Kitchen and Bath Updates in Brentwood: What They Actually Change About Your Asking Price

Two widely cited reports try to measure this, and they reach different conclusions.

• Zonda's 2025 Cost vs. Value Report, published in September 2025, put the national average cost of a midrange minor kitchen remodel at $28,458 and estimated that it recouped 112.9 percent of that cost at resale.
• The same Zonda report estimated that a midrange major kitchen remodel recouped about 51 percent nationally and an upscale major kitchen remodel recouped about 36 percent.
• Zonda's 2025 report also estimated that a midrange bathroom remodel recouped about 80 percent of its cost nationally.
• The 2025 Remodeling Impact Report from the National Association of Realtors and the National Association of the Remodeling Industry estimated 60 percent cost recovery for both a complete kitchen renovation and a minor kitchen upgrade, and 50 percent for a bathroom renovation.

The gap between those figures is a warning in itself. NAR describes its numbers as remodelers' cost estimates set against real estate professionals' estimates of what each project adds at resale. Neither report records what any particular house sold for, and neither one knows your street. Use them for direction, not as a promise.

The two reports also disagree on project size. Zonda's figures show smaller, contained projects recovering more of their cost than large ones, while NAR's report gives the same estimate for a minor kitchen upgrade and a complete kitchen renovation.

Bathrooms follow the same logic, with less room for error. Zonda's 2025 Pacific region figures put an upscale bathroom remodel at an average of $86,863, with an estimated 44.5 percent of that cost recovered. The same report's national midrange bathroom figure was much better at about 80 percent, which again rewards restraint.

In practice, the bathroom work that matters most to buyers is the work that removes doubt. That list usually looks like this:

• Fix anything that leaks, runs, sticks or shows signs of water damage, because buyers notice it and it colors how they see the rest of the house.
• Replace tired fixtures, mirrors and lighting, which often date a room more than the tile does.
• Regrout or recaulk tubs and showers so the room reads as clean and cared for.
• Paint in a neutral color that photographs well.

None of these items requires a full renovation. Every one of them changes how the room looks in listing photos and how it feels in person.

Before you put money into a kitchen or bath, work through a few questions honestly.

• What did the comparable homes have? The answer tells you whether you are closing a gap or building past the neighborhood.
• Is anything broken? Repairs to failing items usually come before any cosmetic decision, because they shape how buyers judge the whole house.
• How long will the work take? A project that runs late can push your listing into a different season than the one you planned for.
• Will you be living there for a while? When Zonda released its 2025 report, the company's Todd Tomalak said interior projects make the most sense for owners who plan to stay in their homes longer. If you expect to stay a few more years, a bigger kitchen project is a lifestyle decision as much as a resale one.
• What would cheaper work get you? In NAR's 2025 Remodeling Impact Report, painting the entire home was the project Realtors most often recommended to sellers before listing, with 50 percent of respondents naming it.