Kitchen remodel timeline, New York City

An average kitchen remodel takes us between 6 and 10 weeks, depending on the scope and complexity of the project. This page shows the major steps that are part of most kitchen remodeling projects, in the order we do them, and then explains what makes one New York City kitchen a six-week job and another a ten-week one. Understanding the stages will help you communicate with our construction team and know when your new kitchen will be ready.

Project	Time frame	Source
An average kitchen remodel, through the five stages below	Between 6 and 10 weeks, depending on scope and complexity	Our own schedule for kitchen remodels
One client’s kitchen: a gut renovation that included removing a 15 foot concrete wall, all new cabinets, lighting, ceiling and appliances	Quoted 10 weeks, finished in 10 weeks and 1 day	The client’s review, quoted on this page

The kitchen remodeling schedule, stage by stage

These are the five stages and every step in them. The right-hand column says what each stage waits on, which is where a schedule gains or loses time.

Stage	Steps in this stage	What it waits on
Preparation	Permit acquired. Construction schedule is established. Water and gas are disconnected. Electrical service for the kitchen is disconnected if possible. Dust isolation and protection for the surrounding areas. Path to the dumpster established and protected. Negative air pressure is created to keep dust out of the living area. Cabinet layout is established to guide the plumber and the electrician. Cabinets are ordered.	The building’s consent and any city permit, your appliance choices, and your approval of the cabinet layout.
Kitchen demolition	Existing cabinets and counters are removed. Plaster is stripped from the walls and ceilings. Walls and ceilings are de-nailed. Finish floor is removed. All remaining debris is swept and vacuumed to limit the spread of dust during construction.	The building’s work hours and its rules for noise and for taking debris out.
Framing	Walls are framed for new doors and cabinetry. Beams are installed for enlarged openings. Wall framing is inspected for level and evenness. Floor framing is evaluated and adjusted if required.	What demolition uncovers, and whether any opening is being enlarged.
Mechanical	Electrical walk-through with the client to confirm the location of lighting, switches and outlets. Plumbing for drains and water supplies is installed. Inspections for wiring, plumbing and framing. Insulation is installed and inspected.	Your time for the walk-through, the licensed plumber and electrician, and the inspections.
Finish installation	Wallboard is installed and plastered. Interior trim. Waterproof flooring. Finish flooring. Cabinets are installed. Appliances are installed. Template is made for the kitchen counters. Painting and other specialty finishes. Counters are installed. Plumbing and electrical are connected and finished. Backsplash tiles are installed. Final cleanup and walk-through.	Delivery of the cabinets, appliances and counters, and your choices of tile, paint and finishes.

Why the range is 6 to 10 weeks

The steps are the same in most kitchens. What changes is how much there is of each. A kitchen that keeps its walls and the positions of its sink and range has a short framing stage and a simple mechanical stage. A kitchen that opens to the living room needs walls framed for new openings and beams installed where an opening is enlarged, and one that moves its plumbing or adds lighting has more to install and more to inspect. Custom cabinets, stone counters and special finishes each add their own steps at the end.

One of our clients described the upper end of the range in his review. His kitchen was a gut renovation in a pre-war co-op:

What has to happen before the first day of work

Our schedule begins with the permit acquired. Everything that leads to that point has its own clock, and in New York City most of those clocks belong to someone else: your building and the city. Count them in when you plan the date you want to be cooking again.

Design and the cabinet layout

The cabinet layout is established first, because it guides the plumber and the electrician, and the cabinets are ordered during preparation, well ahead of the finish stage that installs them. The appliances have to be chosen before the layout is final, since the cabinets are built around them. For custom millwork we recommend giving the design two to three weeks. Woods, door styles and our showroom are described on our custom cabinets page.

Your building’s consent

In a co-op or a condo, expect to need the building’s consent before work starts. Under the model alteration agreements published by the New York City Bar Association, the owner submits plans and specifications, the building’s architect or engineer reviews them, and if the reviewer or the board requires changes, the plans are changed and resubmitted. Work does not begin until the building has consented in writing, the permits have been received and the contractors’ insurance has been delivered. The co-op form then asks for at least five days’ written notice of the start date, and the condominium form for at least ten. How long your building takes is a question for your managing agent, and it is worth asking before you set a date for anything else.

City permits

The Department of Buildings says most kitchen and bathroom renovations require an Alteration Type 2 application filed by a professional engineer or a registered architect. A department plan examiner reviews the plans for objections, or the engineer or architect may certify that the plans conform to the applicable laws. The department says the time plan approval takes depends on the project’s complexity and on the objections to be resolved. Before a permit, the department requires an asbestos assessment, with an exemption for buildings constructed after April 1, 1987. Where a building has occupied apartments, a tenant protection plan must be approved before the permit application can be submitted. A kitchen limited to work the department lists as needing no permit, such as installing new cabinets, painting and plastering, skips this step, though your building may still require its own consent.

Landmark review

In a landmark building or a historic district, interior work that needs a Department of Buildings permit also needs a permit from the Landmarks Preservation Commission. The commission says a complete application for a Certificate of No Effect that meets its rules can often be approved within 10 business days, and that it is legally required to decide within 30 business days of the application being complete.

Whose clock	What it controls	What the rule says
Your co-op or condo	Consent to start, work days and hours, and the date the work must be finished	Set in your building’s alteration agreement, consent letter and work rules
Department of Buildings	The permit, the inspections and the final sign-off	Most kitchen renovations need an Alteration Type 2 application; the job ends with passed final inspections and, where no new Certificate of Occupancy is needed, a Letter of Completion
Landmarks Preservation Commission	A permit for interior work that needs a building permit, in a landmark or a historic district	Often approved within 10 business days of a complete application; a decision is required within 30 business days
The city’s noise rules	The hours construction may go on	Between 7 am and 6 pm on weekdays; any other time needs an after-hours authorization

What moves the schedule once work starts

The working day your building allows

The city allows construction from 7 am to 6 pm on weekdays, and weekend work needs an after-hours authorization. Your building may allow less. The City Bar’s model alteration agreement limits work to Monday through Friday, excluding holidays, between hours each building fills in, and it leaves the building to say when noisy work may begin. The client quoted above wrote that his co-op allowed construction only between 9 am and 5 pm. A shorter day does not change the steps, but it changes how many days they take.

Elevators, deliveries and debris

Our preparation stage establishes and protects the path to the dumpster. In an apartment building that path runs through the hallway and the service elevator. The model alteration agreement has the contractor cover the hall floor, bag or barrel all rubbish, and take it out only by the service elevator, at the times the superintendent directs. Where cabinets, appliances and counters come up the same way, their deliveries have to be booked around the building’s schedule.

Shutoffs, licensed trades and inspections

Water and gas are disconnected at the start and reconnected at the end. The Department of Buildings says plumbing and gas piping work must be performed by a licensed master plumber, and that most electrical work needs a permit and a licensed electrical contractor. In a building with occupied apartments, the tenant protection plan describes how water, gas and the other essential services are kept running for the neighbors, and tenants affected by a disruption must be notified. The mechanical stage includes inspections of the wiring, the plumbing and the framing, and the walls are not closed until those are done.

What demolition uncovers

After demolition, the wall framing is inspected for level and evenness and the floor framing is evaluated and adjusted if required. In an older building this is the moment when the unknowns become known. We report any change against the original plan in an itemized report, including the change orders you approve, so you can see what a discovery does to the schedule.

Cabinets and counters

The end of the job has a fixed order: the cabinets and appliances are installed, the template for the counters is made, the painting is done, the counters are installed, the plumbing and electrical are connected, and the backsplash is tiled. The counters cannot be templated before the cabinets are in place, so a late cabinet delivery pushes everything behind it.

How to keep your kitchen remodel on schedule

• Ask your managing agent for the alteration agreement and the work rules before you set any dates.
• Choose the appliances early, so the cabinet layout can be established and the cabinets ordered.
• Decide whether the sink, the range or a wall will move. The Department of Buildings gives rerouting gas pipes and moving a load-bearing wall as examples of work that an architect or engineer has to file.
• Be available for the electrical walk-through, when the positions of the lighting, switches and outlets are confirmed.
• Choose tile, paint and finishes before the stage that needs them.
• Approve or decline change orders promptly. Each one appears in our itemized report.
• Plan where you will cook. Water, gas and the kitchen’s electricity are disconnected during preparation.

Living at home while the kitchen is rebuilt

Before demolition we isolate the dust, protect the surrounding areas and create negative air pressure, which draws air out of the work area so that dust stays out of the rooms you live in. All remaining debris is swept and vacuumed at the end of demolition. The client quoted above stayed in a one-bedroom apartment with his wife through the whole of the work, and wrote that the apartment was constantly cleaned, their belongings were covered, and even the hallways and elevators were kept clean. He also wrote that the arrangement is not suitable for everyone. Our article on staying or moving out during a renovation goes through the choice.

What the work itself consists of is on our kitchen renovation page. If a bathroom is part of the same project, see the bathroom remodel timeline, and both schedules are linked from our timelines page.

Questions people ask