When you say premium, why would kitchen cabinets and countertop warrant a premium, it would only warrant the value they are worth.
A house with a modern functional kitchen may be worth $500K, the $30,000 maple granite upgrade may only be worth $510K, whereas the house that needs it’s kitchen replaced, may only be worth $470 or $480.
The owner may have spent $30K on an upgrade, but from the home standpoint, $10K of the house value is just kitchen space, $10K is functional value. By upgrading the $30K, kitchen, the owner destroyed the previous $10K space and reused it, then destroyed the previous $10K of functional value rebuilding it and then put in the upgrade. Hence, that $30K of kitchen work is really only worth $10K above the other house with a functional kitchen.
The cost versus value numbers on remodeling have been getting distorted by the bubble just like home values. In additional, un-like previous remodel efforts, people are remodeling kitchens that are completely viable in essence, destroying value to add value where-as previously, remodels that even then only added 60 cents on the dollar where repairing detriments to the property that were actually decreasing the property value.
