Planning guide
How long does a kitchen remodel take?
The honest answer has three parts, because a remodel is three different kinds of time: deciding, waiting and building.
- Author
- By Lakefront Interiors
- Published
- Reading time
- 7 minute read
The short answer
Plan for months, not weeks, and expect design and ordering to take as long as construction or longer. The build itself, when the kitchen is out of use, is the shortest of the three stages in a well-sequenced project. The exact calendar depends on your scope, how quickly decisions are made and the lead times of what you choose.
The three kinds of time in a kitchen remodel
Homeowners usually picture the construction phase when they ask how long a remodel takes. It is the most disruptive stage, but it is bracketed by two others that decide whether it goes smoothly.
1. Design and decisions
This stage runs from your first conversation to a signed proposal with the layout, cabinetry, appliances, surfaces and lighting settled. Its length is set mostly by how many options you want to consider and how quickly you decide. It ends when the design is fixed enough to order from.
2. Ordering and approvals
Once the design is approved, cabinetry, appliances, stone and fixtures are ordered and permits are filed. Very little is visible in the house during this stage, but it is when the schedule is really made. Cabinet lead times, appliance availability, permit review and, in condominiums, association approval are the long items.
3. Active construction
Demolition to final walkthrough. The trades follow one another in a fixed order: demolition, rough plumbing and electrical, framing and drywall, flooring, cabinet installation, countertop templating and then installation, backsplash, finish electrical and plumbing, paint and punch list. Countertops alone insert a pause, because they are measured only after cabinets are installed and then fabricated.
What can overlap and what cannot
| Aspect | Can happen in parallel | Must wait for |
|---|---|---|
| Permit filing | Ordering cabinetry and appliances | An approved design with drawings |
| Cabinet fabrication | Permit review, appliance delivery, demolition prep | Final layout, appliance sizes and field measurements |
| Demolition | Nothing inside the kitchen; the temporary kitchen should already be set up | Permits in hand and cabinetry confirmed, so the room is not torn out early |
| Rough plumbing and electrical | Each other, with coordination | Demolition and any structural work |
| Countertop fabrication | Backsplash selection, finish electrical prep | Cabinets installed and templated |
| Backsplash tile | Painting elsewhere, punch-list prep | Countertops installed |
Starting demolition before cabinetry and permits are confirmed is the most common way a kitchen sits unusable for weeks with nothing happening.
What makes a project slower or faster
- Scope. Keeping the layout is quickest. Moving plumbing and gas adds trades and inspections. Removing a wall adds engineering and structural permit review before demolition can start.
- Decision speed. A design that changes after ordering forces re-orders and re-sequencing. Decisions made in order, once, keep the calendar intact.
- Cabinet lead time. Custom cabinetry generally takes longer to fabricate than semi-custom, and both vary by manufacturer and season. Confirm the lead time before the schedule is set.
- Appliance availability. A single back-ordered appliance can hold up cabinet installation if its dimensions or utilities are not final.
- Permit and approval review. Municipal plan review and, in condominiums, association approval have their own clocks that no contractor controls.
- What the walls reveal. Older homes can uncover wiring, plumbing or structure that needs attention once open. A thorough in-home visit reduces this; it cannot eliminate it.
- Condominium constraints. Restricted work hours, elevator reservations and delivery windows stretch the construction calendar compared with a house.
Setting up a temporary kitchen
You will be without a kitchen for the whole construction stage. A little preparation makes that period ordinary rather than miserable.
- Choose a room with a water source nearby, such as a laundry room, basement bathroom or a bar sink, and set up a folding table, the old microwave and a toaster oven or induction hob.
- Keep the refrigerator plugged in somewhere reachable. If the old one is being replaced, moving it to the garage or basement for the duration is often the simplest solution.
- Pack the kitchen in labeled boxes by frequency of use, and keep a small box of daily items out: a pan, a pot, plates for the household, a knife, a board and dish soap.
- Plan for washing up in a bathroom or laundry sink, and buy a dish rack that fits it.
- Expect dust despite protection. Plastic barriers and floor protection help, but cover or move anything delicate in adjacent rooms.
- Agree on working hours and a daily end-of-day tidy before demolition, so the rest of the house stays livable.
How this maps to our process
Our four stages line up with the three kinds of time described here. Your inquiry and the in-home visit begin the design stage; the design and proposal stage ends with an approved scope; ordering, permits and construction follow. We start construction only when cabinetry and long-lead items are confirmed and permits are in hand, so the kitchen is not out of use while the schedule waits on a delivery.
- How our process worksThe four stages in detail.
- What shapes the costThe same scope decisions seen from the budget side.
Let’s plan your kitchen.
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