08/2008-10/2009 research and indecisiveness phase--should I remodel? No, I can live with it...no i cant live with this...lets just do it. Then came the research on different cabinet brands, countertop, lighting etc.
Actual costruction: end of Jan 2010 to February 27, 2010 but this included taking down a wall between the kitchen and dining room, new cabinets, granite countertops, new lighting, new drywall and 1/2 wall built for breakfast bar.

90-120 days is a reasonable target goal from beginning of tearout to the end. That's not counting the 3-12 months of research and planning that happens on the front end, or the potential for delays. That only accounts for minor delays.

Eight weeks in, with one to go. Our remodel scope:
Tear out the entire kitchen, including dropped ceiling and fluorescent lights
Repair cracks in cement slab foundation
Jackhammer 12" trench in slab to run electrical to new island and repour cement
Remove popcorn ceiling in family and dining rooms adjacent to kitchen and retexture
Install new circuits and 23 can lights in kitchen and family room
Install new flooring and baseboards in kitchen and family room
Paint kitchen & family room
Replace 5 windows and repair stucco on exterior
Replace ceiling fan and light fixtures in breakfast area and dining room
Install pendants over island
New cabinets, appliances, countertops, backsplash

We are in the homestretch, but not past freaking out, just yet :P

My GC and the crew have been really great, and their workmanship is awesome, so I have tried really hard not to rush them, but I will be glad when its over!

We just started Mar 1st.(demo, rough electrical, rough plumbing and drywalling)
I HOPE cabinet install will start this week.....

Started on February 11th and this coming week should hopefully be the wrap-up. Granite goes in tomorrow, electrician and plumber install appliances, pendants, undercabinet lighting, and sink Tuesday and Wednesday, painter puts final two coats on Thursday and Friday.

Our floors will be sanded and stained the first week of April so there will ba a lag time of one week. The backsplash will be done whenever...Im gonna chill out for a bit before I start making any more decisions!!

Sooooo...it looks like a total of 6 or 7 weeks.

We had a wall taken down and hardwood installed in the kitchen along with new cabs, countertops, appliances. We added a peninsula to the footprint and installed a 7 foot window over the sink.

The major part of remodel took from the beginning of February through mid-May of last year. That included tearing out the ceiling and two of the walls and moving plumbing.

Mine was 4 weeks and a day or so. Mine was taken to the studs. We had a snow day and a jury duty day. From reading here I thought that time frame was very optomistic but he must have known how long it would take when he said a month.

Mine took 3 months - two months longer than "promised" by the KD and it cost about three times as much as I originally thought I would spend. It was worth every minute and every penny.

Started January 17th Weekends Only! Almost done ... Ready for backsplash and a few odds and ends.

We were 85% done at 8 weeks, then things really slowed down (hood and warming drawer were back-ordered and took forever, we ran short on backsplash tile and had to order more, GC was on to his next job and lost focus on ours...). Fully moved in and functional at 11 weeks. I think if our appliances had been ready, we would have been 100% done in 9 weeks.

We started in September, and are still waiting on our cabinets (should be here in about 2 weeks). I'm hoping the kitchen will be done by mid-May, so it will be 9 months, start to finish, or at least start to functional. I still haven't figured out what to do about the backsplash, but am having total kitchen renovation fatigue!

I think the eating out for 9 months was worse on the checkbook than the actual kitchen renovation! We had no water or electricity in the kitchen from September until February, and still have no appliances.

eight weeks

5 weeks from demo to cabinet installation and appliance hook up finished. (Great contractor with good timing...all floor, ceiling and walls removed and replaced) THEN, three more weeks of dribs and drabs of cabinet maker fixes. We still have to install backsplash...our delay due to deciding on final tile after a good visual on all else. All in all, not bad.

TOO LONG.

Very much a DIY project that became a little less DIY as months went by. Started in early November. We might have countertops and a working sink by the end of the week. Still a lot of details to go on things, but at least we can be functional again.

Also Too Long!

Demo'd January 21, 2008
Moved back in July 2008
Approx 24 weeks.

We were told 6-8 weeks including installation of wood floors throughout the first floor (except kitchen, hall, & PR...they were tiled). We eliminated those wood floors due to budget.

Planning? Serious planning, i.e., contacting KDs & later working through layout, etc here: Late March 2007 through Mid-November 2007 (7-1/2 months)

Scope of Project (very relevant info when asking for times, if you don't know the scope, the time is meaningless):

• Gutted Kitchen, DR, PR, Hall (including ceilings in Kitchen & DR; carpet in DR remained (we later replaced w/engineered Braz Cherry to "tide us over" until we can afford wood floors on first floor)

• Removed wall b/w DR & Kitchen

• Removed soffits

• Built step-in corner pantry

• Tiled floors

• Replaced bay window w/counter-height bay window

• Added plumbing for main/cleanup sink, moved existing plumbing for prep sink

• Moved & enlarged range hood/vent duct to accommodate new location of cooktop

• Moved HVAC vent to MBR upstairs

We did have two significant delays though.

First delay was approx 6 weeks. We stopped work until my KD and GC were willing to own up to measuring mistakes and not make us pay to redo the cabinets, etc. and were willing to work with us to vent outside

Second delay was approx 4 weeks. We had to wait while a replacement cabinet was ordered after the incompetent granite people irreparably damaged the peninsula end cabinet when attempting to install the counters.

Our GC said it would take 7 weeks and it took 8 (except for refinishing the floors, which was done about a month later and had us out of the kitchen for another week). Our project was a down-to-the-studs renovation, including replacing an exterior door with a window, replacing a second window, and taking one wall down to half height. Oh and removing a water heater and replacing it with an on-demand unit outside the kitchen.

You're never done.

You mean there is a possible ending to this? LOL. You can measure ours in years, rather than months, from the moment the wall came down.

We are evening and weekend DIYers, so there ya go. ;^)

What fori and shelayne said! 15 years so far...

But this time around, we started focusing on k;tchen plans in October, demo mid Jan., still likely two weeks from granite. Got MW Friday, replacement fr;dge today, DW and vent hood are sitting in LR waiting for counters, duct cover was wrong size so replacement is coming tomorrow, induction range will be last to arrive. After counters, floors then paint. Then I'll let you know if I'm finished.

Demo began Jan 4. Probably 98% finished by end of next week. So, 12 to 13 weeks. Gutted kitchen, refinished wood floors for entire first floor, opened wall for large pass-through into dining room, removed load bearing column in kitchen by reinforcing ceiling, all new cabinets, counters, and appliances.

i was told 3 weeks. Includes tearing out cabinets, etc. Recessing refrigerator wall, refinishing wood floor, install new cabinets, granite, appliances, undercounter lights, and tile. I can't see why it would take any longer.

Mine took five weeks from demo day to move-back-in day, and that was with a two-week delay on the cabinets. That included removing a wall, digging a trench in the slab, and replacing the ceiling, floor, and walls.

We started after Labor Day (took the entire kitchen down to the studs, took out two walls to make a larger space, enclosed a back porch, put in a foundation under that porch, new windows, and so on) and moved back in mid-November. Our GC was able to do much of the work himself (we demolished our kitchen cabinets and took out the old layers of flooring....80-year old, never-been-renovated kitchen). He subbed out the electrical, plumbing, drywall, painting, cabinets and granite. He worked on a tight schedule and we loved him for it.

It's hard when it's happening, but soooo worth it in the end!! We had 25 people for a holiday party before Christmas, and I stood in awe watching how easily folks moved through our new kitchen. It was wonderful. But I can't look at a Lean Cuisine meal now and not shudder...never again!

Planning: 7 years!

Completion from tear out (to studs and remove wall): 8 weeks.

Donnakay,

That's SO funny! I feel the same way about microwave burritos. If I eat ONE MORE BEAN.....! AGGHHH.

Our kitchen, should it ever actually be completed, has been going on for 3 years and will hopefully be done in the next six months. We are total DIY'ers and it was a gut job moving the kitchen to a different part of the house.

M.

Starting week 9 tomorrow. I "think" this might be the final week, not much left to do now.
Soon it will be the clean up stage.
Then it will be the fun part of moving back in.

Any helpful hints you discovered during the clean up phase? That drywall dust is a bugger, isn't it!

Do you count the time when nothing is happening, like taking 7 weeks to decide on granite? I can't imagine living through DIY (we'd never finish so I'd never opt to start). As it is, we thought 6-8 weeks, and we're starting week 16. If everything had kept moving it would have been about what we originally thought. Painting is all that's left besides decorative touches and punch list and moving in.

Don't have any unique hints; I"m sure you already know my friend, Shop-Vac with attachments.

I love the shop-vac

Started Mar 1 2009 and was back working in the kitchen in September so I guess around 6 months. The ONLY reason we survived living in the house the whole time is that we have a basement kitchen. The den, dining room and entry hallway were all boarded up. We went up and down the stairs so much that sometimes we couldn't figure out how to get to certain rooms, I'm surprised we don't have permanent vertigo :)

Almost 4 years without a kitchen, a little over four until the entire floor was fully done so the kitchen could really be used.

We've been in our house almost three years, and we're at the point of ripping out our backsplash and putting in a lighter one, so three years plus whatever it takes.

: ( Forever and ever.... We started last May it feels like
longer than a year.

It seems like it is never ending. My DH just told me he
does not like the crown molding and wants to hire someone
to come in redo our ceiling and crown molding.

I would say I am about 85% done. The kitchen is functional,
I have had friends over but there are little details that
still need to be ironed out. And sometimes I get sad
about it. And other times I remind myself that I have a
good excuse to visit GardenWeb kitchens.

~boxerpups

9 weeks all out, including

Complete gut job of kitchen and bathroom down to the studs,
move bathroom, move three windows, (move one of them again because it was off by 2"), sand and stain all the rest of
hardwood on the main floor, (which meant moving out for four days, during which time no other work took place) including stairs, new electrical panel in the house (we had 100 AMP fuses - fire hazard!).

I was thrilled with the time it took.