Planning guides
How long does a kitchen remodel take? The real timeline, week by week
How long does a kitchen remodel take? One to two weeks for a refresh, eight to 12 weeks or more for a full remodel. Here's the real timeline, week by week.
By Zack Wais11 min read
A kitchen remodel takes one to two weeks for a cosmetic refresh, four to eight weeks to replace the cabinets, counters and appliances, and eight to 12 weeks or more for a full remodel that moves walls and replaces everything (Angi). Angi's separate estimates for each phase run longer: demolition, construction and the final inspections, added end to end, come to about 11 to 18 weeks. Homeowners report a longer calendar still: kitchen renovators in Houzz's 2026 study averaged 9.5 months planning and 5.8 months building their 2025 projects (Houzz).
I'm Zack, a licensed contractor with 15 years on the tools. I work across the west Denver metro, and I'm a one-person business, so I'm also the one watching the calendar while a kitchen waits on a truck. What it all costs is in my kitchen remodel cost guide.
This post covers the next question after the price, which is how long it all takes. If you're asking, you've probably just realized the microwave is about to be the only stove in the house.
Cosmetic refresh
What it includes: Painted cabinets and a new backsplash
How long: 1 to 2 weeks
Replacement
What it includes: New cabinets, countertops and appliances in the same layout
How long: 4 to 8 weeks
Full remodel
What it includes: Everything torn out and replaced, walls moved or removed
How long: 8 to 12 weeks or more
The whole project, as homeowners report it
What it includes: Kitchen renovators’ average, 2025 projects
How long: 9.5 months planning, 5.8 months building
| Project | What it includes | How long |
|---|---|---|
| Cosmetic refresh | Painted cabinets and a new backsplash | 1 to 2 weeks |
| Replacement | New cabinets, countertops and appliances in the same layout | 4 to 8 weeks |
| Full remodel | Everything torn out and replaced, walls moved or removed | 8 to 12 weeks or more |
| The whole project, as homeowners report it | Kitchen renovators’ average, 2025 projects | 9.5 months planning, 5.8 months building |
Sources: Angi, Houzz & Home Study 2026.
On this page
- Timeline by scope
- A full remodel, week by week
- Why the calendar runs longer than the work
- Denver and west-metro timelines
- How long you'll be without a kitchen
- What delays a remodel
- The best time to start
- What to ask about the schedule
- FAQ
Kitchen remodel timeline by scope: refresh, replacement or full remodel
Scope decides the timeline: a refresh that keeps the cabinet boxes takes one to two weeks. Replacing the cabinets, counters and appliances in the same layout takes four to eight weeks. A full remodel that tears everything out and moves walls takes eight to 12 weeks or more (Angi).
A full renovation that also moves the plumbing and electrical can take 3 to 5 months, Atlanta builder Ili Hidalgo-Nilsson told HGTV. That's long enough to keep reaching for a drawer that's been in a dumpster since week one.
A refresh is quick because almost nothing has to be shipped. The paint's at the hardware store, the faucet's on a shelf, and the cabinet boxes are already on your wall, being judged. If those boxes are sound, refinishing or rehanging the cabinets gets you most of the new look in a fraction of the time.
Replacement is where your calendar starts belonging to other people: a cabinet factory, a countertop shop and whoever's driving the truck. The full remodel adds a permit, inspections and whatever the walls have been keeping to themselves for 40 years.
This is where you'll find out you want the full-remodel kitchen on the refresh schedule. Blame the home shows, where a whole kitchen gets gutted between two commercial breaks, the couple cries at the reveal, and nobody ever mentions the two weeks everyone spent waiting for the countertops.
A small kitchen still takes weeks, not days, even one where you can touch the fridge and the sink at once. Angi says redoing a small kitchen takes about six to nine weeks. What each budget buys there is in my small kitchen cost guide. A 12-by-12 room has its own 12x12 kitchen remodel cost guide, two feet roomier and no less crowded.
A full kitchen remodel timeline, week by week
A full kitchen remodel runs in a fixed order: demolition, rough plumbing and wiring, inspection, drywall, cabinets, countertops, backsplash, then appliances and fixtures. Stacked at their longest, Angi's phase estimates run from demolition in week 1 to sign-off in week 18, past that page's own eight-to-12-week headline. Countertops can't be measured until the cabinets are installed, so the counters set the pace for the back half (Cambria).
Planning and design
Weeks: Before week 1
How long: 2 weeks to 3 months
What it waits on: Layout, finishes and appliances picked and ordered (Angi)
Permits
Weeks: Before week 1
How long: Up to 4 weeks
What it waits on: Your city’s review queue (Angi)
Demolition
Weeks: Weeks 1 to 2
How long: 1 to 2 weeks
What it waits on: How much is coming out (Angi)
Construction: plumbing and wiring, inspection, cabinets, countertops, floors, lighting and appliances
Weeks: Weeks 3 to 14
How long: 8 to 12 weeks
What it waits on: Inspections before the cabinets and counters go in (Angi)
Inside construction: drywall mud
Weeks: Part of weeks 3 to 14
How long: About 24 hours a coat
What it waits on: Drying time at 70 degrees and 70% humidity (USG)
Inside construction: quartz countertops
Weeks: Part of weeks 3 to 14
How long: About 2 weeks to make, 2 to 5 hours to install
What it waits on: Cabinets installed, sink and faucet on site before measuring (Cambria)
Inside construction: backsplash
Weeks: Part of weeks 3 to 14
How long: Grout sealer waits 48 to 72 hours
What it waits on: The grout, before the sealer goes on (Custom Building Products)
Post-construction: final inspection and walkthrough
Weeks: Weeks 15 to 18
How long: 2 to 4 weeks
What it waits on: Final inspections, your walkthrough and sign-off (Angi)
| Step | Weeks | How long | What it waits on |
|---|---|---|---|
| Planning and design | Before week 1 | 2 weeks to 3 months | Layout, finishes and appliances picked and ordered (Angi) |
| Permits | Before week 1 | Up to 4 weeks | Your city’s review queue (Angi) |
| Demolition | Weeks 1 to 2 | 1 to 2 weeks | How much is coming out (Angi) |
| Construction: plumbing and wiring, inspection, cabinets, countertops, floors, lighting and appliances | Weeks 3 to 14 | 8 to 12 weeks | Inspections before the cabinets and counters go in (Angi) |
| Inside construction: drywall mud | Part of weeks 3 to 14 | About 24 hours a coat | Drying time at 70 degrees and 70% humidity (USG) |
| Inside construction: quartz countertops | Part of weeks 3 to 14 | About 2 weeks to make, 2 to 5 hours to install | Cabinets installed, sink and faucet on site before measuring (Cambria) |
| Inside construction: backsplash | Part of weeks 3 to 14 | Grout sealer waits 48 to 72 hours | The grout, before the sealer goes on (Custom Building Products) |
| Post-construction: final inspection and walkthrough | Weeks 15 to 18 | 2 to 4 weeks | Final inspections, your walkthrough and sign-off (Angi) |
Weeks count from the first day of demolition. The "inside construction" rows happen during weeks 3 to 14, so they don't add time on top. At the short end of every range (one week of demolition, eight of construction, two to finish), the job wraps up around week 11, which is still long enough to learn every button on the microwave.
Drywall mud is one of the slow steps that isn't waiting on a truck. Each coat needs about a day to dry, and damp air slows it down. That's one job where Colorado's dry air finally earns its keep, after years of nothing but static shocks off the car door.
The order is where the real time hides. The counters wait on the cabinets, the cabinets wait on the drywall, and the drywall waits on an inspector looking at your pipes. So for one strange afternoon you'll stand in an empty room, hold a faucet in its box like a newborn, and feel honest gratitude toward a city inspector with a clipboard who showed up on a Tuesday.
The backsplash is the last big visual step, and it runs on its own clock. Sealer goes on 48 to 72 hours after the grout, so for two days the prettiest wall in the house is off-limits to spaghetti sauce, which is harder to enforce than it sounds.
Why a kitchen remodel takes longer than the work
Most of a kitchen remodel's calendar is planning and waiting, not working. Homeowners who renovated a kitchen in Houzz's 2026 study averaged 9.5 months of planning and 5.8 months of construction (Houzz), far past the eight to 12 weeks or more Angi gives a full remodel. Angi is estimating the work itself, while Houzz's averages are what homeowners reported about their own 2025 kitchens.
A remodeler’s first open week
Typical wait: 6.0 weeks for build-only remodelers, July 2026
Source: Houzz
Stock cabinets
Typical wait: Can ship when ordered
Source: Angi
Custom cabinets
Typical wait: Can take 6 to 8 weeks to build
Source: Angi
Quartz countertops
Typical wait: About 2 weeks after measuring
Source: Cambria
A lead time is a guess with a confident font. One homeowner on Reddit was quoted six to eight weeks for cabinets: "It is now 15 weeks later," they wrote, with the rest of the job on hold for eight of them (r/kitchenremodel).
Late cabinets aren't personal. They're late the way a package is late when the tracking page has said "in transit" for nine days and you've started refreshing it like it owes you money.
(The faucet's still in its box, by the way. It's fine. It has a lovely view of the plywood.)
Subcontractors add their own gaps. Another homeowner, two and a half weeks past demolition, counted the days anyone had actually worked: "Out of 2.5 weeks, we've only seen 5 full days of labor" (r/kitchenremodel).
How long a kitchen remodel takes in Denver and the west metro
In Denver and the west metro, plan on the timeline above, plus a few local steps. The permit can be the quick part: an interior remodel that doesn't change the home's footprint often clears Denver plan review in about two days, Denver's residential plan review supervisor told The Denver Post. Colorado's asbestos and lead steps are the ones that can add a week or two.
Denver plan review
Time it adds: Often about 2 days for an interior remodel with no footprint change; about 2 weeks for an addition
Source: The Denver Post
Denver inspections
Time it adds: Within 2 business days of a request, and none while the permit is still in review
Source: Denver
Lakewood permits and inspections
Time it adds: Almost all work needs a permit; inspections booked by 7 a.m. are usually done the same day
Source: Lakewood
Asbestos
Time it adds: A certified inspection before disturbing over 32 sq ft; 10 working days’ notice before removing regulated asbestos
Source: CDPHE
Lead paint, homes built before 1978
Time it adds: The EPA lead pamphlet goes to the owner at least 7 days before work starts
Source: CDPHE
| Step | Time it adds | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Denver plan review | Often about 2 days for an interior remodel with no footprint change; about 2 weeks for an addition | The Denver Post |
| Denver inspections | Within 2 business days of a request, and none while the permit is still in review | Denver |
| Lakewood permits and inspections | Almost all work needs a permit; inspections booked by 7 a.m. are usually done the same day | Lakewood |
| Asbestos | A certified inspection before disturbing over 32 sq ft; 10 working days’ notice before removing regulated asbestos | CDPHE |
| Lead paint, homes built before 1978 | The EPA lead pamphlet goes to the owner at least 7 days before work starts | CDPHE |
Asbestos rules cover a house of any age. A home built after October 12, 1988, can be exempt, but only if its architect or engineer, or a certified asbestos inspector, fills out the state's form saying no asbestos was used. The state's trigger, 32 square feet, is one 4-by-8 sheet of drywall, so almost any kitchen tear-out needs the test before the first swing of the hammer, the one swing everybody's been looking forward to.
Age still decides the lead steps, which cover homes built before 1978. Lakewood's median home was built in 1977, Arvada's in 1979 and Wheat Ridge's in 1965, against 1980 nationally (US Census, via Census Reporter). The typical Wheat Ridge kitchen is old enough to have had opinions about avocado-green appliances.
Nobody enjoys hearing "ten working days" mid-remodel. You'll do the math on eating cereal over the laundry sink for two more weeks, decide you're tough enough, then quietly price out hotels anyway.
The asbestos test, the lead pamphlet and the permit only cost days when somebody remembers them late, usually once the dumpster's already in the driveway. The good news: all three can happen before the first cabinet comes off the wall.
How long will you be without a kitchen?
For a typical remodel, plan on about six weeks without a working kitchen, by HGTV's estimate. A full remodel that moves walls or plumbing can keep you out for most of its eight to 12 weeks of construction, and longer if cabinets or counters run late.
You shouldn't need to move out, though you'll cook somewhere else and the dust can spread through the house (Angi).
Homeowners on Reddit set up camp in garages, bathrooms, home offices and dining rooms, and washed dishes in laundry sinks (r/kitchenremodel). One summed up the mood perfectly: "Approaching week 8 of a 3 week project."
Whatever else gets packed away, leave the coffee maker out. In a house with no kitchen it stops being an appliance and becomes the family's last good reason to get up, plugged into a power strip on a card table like a small, steaming shrine.
A plastic wall with a zipper door keeps most of the dust in the kitchen. Most, the way most of the glitter stays on the kids' craft table. Expect some in the hallway, and keep the bedroom doors shut so less of it makes the trip.
What delays a kitchen remodel (and how to keep yours on schedule)
Common delays are late decisions, changes after work starts, late materials and damage found behind the walls. Atlanta builder Ili Hidalgo-Nilsson told HGTV that too many scope changes once construction begins are very often the cause. The fix is to pick and order everything before demolition.
- Pick every finish and appliance first. Designer Kitchy Crouse told HGTV the cabinet plans are drawn around the appliances, so changing an appliance later changes the layout. Settle the appliances before the paint swatches go up, because once eleven nearly identical whites are taped to the wall, nobody in the house decides anything else for a week.
- Order the cabinets before demolition. One homeowner had a usable kitchen about six weeks after demolition because the cabinets and appliances arrived first (r/kitchenremodel). The boxes take over the garage for a few weeks, and you'll walk past them every morning feeling like you've personally built something.
- Have the sink and faucet on site before the counter is measured. Cambria requires both on site when it measures (Cambria), so the cutouts fit the sink you actually bought, not the two you were still comparing in browser tabs at 11pm.
- Keep the handoffs few. "The more subcontractors involved in the kitchen remodel, the higher the chance of delays," says Angi.
Doing three trades myself still doesn't hurry the countertop shop, which runs its own clock. No contractor alive can talk a slab of quartz into showing up early.
When is the best time to start a kitchen remodel?
Any time of year works for a kitchen remodel, because it's indoor work. What changes is the wait for a contractor: in Houzz's 2026 surveys, the wait to start with a build-only remodeler was shortest in mid-March to early April, at 4.6 weeks, and longest in July, at 6.0 weeks.
Design-build firms, which design the job as well as build it, ran the other way: the wait to start with one was shortest in July, at 6.2 weeks.
December 2025
Build-only remodelers: 5.5 weeks
Design-build firms: 6.6 weeks
Mid-March to early April 2026
Build-only remodelers: 4.6 weeks
Design-build firms: 6.7 weeks
July 2026
Build-only remodelers: 6.0 weeks
Design-build firms: 6.2 weeks
| Survey taken | Build-only remodelers | Design-build firms |
|---|---|---|
| December 2025 | 5.5 weeks | 6.6 weeks |
| Mid-March to early April 2026 | 4.6 weeks | 6.7 weeks |
| July 2026 | 6.0 weeks | 6.2 weeks |
Sources: Houzz Pro Industry Barometer, Q1, Q2 and Q3 2026, national.
Three surveys in one year aren't a law of nature (they're barely a weather report), but the patterns are worth knowing. Call a build-only remodeler in July and you're in line behind everyone who spent June hosting barbecues in a kitchen they've quietly hated since Easter. Whatever the month, book early and order the cabinets before demolition.
What to ask about the schedule before you hire
Ask any contractor you're considering for the schedule along with the price, and ask what gets ordered before demolition. In the west metro, also ask when the asbestos test and the lead pamphlet happen, since both belong before demolition. The typical home in Lakewood (1977) and Wheat Ridge (1965) was built before 1978, so the lead steps often apply there.
The answer to the ordering question tells you how long your faucet will live in its box in the dining room.
Being one person has a scheduling upside: there's one calendar to check, and it's mine. The scheduler, the office manager and the guy holding the drill are all me, which keeps the staff meetings short and the holiday party a little sad.
The other half of a schedule is keeping you in the loop, because nobody should have to guess why there's a dishwasher in the garage. After a bathroom remodel, a customer named Amanda wrote that I "kept us updated as the work progressed." Amanda also wrote that I was upfront about pricing and stayed within budget.
Kitchen remodel timeline FAQ
- How long does a full kitchen remodel take?
- Eight to 12 weeks or more, by Angi's estimate for a remodel that guts the kitchen and moves walls. Added up, Angi's separate phase estimates run longer, about 11 to 18 weeks from demolition to sign-off. Homeowners in Houzz's 2026 study took longer still on kitchens, averaging 9.5 months planning and 5.8 months building.
- Can a kitchen remodel be done in two weeks?
- Only a cosmetic one. Painted cabinets and a new backsplash take one to two weeks, by Angi's estimate. New counters take longer: quartz is measured after the cabinets go in, then takes about two weeks to make, Cambria says.
- How long will I be without a kitchen during a remodel?
- About six weeks for a typical remodel, by HGTV's estimate. A full remodel can keep you out for most of its eight to 12 weeks of construction. You shouldn't need to move out, Angi says. Set up a temporary kitchen with the fridge, a microwave and a coffee maker.
- What takes the longest in a kitchen remodel?
- Planning. Homeowners in Houzz's 2026 study averaged 9.5 months planning a kitchen and 5.8 months building it. Once work starts, the longest waits are for parts: custom cabinets can take six to eight weeks to build, and quartz counters about two more weeks once the cabinets are in.
- When should I remodel my kitchen?
- Any time of year works, because it's indoor work. What changes is the wait for a contractor: in Houzz's 2026 surveys, build-only remodelers were booked 4.6 weeks out in mid-March to early April and 6.0 weeks out in July, the longest of the three surveys. Design-build firms had their shortest wait in July, at 6.2 weeks. Book early, and order cabinets before demolition.
Get a timeline for your own kitchen
A national average can't tell you when your kitchen will be done. A look at the room can. See what I take on at kitchen remodeling, check the prices in my kitchen remodel cost guide, or send me photos of your kitchen for a free estimate, and I'll tell you how long yours should take.
