Posts in category: Modular Kitchen Cost

Last Updated: September 2026 | Reading time: about 9 minutes

What Replacing Only the Countertop Costs in Bengaluru in 2026

Countertop replacement

Replacing only the horizontal work surface of a kitchen while the cabinet carcasses, shutters and plumbing layout stay in place. In Bengaluru in 2026 it costs Rs. 160 to Rs. 350 per square foot in Indian granite and Rs. 280 to Rs. 450 in engineered quartz, installed, and takes two to three working days.

• A 30 square foot counter costs Rs. 4,800 to Rs. 10,500 in granite, Rs. 8,400 to Rs. 13,500 in quartz, installed.
• Granite slab material in Bengaluru runs Rs. 50 to Rs. 250 per square foot by variety, before any fabrication.
• Fabrication and laying adds Rs. 35 to Rs. 60 per square foot; on-site polishing Rs. 10 to Rs. 20.
• Edge profiling is charged per running foot at Rs. 40 to Rs. 130, and skirting at Rs. 25 to Rs. 35.
• An L-shape wastes 15 to 25 percent of the slab, so 30 finished square feet needs about 38 purchased.
• Keep 10 to 20 percent aside for what is found under the old slab.

Why a Bengaluru Stone Quote Splits Into Slab Rate and Fabrication Rate

The most useful thing to understand about countertop pricing is that Rs. 250 per square foot installed and Rs. 250 per square foot of stone are completely different numbers. The Bengaluru granite trade, concentrated around Jigani and Hosur Road, sells slabs far cheaper than homeowners expect. Sadarahalli White sells at Rs. 58 to Rs. 78 per square foot, Kuppam Green at Rs. 50 to Rs. 80. Even Black Galaxy tops out around Rs. 250.

Everything between that slab rate and your installed rate is work. Fabrication and laying, including cutting to size, runs Rs. 35 to Rs. 60 per square foot. On-site polishing adds Rs. 10 to Rs. 20. Edge profiling, the rounded or bevelled front lip, is billed per running foot at Rs. 40 to Rs. 130. Skirting, the upstand behind the counter, adds Rs. 25 to Rs. 35 per running foot. Sink and hob cutouts are quoted as their own lines by most Bengaluru fabricators, so ask for those figures.

Put it together on a real counter. Take 30 square feet in Tan Brown at Rs. 130 per square foot. Allowing for wastage you buy about 38 square feet, so the stone is roughly Rs. 4,940. Fabrication and laying at Rs. 45 across 30 feet is Rs. 1,350. An L-shaped 30 square foot counter carries about 22 running feet of exposed edge, so profiling at Rs. 85 per running foot is Rs. 1,870, and skirting at Rs. 30 is another Rs. 660. That totals Rs. 8,820, or Rs. 294 per square foot, squarely inside the Rs. 160 to Rs. 350 band we publish. The band is not a guess; it is this arithmetic run across cheap and expensive stone.

Slab Wastage: Why 30 Square Feet of Counter Needs About 38 Square Feet of Stone

Granite and quartz are sold as rectangles and kitchens are not. A slab is cut to your template, and the offcuts around the sink, the hob and the corner return are yours whether you use them or not. Industry estimating practice puts usable yield at 70 to 80 percent of what you buy. A straight single-run counter wastes about 10 percent. An L-shape with a sink and a hob, which describes most Bengaluru apartment kitchens, wastes 15 to 25 percent.

Two things follow. A quotation showing only your finished area has absorbed the wastage into a rate you cannot inspect. And offcuts are worth something: a piece large enough for a bathroom vanity top is often thrown in for the cost of polishing if you ask when ordering.

What Breaking Out a Bonded Granite Slab Does to the Cabinet Below

This is the part no rate card covers, and where a replacement stops being a simple swap.

An existing granite slab is usually bedded on cement mortar or bonded onto the cabinet carcass. Getting it off means breaking it, not lifting it, and the force travels downward. A sound plywood carcass survives this. A carcass that has sat under a leaking sink joint crumbles at the top rail and needs replacing before new stone can be laid. On the older cement platform kitchens common in Bengaluru independent houses, breaking out the slab often takes a strip of the platform edge with it, which needs re-plastering and a day to cure.

Three lines follow and belong in your quotation from the start. Debris removal: on our renovation projects we cost breaking out and legally carting away rubble at Rs. 30 to Rs. 60 per square foot of affected area, restricted high-rise lift slots at the upper end. Carcass repair, which cannot be priced until the slab is off. And backsplash damage, because the lowest course of tile is often bonded to the old skirting.

The honest way to handle all three is a written contingency of 10 to 20 percent for what is found underneath. If a fabricator quotes a flat price with no contingency and no mention of the carcass, they have not looked under your sink.

Granite, Engineered Quartz or Sintered Stone for a Replacement Job

On a replacement the material decision is narrower, because the cabinets and layout are fixed. What changes is cost, behaviour at the hob, and how many joints you see.

Granite remains the sensible default for most Bengaluru kitchens, and the reason is the hob. Indian cooking puts hot vessels straight onto the counter and granite tolerates that. Engineered quartz is resin-bound and scorches above roughly 150 degrees Celsius, so it needs a trivet habit the whole family keeps. In exchange it never needs sealing, where granite with open pores wants re-sealing every couple of years.

Above both sits the premium tier. In our own kitchen bills of quantity, Kalinga Stone quartz bills around Rs. 820 per square foot and imported Caesarstone around Rs. 1,250, which on a 30 square foot counter is Rs. 24,600 and Rs. 37,500. These earn their price in a kitchen you have just rebuilt, but spending Rs. 37,500 on a surface sitting over eight-year-old carcasses is the wrong order of operations.

One more decision belongs here. If the old counter is going because of a scorch mark rather than a crack, a professional re-polish costs a fraction of replacement and takes a day. Ask for that quote before breaking out a slab that is structurally fine.

Frequently Asked Questions

Limitations and Sources

These are Bengaluru rates for 2026 and assume a standard 24 inch deep counter of 15 to 20 mm thickness. Imported granite, book-matched slabs, waterfall ends and counters above 45 square feet sit outside these bands. Costs found under an existing slab cannot be estimated before removal, which is why the contingency is stated rather than buried. Sources:

• Sri Kalabhyraveshwara Granites, Bangalore granite prices, for slab rates by variety and Bengaluru laying, edge profiling, skirting and polishing charges.
• SlabWise, granite countertop cost per square foot, for slab yield and wastage percentages by counter shape.
• AECORD, countertop renovation cost in India 2026, for the material to labour split and contingency practice.
• DesignCafe, kitchen countertops cost, for cross-checking Indian material bands.

Final Word

A countertop replacement is one of the few interior jobs where a modest budget genuinely changes how a kitchen feels. The mistake I see is comparing two installed rates without knowing that one includes edge profiling and debris removal and the other does not. Get the slab rate, the fabrication rate, the edge and skirting rates, the cutout charges and the debris line as five separate figures, and comparison becomes trivial.

If your kitchen needs more than a new surface, the same logic applies further up. Our guides to modular kitchen cost in HSR Layout, sizing a kitchen chimney and the full interior design cost breakdown for Bangalore carry the same line-item treatment.

We measure and quote countertop replacements across Marathahalli, Whitefield, HSR Layout, Sarjapur Road, Indiranagar, Koramangala, JP Nagar, Bellandur, Hebbal, Yelahanka, Electronic City and Bommanahalli, from our studio at 2nd Floor, Sapthagiri Complex, 265/1, Kaggadasapura Main Rd, Vignan Nagar, Bengaluru, Karnataka 560075. Call +91 94499 00222 or write to [email protected] for a written breakdown before anyone opens a toolbox.

Last Updated: August 2026 | Reading time: about 9 minutes

Modular kitchen quotation

A priced offer for the modular cabinetry of a kitchen, covering the carcass boxes, shutters, standard hardware and installation labour. In Bengaluru in 2026 it typically excludes the countertop, appliances, sink and faucet, plumbing and gas modifications, electrical points, backsplash tiling and 18 percent GST, each of which is billed separately or bought by the homeowner.

• An L-shaped Bengaluru modular kitchen quotation covers cabinetry only and runs Rs. 2,20,000 to Rs. 3,20,000 in 2026.
• Countertops are quoted per square foot: granite Rs. 160 to Rs. 350, engineered quartz Rs. 280 to Rs. 450 including installation.
• A 60 cm auto clean chimney starts at Rs. 6,599 and a 90 cm at Rs. 15,790 on Faber India list pricing, with popular auto clean models at Rs. 16,249 to Rs. 29,990.
• Shifting a plumbing or gas line in a Bengaluru kitchen costs Rs. 25,000 to Rs. 80,000 depending on distance.
• GST on modular wooden furniture under HSN 9403 is 18 percent and is applied on top of the quoted cabinetry figure.
• On a Rs. 2,60,000 quote for a 10 by 10 kitchen, the excluded heads add about Rs. 1,55,300, a 60 percent uplift.

The Countertop Is a Separate Line: Rs. 160 to Rs. 450 per Square Foot

The countertop is the most expensive thing a modular kitchen quotation will not price for you, and it is excluded for a structural reason rather than a sneaky one. Stone is bought as a slab, cut to your measured drawing after the carcass is installed, edge profiled and then lifted into place, usually by a stone vendor rather than by the interior contractor. The sequence means the final quantity is not known when the quotation is written.

On 2026 rates published for the Bengaluru market, Indian granite falls between Rs. 160 and Rs. 350 per square foot and engineered quartz between Rs. 280 and Rs. 450 per square foot including installation, with imported marble in a far higher band. A standard 10 by 10 foot L-shaped kitchen carries roughly 30 square feet of counter, which puts granite at Rs. 4,800 to Rs. 10,500 and quartz at Rs. 8,400 to Rs. 13,500 for the surface itself.

Three sub-lines are frequently missed even when the countertop is quoted. The sink cutout is charged separately by most Bengaluru fabricators. The edge profile, whether a simple bullnose or a mitred waterfall, changes the labour rate. And the skirting, the 4 inch upstand behind the counter, is measured in running feet rather than square feet. Ask for all three to be shown as their own lines. If a quotation gives you a single countertop figure with no area, no rate and no edge specification, it is an estimate rather than a price.

Chimney, Hob and Sink: Appliances You Buy, Not the Designer

Almost every Bengaluru studio expects the homeowner to purchase the chimney, hob, sink and faucet directly. The designer needs only the model dimensions in order to cut the module openings correctly, which is why appliance specifications are requested early and then never appear in the price.

The spread is wide enough to change a budget on its own. On Faber India list pricing in August 2026, a 60 cm auto clean chimney starts at Rs. 6,599 and a 90 cm at Rs. 15,790, while popular auto clean models sit higher: the Elica 60 cm BLDC filterless at Rs. 16,249 and the Faber Apollo 90 cm at Rs. 29,990. Built in hobs across Glen, Faber and Bosch run from about Rs. 8,500 to Rs. 28,000, with a 70 cm four burner glass hob with brass burners typically landing at Rs. 16,000 to Rs. 22,000. Stainless steel sinks start around Rs. 2,500 for a basic single bowl, sit at Rs. 5,000 to Rs. 12,000 for a deeper 304 grade bowl with drainboard, and reach Rs. 25,000 and beyond for premium double bowls.

One practical consequence: decide the chimney width before the cabinetry drawing is frozen. A 90 cm chimney over a 60 cm hob needs a wider gap in the overhead run, and changing that after the shutters are cut is a rework charge, not a design revision.

Moving the Sink Point: Plumbing and Gas Work Nobody Quotes

If your new layout keeps the sink and gas point exactly where the builder left them, this head costs you nothing. The moment the layout moves either, it becomes one of the largest excluded lines in a Bengaluru kitchen. Shifting a plumbing or gas line costs Rs. 25,000 to Rs. 80,000 depending on the distance moved, because it involves core cutting through the wall or floor, re-routing supply and waste, re-sloping the drain and making good the surface afterwards.

Apartment stock across Whitefield, Sarjapur Road, Bellandur and Hebbal makes this more likely than it sounds. Builder kitchens are laid out around a single utility wall, and homeowners who want an island or a peninsula almost always end up moving the sink. In older apartments the drain slope is the constraint rather than the pipe run, and there is a limit past which a plumber cannot move a sink at all without a pump.

Electrical is the sibling line. A kitchen renovation with 6 to 10 new points, meaning the chimney socket, hob ignition, dishwasher, microwave, water purifier and under cabinet lighting circuits, costs Rs. 15,000 to Rs. 35,000 in Bengaluru. Ask whether that includes the concealed conduit and the making good of the plaster, or only the wiring and the switch plates.

Backsplash Tiling and the Loft: Two Lines That Vanish From Kitchen Quotes

The strip of wall between the counter and the overhead cabinets is not cabinetry, so it is not in a cabinetry quote. Backsplash tiling in Bengaluru starts at about Rs. 150 per square foot on published 2026 rate cards, usually with a 50 square foot minimum, which puts a typical 10 by 10 kitchen backsplash at around Rs. 7,500 before you choose anything decorative. Handmade or imported tiles multiply that quickly, and so does a herringbone or stacked layout, because the wastage and the labour both rise.

The loft is the other quiet omission. Bengaluru apartments almost always have a slab to soffit gap above the overhead run, and a quotation drawn to overhead height stops below it. Adding a loft with shutters is priced per square foot at the same material rate as the rest of the kitchen, which on BWP grade means another Rs. 2,500 to Rs. 3,500 per square foot of shutter face. It is worth deciding at drawing stage, because retrofitting a loft after the overheads are installed rarely produces a clean shadow line.

18 Percent GST on HSN 9403 Modular Furniture

Modular wooden furniture is classified under HSN 9403 and attracts GST at 18 percent. The rate survived the rationalisation approved at the 56th GST Council meeting, whose revised slabs took effect on 22 September 2025, and plywood under HSN 4412 also sits at 18 percent. There is a narrow exception at 5 percent for furniture made entirely of bamboo, cane or rattan, which does not describe a standard Bengaluru modular kitchen.

The practical issue is not the rate. It is where it appears. A quotation that shows Rs. 2,60,000 and carries "GST extra as applicable" in small type at the bottom is really a Rs. 3,06,800 quotation. When you compare two studios, confirm whether each figure is inclusive or exclusive before you subtract one from the other, because an 18 percent difference in presentation can look exactly like an 18 percent difference in price.

Ask for the GST treatment of the excluded heads too. Appliances you buy yourself carry their own GST at the point of purchase. Labour only services such as plumbing shifting may be invoiced differently from the supply and installation of furniture. A studio that can explain this in one paragraph is a studio that has an accountant.

A 10x10 Bengaluru Kitchen: Quoted at Rs. 2.6 Lakh, Delivered at Rs. 4.15 Lakh

Here is the arithmetic on a single worked example, built entirely from the rates cited above rather than from a rounded guess. Take a 10 by 10 foot L-shaped kitchen in a Bengaluru apartment, BWP grade carcass, laminate shutters, mid range soft close hardware. The cabinetry quotation lands at Rs. 2,60,000, which is the mid point of the Rs. 2,20,000 to Rs. 3,20,000 L-shape band that Bengaluru studios publish for 2026.

Now add the excluded heads at mid range choices. A granite counter across 30 square feet at Rs. 250 per square foot is Rs. 7,500. A 60 cm auto clean chimney is Rs. 16,000. A four burner glass hob is Rs. 19,000. A mid range sink with faucet is Rs. 8,500. A modest plumbing or gas shift at the lower end of the band is Rs. 25,000. Eight new electrical points are Rs. 25,000. Fifty square feet of backsplash at Rs. 150 is Rs. 7,500. Those seven lines total Rs. 1,08,500. GST at 18 percent on the Rs. 2,60,000 cabinetry adds Rs. 46,800.

The delivered figure is Rs. 4,15,300, against a quotation of Rs. 2,60,000. The gap is Rs. 1,55,300, or almost 60 percent on top of the number the homeowner was shown. Choose premium at every point instead of mid range and the same kitchen crosses Rs. 5,50,000 without a single change to the cabinetry design.

This is not an argument that Bengaluru studios are dishonest. Almost none of these heads can be priced accurately before measurement, and several of them genuinely belong to a different vendor. It is an argument for asking one question at the first meeting: what is not in this number. A studio that answers it in writing has told you more about how it works than any 3D render will.

Frequently Asked Questions

Limitations. The figures here are 2026 market rates for Bengaluru drawn from the published sources listed below and from manufacturer list pricing current in August 2026. Appliance prices change with model year and retail offers, stone rates vary by quarry batch, and plumbing costs depend on the specific building. The 10 by 10 worked example is arithmetic on those cited rates, not a record of a single completed project. Treat every figure as a planning band and confirm against a measured site quotation.

Sources

• Bureau of Indian Standards, for IS 710 BWP and IS 303 BWR plywood specifications.
• Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs, GST portal, for HSN 9403 and HSN 4412 rate classification.
• Faber India chimney list pricing, August 2026.
• DesignCafe kitchen countertop cost guide, updated 30 July 2026.

Final Word

The number on a Bengaluru modular kitchen quotation is real, and it is also incomplete. Once you know that the countertop, the chimney, the hob, the sink, the plumbing shift, the electrical points, the backsplash and 18 percent GST all sit outside it, the quotation becomes useful again, because you can add the missing heads yourself and compare two studios on the same footing. That single exclusions question, asked at the first meeting, is worth more than any amount of negotiating on the cabinetry rate.

If you want the comparison done properly, read our Bengaluru kitchen renovation ideas and cost guide for the wider renovation picture, our breakdown of typical home renovation costs per square foot in Bangalore for 2026 for how a kitchen sits inside a whole home budget, and our room by room home renovation cost guide for Bangalore when you are planning more than one space at a time. Or bring your existing quotation to our Vignan Nagar office and we will mark the exclusions on it with you.