My wife and I bought house in Eastern NC in 2021 for 310k. It is probably worth 400-425k now. The home is in good condition but the kitchen is dated. The kitchen is original to the house and was built in the late 1980s. We are working with a contractor who is known for her work on luxury homes in the area. She probably is used to working with homes that are 400k-1M in value, which is high end in our area. At our first meeting, we told her that we hope to keep the kitchen renovation budget to 60k. It is a full gut job. Ideally, cabinets, flooring, lighting, and countertops would be replaced, but no walls need to be moved or anything.Yesterday, the contractor told us that she is waiting on a couple more firm estimates from subs, but that she expects the project to cost 150k. We told her that there is no way we could even close to that and that is way out of our budget.Am I wrong here for thinking that 60k could get us close to a full kitchen remodel? Do I need to adjust my expectations? Or, is 150k for a kitchen model as absurd as it sounds to me?

Edit: Thank you all for the insight and diverse perspectives! We can't afford 150k on a kitchen reno so you don't have to worry about us spending that amount of money on this project! We are in a LCOL area about 60 miles from Raleigh NC. I have not been provided with any formal quotes yet from the contractor so I don't yet know what is driving up the cost. The contractor has not yet given us different options for different types of materials which I am learning can make a world of difference in terms of price. She essentially told us the types of materials/finishes we would want without discussing pricing. The quote did include custom cabinets, but I was not told what type of materials would be used; apparently high-end haha. I am most frustrated that we were up front about our budget/expectations, but then her estimate was 3x as much without any conversation along the way.

Moving forward, I plan to adjust my expectations; 60k could be low but 150k is waaay too high. I will request formal quotes from her and the subcontractors she plans to use so I am better informed. I will ask the contractor to get me different estimates for various aspects of the job from different subs and/or different materials. I may also be looking for a new contractor to see what someone else can come up for us in our budget range.

Edit 2: This post got a decent amount of attention. Thanks for all the thoughts and anecdotes. After about 2 years from this post, our kitchen remodel is finished! We ended up shopping contractors and got some better prices. We remodeled the kitchen as well as the adjoining half-bath and laundry room. All in we spent $74,500. This got us custom cabinets, paint, trim, new appliances, electrical, plumbing, countertop, and flooring. We tried to save some money in a few areas. We went with a tile-looking LVT rather than tile (saved about $8,000), countertops, and appliances. I've seen others spend tons on high-end appliances. We've been happy with out GE, fingerprint resistant black slate appliances and spent about $5,000 on fridge, dishwasher, and oven. Hope this info helps anyone who visits this post. Kitchen remodels are expensive and a bear. My advice is to make your budget, take your time, and find a contractor you feel comfortable with.