How Long Does a Kitchen Remodel Take? A Tampa Bay Homeowner’s Guide

Once work starts, a small kitchen remodel takes us 3 to 5 weeks on site, a full kitchen 4 to 6 weeks, and a semi-custom to custom kitchen 6 to 10 weeks. Before any of that there’s a planning and ordering window, usually a few weeks, while cabinets and materials are made and shipped. So from the day you sign to the day you cook again, most of our kitchens take about two to three months, and only part of that is spent living with construction. Below is how that time actually breaks down, what stretches it, and what you can do to keep your kitchen on schedule.

How long does each type of kitchen remodel take?

• Small kitchen, same layout (from $28,000): 3 to 5 weeks on site. New cabinets, base-level quartz, backsplash and lighting.
• Full kitchen, same layout ($36,000 to $50,000): 4 to 6 weeks on site. Adds flooring and more lighting and electrical work.
• Semi-custom to custom ($50,000 to $85,000 and up): 6 to 10 weeks on site. Bigger kitchens, custom cabinetry, and often moving walls, plumbing or the range.
• Cabinet refinishing (from $5,000): about 5 to 7 working days. No demo.
• Cabinet refacing (from $7,000): about 5 to 7 working days, or 2 to 3 weeks with new countertops and backsplash.

If your cabinet boxes are solid and you like the layout, refinishing or refacing gets you a new-looking kitchen in about a week instead of a month or more. That’s worth knowing before you plan around a long remodel. You can compare the three side by side in refinish, reface or remodel.

What happens before work starts, and why does it take a few weeks?

This is the part people don’t see, and it’s the part that decides whether the rest goes smoothly.

1. Consultation and estimate. I walk the kitchen with you, measure, and talk through what you want and your budget. You get a written estimate broken out by trade.
2. Selections. Cabinets first, then quartz, then backsplash, hardware and lighting. You can browse the options we use in our Design Portal before we meet, which speeds this up a lot.
3. Ordering. Cabinets are almost always the longest lead item, commonly several weeks. Appliance models also get locked in here, because the plumber and electrician rough in to your exact models.
4. Permits. When the work needs a permit, we pull it and schedule the inspections. Review time varies by city, and I build it into the schedule instead of pretending it won’t happen.

Our rule: we don’t start demo until every material is confirmed to arrive inside the schedule window. That’s the single biggest reason our kitchens don’t sit gutted for weeks. The waiting happens while you still have a working kitchen, not after we’ve torn it out.

What does the on-site schedule look like week by week?

Here’s a typical full kitchen with no walls moving. Smaller kitchens compress this; custom kitchens stretch it.

• Week 1: protection, demo and rough-in. We protect floors and furniture, put up dust barriers, and demo in 1 to 2 days. Debris leaves the same day. Then the plumber and electrician rough in new lines and circuits. Our crew moves and covers the big furniture near the work area.
• Week 2: inspection, drywall and paint. Permitted rough-in work gets inspected before walls close. Drywall takes 2 to 4 days because every coat has to dry. Walls and ceiling get painted before cabinets go in.
• Week 3: flooring and cabinets. Floors usually go in first, then cabinets are set, leveled and trimmed out in 2 to 4 days.
• Weeks 3 to 5: countertops. The fabricator templates off the installed cabinets, then it’s commonly one to two weeks to fabricate and install. This is the one gap in the schedule you’ll notice, and there’s no safe way around it.
• Final week: backsplash, trim-out and appliances. Backsplash goes on after the tops (two days with grout), the plumber and electrician set fixtures, appliances go in, and we walk the punch list with you.

The full stage-by-stage version, with what each step costs, is in the kitchen remodel order of operations.

What makes a kitchen remodel take longer?

• Late decisions. Changing the range or adding a pot filler after rough-in means opening walls back up. Picking everything before demo is the cheapest schedule insurance there is.
• Custom cabinets. They take longer to build than stock or semi-custom lines.
• Moving walls or the layout. Framing, engineering on load-bearing walls and extra inspections add days to weeks.
• What’s behind the walls. Water damage under the sink, rot behind the dishwasher or old wiring. In Florida humidity we see moisture damage more than you’d think. If we find something, we stop, show you, and price it in writing before we go on.
• Inspection scheduling. A busy week at the building department can add a few days.
• Condo and HOA rules. Work hours, elevator reservations and board approvals in beach condos can change the pace. We plan around them up front. More on that in our condo remodeling page.

What can you do to keep it on schedule?

1. Make every selection, including appliances, before demo.
2. Ask your contractor which items have the longest lead times and when they’ll be ordered.
3. Ask who pulls the permits and schedules inspections. With us, we do.
4. Set up a temporary kitchen before demo day: microwave, coffee maker, mini fridge and a folding table in the dining room or garage.
5. Know who your one point of contact is for schedule updates.
6. On bigger kitchens, over about $50,000, set aside roughly 10% as a cushion. Normal conditions are already in our price and we don’t write change orders for them. The cushion is only for the rare problem nobody could see until the walls were open, like termite damage or rotted framing.

What does that look like on a real kitchen?

Our Largo kitchen with solid-wood cabinets and quartz walks through a full demo-to-finish job. For a project that ran kitchen, bath and floors together, see the St. Petersburg kitchen, bath and floors remodel. Running more than one room at once usually saves total time versus doing them years apart, but it does mean more of the house is under construction at once.

Is it worth waiting for a kitchen remodel, or should you start now?

If you’re planning around a date (the holidays, family visiting, a sale), count backward about three months from it. That gives room for planning, ordering and the on-site work. If the date is closer than that, a refinish or reface may be the realistic way to get the look done in time, and you can plan the full remodel later.

Where do you remodel kitchens?

We’re based in Largo and work across Pinellas and the Tampa Bay area. Local pages: Largo, Clearwater, St. Petersburg, Seminole, Palm Harbor, Dunedin, Belleair and Indian Rocks Beach.

Frequently asked questions

How long does a kitchen remodel take in Tampa Bay?

With us, 3 to 5 weeks on site for a small kitchen, 4 to 6 weeks for a full kitchen, and 6 to 10 weeks for semi-custom to custom, plus a few weeks of planning and ordering before work starts.

What’s the longest part of a kitchen remodel?

Cabinet lead time, before work starts. On site, the countertop window (template to install, commonly one to two weeks) is the longest single wait.

Will I need to move out?

Most families don’t. We use dust barriers and clean up every day. Expect a few loud, dusty days during demo and drywall.

Do you pull permits?

Yes. When a kitchen needs a permit, we pull it and schedule the inspections as part of the job. Refinishing, refacing and countertop swaps usually don’t need one.

How much does a kitchen remodel cost?

Ours start at $28,000. Most full kitchens land between $36,000 and $50,000. The full breakdown is in how much a kitchen remodel costs in Tampa Bay.

Can a kitchen be done faster?

Picking everything early is the biggest speed-up. If you need it done in about a week, cabinet refinishing or refacing is the fast option.

Want your own timeline laid out? Book a free 30-minute consultation. I’ll walk the kitchen with you and give you a written estimate and a realistic schedule. Every price we publish is on our What It Costs page.