and consultation. There is no installation charge, no travel charge and no top-up at the survey appointment. The only thing not included is the final connection of electricity and water by a licensed trade contractor on site.

Do you make money on appliances and worktops? No. I pass appliances and worktops on to you without my own markup. My profit is in the kitchen itself and is capped per kitchen. If you choose higher-quality appliances, you pay the price difference of the product, not my markup on it.

Next step: the first consultation

If you want to know which price class your kitchen lands in and whether your budget is better spent on the worktop, the appliances or the kitchen itself, then let’s talk. In the first consultation we look at your room, your wishes and your budget, directly with the architect, 45 to 60 minutes, for Frankfurt and the Rhine-Main region.

And a piece of advice no kitchen studio likes to give: get three offers and compare them. We are one of them.

More on the concept on the Architektenküche page, on made-to-measure work under Maßküche, the made-to-measure kitchen, and about me under About us.