Planning a kitchen remodel: what actually sets the timeline

The three long poles

Cabinetry, stone and appliances set the finish date of nearly every kitchen. Custom cabinetry is typically ordered many weeks before it arrives, and it can't be ordered until the layout is final. Stone can't be templated until the cabinets are installed, and it can't be installed until it's fabricated. Appliances decide cabinet openings, so a late appliance change ripples straight back into the cabinet order.

Everything else — demo, framing, rough trades, drywall, paint — is comparatively flexible. That's the part a good crew can compress. The long poles are the part they can't.

Decide in this order

• Layout and appliance selections — before anything is ordered, because both drive cabinet dimensions.
• Cabinetry: door style, finish, interior fittings. Approve shop drawings carefully; this is your last cheap chance to change anything.
• Plumbing fixtures, because sink and faucet choices affect cabinet and counter cutouts.
• Stone: pick the actual slab at the yard, not a sample chip. Veining varies enormously.
• Tile, lighting and hardware — these can be decided during construction without stalling it.

Where permits fit

If the scope moves plumbing or gas, adds circuits or removes a wall, it needs a permit. Plan check time varies by jurisdiction, and it runs in parallel with your selections — which is exactly why selections should be happening during permitting rather than after.

A project that waits for the permit and then starts choosing cabinets has effectively added the cabinet lead time to the end of the schedule.

A realistic expectation

For a typical Valley kitchen: six to ten weeks of on-site construction once permits are issued and long-lead items are on order. Add the lead times ahead of that, and a kitchen that starts construction in March was usually being planned in January.

The single best thing you can do for your own schedule is to finish the decisions the contractor asks for early. We'll give you the list of what's needed and by when at the start — the projects that stay on schedule are the ones where that list gets answered.