How Long Does a Kitchen Remodel Take?

The honest answer is that it depends on your kitchen, and that most of the time is spent before anyone picks up a tool. This page does not give a number of weeks for each phase, because no reliable published figure exists for cabinet or countertop lead times and every project differs. It sets out the sequence, explains what each phase is waiting on, and gives the few durations that official sources do publish.

One national benchmark

In the 2026 U.S. Houzz & Home Study, as reported by Houzz Pro on April 27, 2026, "Kitchen projects have the longest timeline overall on average: 9.5 months spent on planning and 5.8 months spent on construction." Those are averages reported by renovating homeowners across the country for projects done in 2025. They cover every size of kitchen project and include the time owners spent thinking, saving and choosing before they hired anyone.

Treat that as context, not a prediction. The useful point is the proportion: planning took longer than building.

The phases in order

For a fuller description of each step, see the article on the steps in a kitchen remodel.

Before construction: design, selections and ordering

This is the part you control, and it is where schedules are won or lost. The design fixes the cabinet layout. The cabinet order cannot be placed until the layout and the appliance models are final, because cabinets are built around appliance dimensions. Everything downstream waits for the cabinets.

No trustworthy industry statistic for cabinet or countertop lead times was found for this guide. They vary by manufacturer and season. Ask your contractor for the lead time they are being quoted today for the cabinet line you have chosen, and ask what it would be for an alternative. The cabinet guide explains why custom work generally takes longer than stock.

Permits

If the remodel needs a building permit, the permit sits between design and demolition. Not every kitchen needs one. See whether you need a permit.

Outside the city limits the permit office is different, and electrical permits come from the Washington Department of Labor & Industries, which says its online permits are processed immediately. Clark County publishes its average permit processing times on its Permit Center page. Check the office for your address and ask your contractor what they are seeing currently.

Demolition and what has to happen first

Demolition is quick. What comes before it is not always.

• Asbestos. In Clark County, the Southwest Clean Air Agency requires the owner or the owner's agent to determine whether suspect asbestos-containing materials are in the work area before any renovation. If asbestos has to be removed, the agency's rule sets a notification period of 10 days after a complete notice is submitted, and the removal may begin the day after that period. See asbestos and kitchen remodels.
• Lead. In a home built before 1978, a certified firm must give you the lead hazard pamphlet before starting, and set up containment. See lead paint rules.
• Timing against the cabinets. Many contractors schedule demolition so that the rough-in work finishes close to the cabinet delivery date. Starting demolition long before the cabinets exist means living without a kitchen for longer than necessary.

Rough-ins and inspections

With the walls open, the trades run new plumbing, gas piping, ductwork and wiring. Then the work stops until it is inspected. Vancouver Municipal Code 17.08.140 requires that work "remain accessible and exposed for inspection purposes until approved," and that the framing inspection happens after the rough electrical, plumbing and mechanical work has been inspected and approved. Drywall cannot go up until then.

The city says inspection requests received after 7 a.m. are inspected the next business day and that inspections may be scheduled up to five days in advance. The code also lets the building official require inspections to be scheduled at least three working days ahead, so a next-day visit should not be assumed. A failed inspection means a correction and a reinspection before the next trade can start. The sequence is described in kitchen remodel inspections.

Cabinets, countertops and the gap between them

Once drywall is finished, cabinets go in. Countertops made of stone, quartz or solid surface are then measured from the installed cabinets, not from the drawings, because the tops have to fit the walls and boxes as built. Fabrication follows the template, and installation follows fabrication.

That gap is built into every kitchen with fabricated tops, and it is the stretch owners find hardest: the kitchen looks nearly done but has no sink. Ask your fabricator's current turnaround from template to install, and whether a temporary sink or top can be set in the meantime. Backsplash, plumbing fixtures and most appliances wait for the countertops.

What extends a schedule

• Late or changed selections. A change after ordering can restart a lead time.
• Change orders. Added work adds time as well as cost, and changes that depart from the approved plans have to be resubmitted to the city as amended construction documents.
• Hidden conditions. Damaged subfloor, old wiring or earlier unpermitted work found at demolition.
• Layout changes. Moving plumbing or opening a wall adds rough-in work, inspections and sometimes engineering.
• Damaged or wrong deliveries. One missing cabinet can hold up the countertop template.
• Incomplete permit submittals and failed inspections.
• Historic review. A home on the Clark County Heritage Register needs a certificate of appropriateness before a permit is issued if the work affects features listed in its designation.
• Financing and decisions by owners that are not ready when the contractor is.

Getting a schedule you can rely on

Ask for a written schedule that shows the order of work, the dates that depend on deliveries and the points where you need to make a decision. Ask how you will be told when something moves. JDI Construction handles permits and project management for its clients and posts updates through a client portal, and the stages are described on the our process page. While the work is under way, living through a kitchen remodel covers the practical side, and kitchen remodeling in Vancouver explains how to start.