Countertop Installation Cost: Pricing by Material (2026)

Last month I pulled out a cracked tile countertop in a Tacoma kitchen, and the homeowner asked the question I hear on almost every job. What’s this going to cost me?

Fair question. The honest answer depends on the material, the square footage, the edge profile, and how much demo I have to do before the new slab goes in. Countertops are one of the few line items where the cheapest option and the most expensive option can sit in the same kitchen at a 10x price difference.

Here’s how the numbers actually shake out.

Quick Answer: What Countertops Cost to Install

Countertop installation runs $15 to $200 per square foot installed, depending on the material. Laminate sits at the bottom around $15 to $45. Granite and quartz land in the middle at $60 to $140. Marble and custom concrete top out at $80 to $200. A typical 40 to 45 square foot kitchen in mid-range quartz runs roughly $4,000 to $5,000 installed.

Want your own numbers fast? Use the Countertop Cost Calculator to price a job by material and square footage, or Try EstimationPro free to build a full kitchen estimate in minutes.

Countertop Cost by Material

This is the table I wish every homeowner saw before they called me. Prices are installed, meaning slab, edge profile, cutouts for the sink and cooktop, and labor are all baked in.

Material	Installed Cost / sq ft	Best For
Laminate	$15 - $45	Tight budgets, rentals, flips
Butcher block	$35 - $90	Warm look, islands, prep zones
Solid surface (Corian)	$45 - $100	One-piece runs, kid-friendly homes
Granite	$60 - $140	Durability and resale value
Quartz	$60 - $130	Low maintenance, busy kitchens
Concrete	$65 - $140	Custom modern, industrial look
Marble	$80 - $200	High-end kitchens and baths

Source: Homewyse (Jan 2026), Angi (2026), HomeGuide (2026), plus my own job costs in the Pacific Northwest.

Prices vary by region, slab grade, and the date you buy. Treat these 2026 national averages as a starting point and confirm local rates before you bid.

What Actually Drives the Price

Two kitchens with the same square footage can come in hundreds of dollars apart. Here’s why.

• Edge profile. A standard eased edge is included. Bullnose, ogee, or a mitered waterfall edge adds labor and material.
• Cutouts. Every sink, cooktop, and faucet hole is a fabrication step. More holes, more labor.
• Seams. Big L-shaped runs need seams. A skilled fabricator hides them, and that skill costs money.
• Stone grade. Granite and marble are graded. A premium slab with rare veining runs double a builder-grade slab of the same stone.
• Tear-out. Removing the old top adds $5 to $15 per square foot. Tile and stone are heavier and slower to pull than laminate.

Templating is its own line item too. A fabricator comes out and makes a digital template of your counters, usually $75 to $200 per project. Skip it and your slab won’t fit right.

Worked Example 1: Budget Laminate Kitchen

A rental I priced last spring. Small galley kitchen, 30 square feet of counter, owner wanted it clean and cheap.

Line Item	Quantity	Rate	Cost
Laminate countertop installed	30 sq ft	$28 / sq ft	$840
Tear-out and disposal	30 sq ft	$8 / sq ft	$240
Total			$1,080

Just over a grand. Laminate gets a bad rap, but for a rental that turns over every couple years, it’s the right call. Good, fast, or cheap. You pick two, and this client picked fast and cheap.

Worked Example 2: Mid-Range Quartz Kitchen

This is the job most of my remodel clients actually want. Standard kitchen, 45 square feet, quartz because they’re tired of sealing granite.

Line Item	Quantity	Rate	Cost
Quartz countertop installed	45 sq ft	$90 / sq ft	$4,050
Tear-out and disposal	45 sq ft	$8 / sq ft	$360
Templating and measure	1 project	$125	$125
Total			$4,535

Right around $4,500. That number tracks with what I see across the PNW for quartz, and it’s the range I quote when someone calls about a kitchen counter swap without a full remodel.

Regional Pricing Differences

Where you live moves the price. Labor rates and slab freight are the two biggest swings. Stone is heavy, so the farther it travels, the more you pay.

Metro Area	Adjustment vs National Avg
San Francisco, CA	+35%
New York, NY	+30%
Seattle, WA	+12%
Atlanta, GA	-3%
Dallas, TX	-5%
Phoenix, AZ	-8%

Source: RSMeans city cost indexes and BLS regional wage data, cross-checked against my own PNW job costs. These are estimates. Always price your own local market before you bid.

How Contractors Mark Up Countertops

Here’s the part homeowners rarely see. When I buy a slab from the fabricator, that’s my cost. The price the client pays includes markup that covers my time coordinating the template, the install day, the warranty, and the overhead of running a business.

Most contractors mark up countertop material 15% to 35%. On the labor side, you’re pricing your crew’s production rate plus burden. Markup and margin are not the same thing, and mixing them up is how guys go broke charging what feels like a healthy number. A 30% markup is only a 23% margin. If that math surprises you, read markup vs margin before your next bid.

The widget above lets you plug in your slab cost and see your real margin at different markup levels. Use it before you hand over a quote.

Common Mistakes That Blow the Budget

I’ve watched these sink jobs more than once.

• Forgetting tear-out. The new slab quote looks great until you add $5 to $15 a foot to rip out the old one. Bid it separately so it doesn’t surprise anyone.
• Underestimating square footage. Measure the actual counter surface, not the cabinet footprint. Use the Square Footage Calculator so you don’t short yourself on material.
• Ignoring the backsplash. A 4-inch stone backsplash adds material and another fabrication step. Decide early.
• Choosing on price alone. The cheapest fabricator in town is cheap for a reason. Bad seams and chipped edges cost more to fix than doing it right the first time.

That last one is the trap I warn every client about. A lowball bid that leaves out templating or tear-out isn’t actually cheaper. It just hides the cost until you’re committed.

Frequently Asked Questions

How much does it cost to install countertops in an average kitchen? Most kitchens run 30 to 50 square feet of counter. At mid-range quartz or granite pricing of $60 to $140 per square foot installed, that’s roughly $1,800 to $7,000. Add tear-out and templating on top. Laminate brings a full kitchen down under $2,000.

How do contractors price a countertop job for a client? We start with square footage times the installed material rate, add tear-out, templating, and any edge or backsplash upgrades, then apply markup to cover overhead and profit. I build the whole thing as line items so the client sees exactly what they’re paying for. The fastest way to do it without missing a step is the Countertop Cost Calculator, then drop the numbers into a full estimate.

How long does it take to estimate a countertop job? Done by hand with a tape measure and a spreadsheet, a detailed countertop quote takes me 30 to 45 minutes once I’m back at the truck. With software that already knows my rates, it’s a few minutes. That time adds up fast when you’re bidding several jobs a week.

Is quartz or granite cheaper to install? They’re close. Quartz runs $60 to $130 per square foot installed and granite runs $60 to $140. Quartz is engineered and consistent, so fabrication is predictable. Granite is natural stone, so a rare slab can push the high end. For most kitchens, the price difference is small enough that I tell clients to pick the look they love.

Do I need to pay for templating separately? For stone and solid surface, yes. Templating runs $75 to $200 and is usually its own line item. Laminate is typically field-measured and post-formed, so it skips that step. That’s part of why laminate installs cheaper and faster.

Price It Right, Win the Job

Countertops are a fast, profitable line item when you price them clean. Measure the real surface, bid the tear-out, account for templating, and apply markup that keeps your business alive. Get any one of those wrong and a good job turns into a money loser.

Contractors using EstimationPro turn around bids in minutes instead of the 30 to 45 minutes a detailed countertop quote used to eat by hand, and that speed wins more of the jobs you’re already bidding. EstimationPro doesn’t just build the estimate. It sends the proposal automatically, follows up with the homeowner so you stop losing bids to whoever quoted first, and turns the accepted quote into an invoice you can collect on. Try EstimationPro free and price your next countertop job the right way.