How Long Does A Kitchen Renovation Take?

Knowing the realistic timeline early is what makes a kitchen project easy to live with. You can plan meals around the weeks without a working kitchen, make your material choices without being rushed, and fix a start date that does not collide with anything important.

Time On Site And Time From Ordering Are Not The Same

Most timescales you will be quoted refer to the time the work takes once it starts. That is the two to six weeks.

Before that comes the lead time for the kitchen itself. Units, appliances and worktops are ordered once the design is agreed, and standard ranges can take several weeks to arrive. Bespoke cabinetry usually takes longer.

If you are working toward a particular date, this is the part to plan around. The lead time is often the longest single stretch of the whole process, and it cannot be shortened once the order is placed.

Why Kitchen Timescales Vary So Much

A kitchen brings together more trades than almost any other room in the house. Plumbing, electrics, plastering, flooring, joinery, worktops, tiling and decoration all have to happen in a fixed order, and several cannot start until the stage before is finished.

The factors that matter most are:

• Whether the layout is changing. Keeping the sink, cooker and appliances roughly where they are avoids a significant amount of plumbing and electrical work. Moving the sink to an island, for example, means new waste and water runs.
• Structural work. Removing a wall to open the kitchen into a dining room adds days on site and, because it needs building regulations approval, time before work starts as well.
• The electrics. A new electric oven or induction hob can need its own circuit, and older properties often need wiring brought up to date before a modern kitchen can run safely.
• The worktops. Laminate and timber worktops are cut and fitted on site. Stone, quartz and solid surface worktops are measured once the base units are in and then made to order, which leaves a gap in the middle of the project.
• The condition of the room. Uneven floors, damaged plaster and old pipework only become fully visible once the old kitchen is out.
• Whether every trade is booked and sequenced in advance. As with any renovation, this is the factor that most often turns a three-week project into a six-week one.

A Realistic Stage-By-Stage Timeline

The table below shows the stages of a typical kitchen renovation and how long each usually takes. These are working days rather than calendar days.

The working stages add up to roughly two to four and a half weeks. Add the worktop wait where stone or quartz is chosen, allow for drying times between stages, and most projects land within two to six weeks.

Why The Flooring Often Goes Down First

On many projects the new floor is laid before the units go in, so it runs cleanly across the whole room and under the appliances. That was the order on a recent complete kitchen renovation in Lowestoft, where the subfloor was levelled and new LVT tile-effect flooring laid through the room before the kitchen was installed. It adds a day or two at the start but avoids cutting the floor around every unit.

The Worktop Gap

This is the part of a kitchen timeline that surprises people most.

Stone, quartz and solid surface worktops cannot be made in advance, because they have to match the fitted units exactly. Once the base units are in and level, the worktop supplier templates them, then cuts and finishes the worktops to order.

During that wait the kitchen is largely fitted but has no worktops. On some projects a temporary worktop can be fitted so the sink stays usable, although this is not always practical.

Laminate and timber worktops avoid the gap entirely, which is one reason they suit projects working to a tight date. If you have your heart set on stone or quartz, it is simply worth knowing the wait exists and planning around it.

What Makes A Kitchen Renovation Take Longer

Projects rarely overrun because the work itself was slow. The usual causes are predictable:

1. Materials arriving late. Units, appliances or worktops that turn up after work has started hold up everything behind them.
2. Decisions still outstanding. Choosing tiles, handles or lighting partway through stops whichever trade is waiting on that decision.
3. Hidden problems. Damp, rotten joists, old wiring or corroded pipework found during strip-out need resolving before work carries on.
4. Gaps between trades. When trades are booked separately, each one arrives when they are next free rather than when the project needs them. A few days’ wait, repeated several times, adds weeks.
5. Changing the scope partway through. Moving an appliance after the first-fix electrics are done means redoing finished work.

Older properties across Norwich and Norfolk are more likely to run into the third of these. That is not a reason to avoid renovating them, but it is a good reason to allow some flexibility in both the timeline and the budget. Our renovation costs and pricing guide covers the budget side, and our guide to kitchen fitting costs in Norwich explains what affects the price.

How Long Will I Be Without A Kitchen?

The kitchen is out of use from strip-out until the sink, hob and oven are reconnected at second fix. On a straightforward project that can be a couple of weeks. Where stone or quartz worktops are involved, the wait for them usually decides when you get a working sink back.

A few things make that period much easier:

• Set up a temporary kitchen elsewhere. A kettle, microwave, toaster and fridge in a dining room or utility room covers most daily needs.
• Plan simple meals and run the freezer down before work starts.
• Agree where washing up will happen, whether that is a utility sink, a bathroom basin or a washing up bowl.
• Ask how the sequence can be organised so the sink or an appliance is reconnected as early as possible.

How To Keep A Kitchen Project On Schedule

The biggest influence on finishing on time is how much is settled before anyone picks up a tool:

• Finalise the design and specification early, including appliances, handles, lighting, splashbacks and paint colours.
• Have units, appliances and fixed materials on site before day one, or at least confirmed for delivery on the right days.
• Choose worktops with the timeline in mind if you are working to a date.
• Get a proper survey, so problems with floors, walls and services are known and priced before work begins.
• Have every trade booked against one schedule, so the plasterer, fitter and electrician arrive in order rather than whenever they are next available.

How The Timeline Is Managed

A kitchen finishes on time when one person is responsible for the whole sequence rather than each part of it separately. That means the order goes in early, the worktop template is booked for the day the units are level, and the trades arrive in the right order with the right drying time between them.

When each trade is engaged separately, nobody holds that overall view, and the gaps between them are where the weeks go. We explain this in more detail in our guide to why it pays to use one company for your kitchen or bathroom renovation.

At Refined Interior Finishes, kitchen projects across Norwich and Norfolk are planned and coordinated as one process. You can see how each stage is handled on our kitchen installations page. If a bathroom is next on your list, our guide to how long a bathroom renovation takes covers the same ground for that room.

Planning A Kitchen Renovation

If you are working toward a date, such as Christmas, a family occasion or a sale, start the conversation earlier than feels necessary. The lead time for the kitchen usually matters more to that date than the work itself.

If you are considering a kitchen renovation in Norwich or the surrounding area, get in touch to arrange a survey and a realistic schedule for your project.