The honest answer is that the build is the short part. The long part is the decisions and the lead times in front of it. Here is the order things happen in on one of our kitchens, and where the weeks actually go.
Chris looks at the kitchen, the layout you wish you had, where the plumbing and electrical run, what is load-bearing and what is not. From that comes a layout that fixes the real problems (the island you bump into, the fridge that blocks the doorway) and a line-item bid you can adjust. Nothing is ordered until you have said yes to that.
Cabinets set the schedule. Stock lines arrive quickly; semi-custom and custom lines take longer, and the clock does not start until the layout is final and the order is placed. Appliances, the sink, the faucet, lighting and tile all need to be chosen and on hand before demo, because a missing range hood or a backordered faucet stops a job cold. We give you the list and the order to make the decisions in, so this stretch is organized rather than stressful.
A day or two. Cabinets, counters, backsplash and flooring come out, and anything hiding behind them (old wiring, a slow leak, a soft subfloor) shows itself now rather than later. The house is protected with plastic and floor covering, and you get a temporary setup for the fridge and a coffee maker.
Moving a sink, adding an island with power, relocating the range, taking out a wall: all of that happens while the walls are open, and it all gets inspected before anything is covered up. Cosmetic kitchens skip most of this; layout changes do not. The permit is pulled under Callaway Construction Inc. and the inspection is on the schedule from day one.
Patching, new drywall where walls moved, taping, mud, sanding, prime. Each coat needs to dry, so this is a few days with quiet stretches in between. Flooring that runs under the cabinets goes in here too.
The day the kitchen starts looking like a kitchen. Uppers and bases are set level and plumb, scribed to the walls, and the island is anchored. Once the boxes are in, the countertop fabricator can template.
Quartz and granite are cut from a laser template of your actual cabinets, so the template cannot happen until the cabinets are set, and fabrication takes time after that, usually a week or two. This is the one stretch in a kitchen remodel where the crew is not in your house, and it is why we tell you about it up front. Plumbing hooks up the day the tops land.
Tile goes in after the counters, then crown and trim, then paint, then hardware, lighting and the final walkthrough where every door and drawer gets adjusted and every outlet gets checked with you. The punch list is short when the earlier steps were done right.
Stretches it: changing the layout after cabinets are ordered, backordered appliances or fixtures, a surprise behind the walls, and waiting on decisions mid-job. Does not: the size of the kitchen, within reason. A big kitchen with everything chosen moves faster than a small one with three open decisions.
Set up the fridge, microwave and coffee maker somewhere with an outlet and a sink nearby (a laundry room or a bar sink is ideal). Plan for a few more restaurant nights than you think. We keep a path clean, keep dust contained, and tell you each evening what tomorrow looks like.
See what the finished product looks like on the kitchen remodeling page, then tell us about yours.
Owner-run since 1995. Chris Cannon bids the job, runs the job and answers the phone. One crew, one point of contact, no surprises.
Real jobs from around the Omaha metro. Tap any photo to open it.
A cosmetic kitchen (same layout, new cabinets, counters, backsplash, paint) is weeks; a full layout change with plumbing and electrical moves is longer, mostly because of lead times and inspections. Chris gives you a real schedule with the bid once the selections are known.
Cabinets before the job starts, and countertops in the middle of it. Counters are templated from the installed cabinets and then fabricated, which is why there is a quiet week or two after the cabinets go in.
Yes. Most people do. You will be without the kitchen itself, so set up a temporary one, and we keep the rest of the house protected and the dust contained.
Cosmetic work usually does not. Moving plumbing, adding circuits, relocating the range or removing a wall does, and the inspection is part of the schedule. We pull it.
Cabinets and their layout, appliances, sink and faucet, counters, backsplash tile, flooring, lighting and hardware. We give you the list in the order it matters, and we are happy to point you to people we trust for each.
Tell us what you're thinking and where the house is. Chris will get back to you within a business day.