A kitchen remodel fails on timing more often than on taste. Here is when each decision is genuinely due, and what to do about eating for ten weeks.
Why kitchens stall, and it is rarely the builder
The two things that delay a kitchen are a cabinet order placed late and an appliance chosen late. Cabinets run six to twelve weeks from the day the order is released, and the order cannot release until every appliance is specified.
A single undecided range holds the cabinet order, which holds the counter template, which holds the tile. One decision, four consequences.
One undecided appliance can hold a cabinet order for a month.
When each decision is actually due
Counting backwards from the day demolition starts, the sequence is reliable. We give clients these dates in writing at the start, because the deadlines are real and they do not move.
- Twelve weeks before demolition: layout finalised and appliances chosen by model number.
- Ten weeks before: cabinet order released, plumbing fittings selected.
- Eight weeks before: lighting plan and switch locations set, because they are framed and wired early.
- Four weeks before: tile and backsplash chosen and in hand.
- The week of the counter template: nothing left to decide.
Appliances are a dimension problem, not a shopping one
Panel-ready refrigerators, pro ranges and integrated dishwashers each have specific rough openings, clearances and venting requirements. The cabinet maker builds to those numbers.
Choose by model number, not category. “A thirty-six inch range” is not a specification. Two thirty-six inch ranges from different makers can need different hood sizes and different gas runs.
Living in the house while it is gone
Plan for eight to twelve weeks without a kitchen on a full remodel. Families who set up a temporary kitchen on day one have a much better time than families who improvise in week three.
The best temporary setup we see is in a dining room or a finished lower level, close to a sink if there is one.
- The fridge relocated rather than unplugged, with a dedicated circuit if it needs one.
- A microwave, a kettle, a toaster oven and an induction hob on a table.
- A plastic tub for washing up and a bathroom or utility sink nearby.
- Everything you will not use in three months boxed and out of the way.
Dust, access and the rest of the house
Agree before work starts where the crew enters, where the skip sits, which bathroom they use and how the path from door to kitchen is protected.
Zipped dust barriers with a negative-air machine behind them are worth asking for by name. Plastic sheeting taped across a doorway is not the same thing, and your furnace filter will tell you so.
What happens in what order once it starts
Demolition, rough plumbing and electrical, inspection, insulation and drywall, flooring, cabinets, counter template and a week of waiting, counters, backsplash, appliances, plumbing trim, final quality review.
The counter wait between template and install surprises people every time. It is real, it is usually seven to ten days, and nothing useful happens in the kitchen during it.
Template to counter install is a week of waiting that nobody can shorten.
