The Short Answer
From the first design meeting to a finished kitchen, most custom cabinet projects take 8 to 14 weeks. Small projects like a single vanity can finish in 4 to 6 weeks. Large whole-home jobs can run 16 weeks or more.
The Five Phases
1. Design and quoting: 1 to 3 weeks
You meet with the cabinet maker, talk through your needs, and get measurements. They draw up a design and a written quote. This phase moves at your speed — deciding on door styles, finishes, and storage options takes some homeowners a week and others a month. Bring ideas and photos to speed things up. Our choosing a cabinet maker guide helps you find a designer who listens.
2. Engineering and ordering: 1 to 2 weeks
Once you approve the design, the shop turns drawings into cut lists and orders lumber, hardware, and finish materials. Special-order items — unusual hardware, exotic wood, custom glass — can add time here if they ship from far away.
3. Build: 4 to 8 weeks
This is the longest phase. The shop mills the lumber, builds the boxes, shapes the doors, applies the finish, and lets everything cure. Painted finishes need extra cure time — rushing this step is how you get soft paint that chips. A good shop will not skip it, and neither should you.
4. Delivery and installation: 1 to 2 weeks
Installers set the cabinets level and plumb, scribe them to your walls, hang the doors, and adjust every hinge and drawer. Most kitchens install in 3 to 5 days. Complex jobs with tall ceilings or tricky walls take longer. Our cabinet installation page covers what good installation looks like.
5. Touch-ups and final walkthrough: a few days
After install, the crew fills nail holes, touches up paint, and walks the job with you. Point out anything that bothers you — this is the moment to speak up, not six months later.
What Slows Projects Down
- Changing your mind mid-build. Design changes after materials are ordered restart the clock on those pieces. Lock your design before the build starts.
- Special-order materials. Exotic woods and imported hardware can take weeks to arrive. Ask what is in stock and what is ordered.
- Other trades. If plumbing, electrical, or flooring run late, cabinet install waits. Plan the sequence with your permits and schedule in mind.
- Hidden problems. Crooked walls, old water damage, or bad wiring found during demolition need fixing before install continues.
- Holiday seasons. Shops get backed up before Thanksgiving and Christmas. Book early if you want cabinets by the holidays.
How to Keep Your Project on Schedule
Pick your maker early and sign the design before you need it. Order appliances early too — installers need exact appliance specs to size the openings. Keep one decision-maker for the household; designs approved by committee take twice as long. And build a buffer into your plans. If you need the kitchen done by Thanksgiving, start the process in August, not October.
If your timeline is tight, ask about cabinet refacing. Refacing reuses your existing boxes and finishes in days instead of months — the right call when the layout works and you just want a fresh look fast.
Living Through the Project
Most of the timeline happens in the shop, not your home — your kitchen stays usable until installation week. During install, set up a temporary kitchen with a microwave, a coffee maker, and paper plates in another room. Dust gets everywhere during demolition, so cover nearby furniture and vents.
Rush Jobs: Can You Speed It Up?
Sometimes. Some shops keep standard door styles and popular finishes in a faster rotation, or they have a gap in the schedule they want to fill. If your design uses common materials and you approve everything immediately, a shop might shave two to three weeks off the normal timeline.
But there are steps that cannot be rushed without hurting quality. Finish cure time is the big one — paint and topcoats need days to harden fully, and installing soft-finished cabinets guarantees chips and callbacks. Lumber also needs to acclimate to Florida humidity before it is cut, or doors can warp after installation. A shop that promises to cut the timeline in half is cutting corners somewhere. Ask which steps they are shortening, and think hard about the answer.
Planning Around Life Events
Work backward from your deadline, then add a buffer. Selling the house in June? Start the cabinet process in January. Hosting Thanksgiving? Begin in June or July — fall is the busiest season for every cabinet shop in Orlando, and material deliveries slow around the holidays.
Also plan around your own life. Installation week is loud, dusty, and kitchen-free. Do not schedule it the same week as houseguests, a new baby, or a major work deadline. If anyone in the home works nights and sleeps days, talk to the shop about work hours before demolition starts.
What a Good Schedule Looks Like
A professional shop gives you a written schedule with real dates: design approval deadline, material order date, build start, delivery date, installation days, and final walkthrough. It also tells you what they need from you and when — appliance specs by this date, finish selections locked by that date, the house cleared for install by another.
Your job in keeping the schedule is making decisions on time. Every day a finish choice sits undecided is a day the schedule slips. One practical trick: make all your selections — wood, door style, finish, hardware, storage extras — in one or two focused sessions instead of deciding piece by piece over weeks. Bring photos of kitchens you like, know your must-haves, and trust your gut on the small stuff.
Communication matters too. A good shop updates you when phases complete or when something changes. If you have not heard anything for three weeks mid-build, call and ask. Silence is not always a problem, but you should never have to wonder.
Want a realistic schedule for your specific project? Request a free consultation and we will map out each phase with real dates for your kitchen.