American homeowners pushed kitchen renovation budgets to a new recent high in 2025, yet the same survey reveals they plan to spend noticeably less going forward. The split finding, drawn from the largest study of its kind, captures a residential market that is simultaneously active and increasingly cautious.
Steady activity, rising room-by-room costs
Home renovation activity continued at levels seen in recent years in 2025, with more than half of US homeowners, 54%, undertaking renovation projects, according to the 2026 US Houzz & Home Study. The median renovation spend held at $20,000, while high-end activity gained momentum, with the top 10% of projects reaching $150,000 or more, up from $140,000 the year prior.
Kitchens remained the most popular room to renovate at 26% of respondents, and median kitchen renovation spend in 2025 increased by 9.1% from 2024, reaching $24,000. Guest bathroom median spend rose 16.7% to $7,000, and primary bathroom spend grew 15.4% to $15,000.
Those back-to-back gains in the two most-renovated wet rooms signal that homeowners who did act in 2025 were willing to commit serious money.
Among kitchen projects specifically, major remodels came in at a median of $55,000, while minor projects landed at $20,000. Kitchen size affects spending significantly: the median major remodel of a larger kitchen was $75,000, compared with $46,000 for a smaller space.
Caution sets in for 2026 plans
Half of homeowners plan to undertake renovation projects in 2026, with 41% planning to decorate. The share undertaking repairs remained consistent year over year at 47%.
The median planned renovation spend stands at $15,000 in 2026, a 25% decrease from 2025.
Marine Sargsyan, head of economic research at Houzz, noted that home renovation is continuing at historic levels, even as homeowners take a more cautious approach to their projects. “What’s driving this resilience is pent-up demand from homeowners who are finally able to act on long-planned renovations,” Sargsyan said.
Separately, 37% of homeowners exceeded their initial budgets in 2025, with 35% citing higher-end materials than initially planned and 31% citing mid-project scope expansion. That pattern of scope creep partly explains why completed projects consistently exceed what planners initially project.
What homeowners are actually building
Renovators are focusing on functionality over aesthetics for their kitchen upgrades, which means more built-in cabinet storage for specific needs, new sinks or countertops, and expanded kitchen areas with features like beverage stations or walk-in pantries.
More than three-quarters of renovating homeowners (76%) incorporate built-in features during a kitchen renovation, with pantry cabinets leading the list at 47% and beverage stations second at 24%. Built-in seating and wine refrigerators are also popular, each chosen by 17% of homeowners.
On the exterior, roofing tops the list of projects, followed by windows and skylights, exterior painting, gutter upgrades, and exterior doors. Decks, sheds or workshops, upgraded lighting, and new furniture are the most common outdoor projects.
Large and small furniture purchases were made by 39% of respondents, and 33% bought storage or organizational products. That appetite for storage solutions connects to a broader pattern of Americans re-evaluating how their homes actually function day-to-day, a trend that also shows up in the two distinct types of household clutter that consumer researchers have been studying.
Younger homeowners enter the market
More than half of all homeowners found the time and financial means to renovate their homes in 2025, with a higher share of millennials and Gen Z entering the renovation landscape. The annual Houzz & Home Study, the largest survey of residential remodeling, building and decorating activity published, drew findings from 20,358 users, including 10,176 renovating US homeowners on Houzz. The Houzz platform is used by more than 70 million homeowners and home design enthusiasts worldwide.
The generational shift in who is picking up a hammer, or hiring someone who will, has wider implications for how home goods and services are marketed. Younger renovators tend to research and plan projects digitally, and their entry coincides with a broader re-prioritization of home spending that researchers have tracked across multiple consumer categories.
That includes how Americans allocate discretionary budgets, a dynamic also visible in restaurant spending data showing tighter household trade-offs.
The 2026 study surveyed 20,358 users, including 10,176 renovating US homeowners on Houzz, about their home renovations in 2025 and plans for 2026, and was fielded between January and March 2026. The full report is available at houzz.com.
