Kitchen Remodel Timeline: A Real Week-by-Week Schedule

Most kitchen remodel timelines on the internet are vague. "Six to ten weeks." "A few months." Numbers without a schedule attached. The real timeline depends on cabinet lead times, whether you are moving plumbing, and how many trades have to sequence through one room.

We have built more than 500 projects in 16 years across Northbrook, Highland Park, Glenview, Wilmette, and Winnetka. Kitchens are the most common job we do. Here is the week-by-week schedule we run, where jobs actually slip, and what to cut if you need the kitchen back fast.

The Short Answer

A kitchen remodel takes 6 to 12 weeks of on-site work for most North Shore homes. A cosmetic refresh with stock cabinets, no layout change, and no appliance upgrade finishes in 4 to 5 weeks. A full gut with a moved range, custom cabinets, new flooring, and an island finishes in 10 to 14 weeks.

That is on-site time only. Add 6 to 10 weeks of design, ordering, and permitting before demo day. The total calendar from "we should remodel" to "we are cooking again" is closer to 16 to 22 weeks.

The National Kitchen and Bath Association publishes planning guidelines that line up with these ranges. NAHB industry data puts the average mid-range kitchen at roughly 8 weeks of construction once permits are pulled.

Design and Ordering: Weeks 1 to 8 Before Demo

Nobody starts a kitchen by swinging a hammer. The pre-construction calendar is where the timeline is actually decided.

• Weeks 1 to 2: Design and selections. Layout drawings, cabinet style, counter material, appliance package, tile, plumbing fixtures, paint colors. Every selection that is missing on the spec sheet adds days later.
• Weeks 2 to 4: Cabinet order placed. Mid-range semi-custom runs 6 to 8 weeks lead time. Fully custom runs 10 to 14 weeks. Order before demo, not after.
• Weeks 3 to 5: Permits. Most North Shore villages issue residential remodel permits in 2 to 4 weeks. Highland Park and Winnetka can run longer if structural changes need plan review. Glenview and Northbrook are typically fastest.
• Weeks 4 to 8: Long-lead items. Appliances, custom range hoods, and hand-glazed backsplash tile can quietly run 6 to 12 weeks. We confirm every ship date in writing before demo.

We do not start demo until cabinets are confirmed in the warehouse. Demolishing a kitchen and then waiting four weeks for cabinets is the most common reason "8-week jobs" become 14-week jobs.

The On-Site Schedule, Week by Week

This is the schedule we run for a typical 200-square-foot Northbrook or Glenview kitchen with a moved sink, semi-custom cabinets, quartz counters, and a tile backsplash.

• Week 1. Demo. Protect floors and adjacent rooms with plastic and Ram Board. Strip cabinets, counters, flooring. Open walls if needed for layout change. Haul out.
• Week 2. Rough-in. Plumber moves supply and waste. Electrician runs new circuits, can lights, range and dishwasher dedicated lines. HVAC adjusts vent registers if needed.
• Week 3. Inspection and drywall. Village inspector signs off on rough-in. Drywall hung, taped, and sanded. First coat of primer.
• Week 4. Flooring. Hardwood, LVP, or porcelain tile installed. Floors get protected immediately.
• Week 5. Cabinet install. Bases set and shimmed level. Uppers hung. Crown and toe kick. Filler strips scribed to walls.
• Week 6. Counter template and fab. Stone shop comes in to template after cabinets are fixed. Quartz fabrication runs 7 to 14 days from template to install.
• Week 7. Counter install, plumbing trim, sink, faucet, dishwasher hookup. Range slid in, hood vented.
• Week 8. Backsplash tile and grout. Paint touch-up. Hardware on cabinets. Punch list walk.
• Week 9 (optional). Final inspection, punch fixes, professional clean. Hand-off.

Real jobs run 6 to 12 weeks. The 6-week version skips a layout change, uses stock cabinets, and orders a quartz counter the cabinet vendor stocks. The 12-week version moves the range to a new wall, adds an island with seating, and uses a hand-glazed backsplash with a 4-week lead.

Three Real North Shore Kitchens: Planned vs Actual

These are three real TCC kitchens from the last 18 months. Names removed, neighborhoods kept.

Northbrook galley refresh. Same layout, semi-custom cabinets, quartz counters, LVP floor. Budget $50K to $100K. Planned 6 weeks. Actual 6 weeks. On schedule because selections were finalized in week 1.

Highland Park island add. New 9-foot island, moved range, custom cabinets, marble counter. Budget $100K to $250K. Planned 10 weeks. Actual 12 weeks. The marble slab template revealed a vein the homeowner rejected, and re-templating added 9 days.

Wilmette full gut with structural. Wall removed, new beam, custom cabinets, panel-ready appliances. Budget $250K+. Planned 12 weeks. Actual 14 weeks. Structural inspection scheduling held the rough-in 6 days, and the panel-ready fridge ship date moved 5 days.

The Wilmette job is a good example of why we add a buffer. Two slips of less than a week each compound into a two-week delay. Honest schedules carry float.

For a sibling project see our Northbrook kitchen remodel project page for budget, photos, and the cut list.

Where Kitchen Timelines Slip

After 500 projects the slip points are predictable.

1. Cabinet lead times. Custom cabinets get quoted at 8 weeks and ship at 12. Order early, confirm in writing, and keep demo dates flexible.
2. Counter templating delays. Stone shops template after cabinets are set, then fab in 7 to 14 days. A re-template (wrong slab, wrong overhang) costs a week.
3. Inspection scheduling. Some villages require 48 hours notice and have one inspector for the whole department. Friday rough-ins can wait until Tuesday.
4. Pre-1978 homes and lead paint. TCC is EPA RRP Lead-Safe Certified and runs containment on every pre-1978 demo. The protocol is required and adds 1 to 2 days to demo, not weeks. Crews that skip it are gambling with the homeowner's certificate of occupancy.
5. Selections made mid-project. Picking a backsplash in week 5 means the tile order ships in week 7, not week 6. Every undecided selection costs a week.
6. Appliance ship dates. Panel-ready and pro-grade appliances often have 2 to 3 month lead times. Order with the cabinets.

For a more general primer see our How Long Does a Kitchen Remodel Take post, and the parallel bathroom remodel timeline for primary baths.

What We Would Cut to Stay Short

If the timeline is the constraint, here is what we tell homeowners to drop.

• Skip the layout change. Moving the sink or range adds plumbing, electrical, drywall patching, and one extra inspection. That is 1 to 2 weeks. Most kitchens do not need a moved sink to function better.
• Skip the island add-on. Adding an island after the fact requires new electrical, possibly new plumbing if it has a sink, and a separate cabinet order. A peninsula off the existing run is faster.
• Skip the hand-glazed tile. A small-batch backsplash with a 4-week lead becomes the schedule's critical path. A field tile from a stocked line installs the same way and ships in 3 days.
• Skip the panel-ready fridge. Panel-ready appliances need cabinet panels fabricated to match. Stainless or fingerprint-resistant paneled fridges from a stocked line save 4 to 8 weeks.

For more on this see our what to cut from a kitchen remodel breakdown.

The takeaway: most "long" kitchen remodels are long because of three or four discretionary upgrades stacked on top of each other. Cut one and you save a week. Cut two and you save a month.

Ready to plan the schedule on your own kitchen? Book an in-home consultation and we will walk you through a sequence and a real timeline before any line is drawn. We work across Northbrook, Highland Park, Glenview, Wilmette, Winnetka, Deerfield, Lake Forest, Evanston, and Skokie.

For the full kitchen scope, budget brackets, and process see our kitchen remodeling services page.