February is a good time frame. I kind of planned the kitchen in gad about 2 months...but we had a family emergency and had to go to hospital for six weeks, in which time our contractor fell and broke his back. It took another six months to find another contractor. In that time I re-planned and refined the kitchen to it's current level of fabulousness :o) So honestly, I took well over 10 months to really develop a final plan...and that has been tweeked as well. Now we're back in hospital and DH told me if I made any changes to the kitchen while I was gone he'd have them pull my plug (I'm not actually in the hospital...I'm just staying with DS) but he swears he will have a plug attached and pull it. I guess a year without a kitchen is too much for the man to deal with heh heh

I was frustrated with the wait at first. You get all excited about things, but now that I look back on it, there are SO MANY details I'd have missed if I didn't have that almost a year to plan. Down to the fine details like the light switches and switch plates, each tiny detail matters and having that time to research, read GW over and over, etc., really is going to be the key to having a fabulous kitchen or me.

For us the process started in about June or so, but really, I had been planning things in my head (especially the layout) for longer. Dh was in Iraq in 2005/2006 and we used to email each other with floor plan ideas. dh came home last november 2006, then we met with the contractor last June 2007 and got some definite plans and prices and then had an estimate to work with, then got our loan from the bank - by the time all was said and done it was October . The permit was pulled then and we're just getting work now. So it was a long process for us, but I feel very prepared because I have been looking at things for so long.

I had been playing "what if" in my computer design program since the day we moved in, and we started work almost exactly 3 years to the day we closed on the house.

And the FINAL kitchen design didn't actually happen until the day we brought the cabinets in! (Granted, I didn't order cabinets to size so my situation was a little different, but even so...)

I'd say that my compulsive playing around on the computer has paid off in that I was really pretty confident it could all work and, for the most part, it's turning out exactly as I had planned/hoped. I'm sure there will be a few little "whoopsies", but I keep reminding myself that this is NOT a magazine spread or a showhome, but a small family home that we are making more comfortable for OUR use.

Enjoy the process!

I'd have to look at my calendar to see when we started meeting with a kitchen designer. It was sometime last spring because demolition was in early June and we had a goal of ordering the cabinets in August. The kitchen was gutted to the studs and then 2/3 of a farmer's porch was incorporated into the kitchen leaving a small entry porch. A new foundation was dug under the kitchen as well as adjacent area for a garage. Since the cabinets are Quality and custom made, the KD won't order the cabinets until the room is ready. Garage had to be built and exterior of kitchen finished before inside work could be done. We've subbed excavation, concrete, garage framing and drywall work. My husband, an experienced GC, is doing the rest. We were held up by mistake in our new windows order and a backorder on the stove hood which was a critical piece because my husband needed to run the ductwork thru a soffit. There was something like a 8 week lead time predicted on our cabinets but ran longer because the factory became overloaded with work. Cabinets arrived Dec 11 and base cabinets installed so countertop guy could make measurements on Friday Dec 14. This week will be tile work. The countertop won't be installed until Dec 27. There may be a building slump in some areas but the top people still have a very busy schedule. The countertop guy said they are doing 3-4 kitchens a day. (Don't know how many crews he has.)
I think the critical point is not how much time you have to plan but how resiliant you are to problems. Despite a long-term relationship with the KD who my husband considers to be A++, there were two mistakes in our cabinets, things that can be corrected and the KD was surprised they happened. We still have to choose a backsplash but nothing seems to suit. The KD says kitchens evolve and not to rush things. After narrowing countertop choices to two, I went with my second choice because both the KD and my hair stylist chose the darker Corian. KD was able to give me good reasons why darker was a better choice. Family holiday celebration has been shifted to New Year's Day instead of Dec 25. I don't even want to make a decision about the backsplash until the counter and floor are in. Fortunately we have a tiny kithen in another part of the house we have been able to use in the meantime. We were stymied on the kitchen floorplan. Gained 4' of space on one end by ripping out the old backstairs. Original pantry and storage room were combined to make new laundry/mud room area, added huge brick chimney to contain 3 flues ... until we met with KD who suggested also taking space from farmers porch. My husband's #1 priority was sitting and enjoying the view. Plus my husband wanted the cabinets the KD sells so we had to go thru her. Our ceilings are higher than average so required custom cabinets. We paid top $ for a couple of subs who my husband considered to be the best, such as the dry wall guy plus pleaded to be fit into his schedule. All subs were carefully coordinated and contact well in advance of our start date with estimated time we would be ready. What do you mean by ready to order in February? Have you contacted any of the subs you will need?

I started to plan in August and just put in my cabinet order last week ... prep work should start after holidays. I was soooo naive, in August I actually thought I would have a new kitchen by Thanksgivin (LOL)! I'm glad though, as others said, now I'm confident in my layout, appliances, and all. Lighting is the last thing to decide.

There are actually more stages besides "planning" and "doing". I'm in the same stage you are, I think: Education.

These are the stages of remodelling:

I. "Idea" or "Dreaming": This is when you look at what you've got and think you want something else. You start looking at pictures in magazines or online or on TV. They have nothing to do with your particular room, but you start to get a sense of the style you like. You start saving money for the "but we're going to remodel" kitty.

II. Education: You learn about the various things that go into the project. You figure out why the old one isn't working for you and what you can do to fix it. You learn what will and won't fit into your room, your budget, your lifestyle. People you know who've been through it (and the lovely, generous people on GW) tell you about all the tricks and details you might never have found (plugmold, tapmaster, air switch, etc.).

III. Planning (overlaps II and IV): You work on the actual layout for the room, the flow, the work stations, the actual sizes of appliances, cabinets, etc., and how they'll work and interact. This is when you hire a KD or other person helping you with the design.

IV. Finishes: You choose the exact countertop, stain/paint, faucet, knobs, etc.

V. Preparation: Move all your stuff out of the way. Set up your temporary quarters. Pin down all the details that pop up saying, "what about me?" Set your calendar. Pray a lot.

V. Demo and Construction: You might hire the people doing the work earlier in the process and have them helping with the design, but it's a lot easier in the long run if you have the design and purchases lined up before you actually start this stage. Change orders are very expensive, and, as has been reported here, demo before the delayed whatever (especially cabinets) has arrived can make the process worse.

VI. Final Details: Touch up paint. Add switch plates and other details. Fix the little things that aren't quite done or are a little askew. Resolve any disputes. Sign off on the job when everything is satisfactory then pay folks your final payments.

VII. Moving and Learning: Fit your favorite old things and shiny new ones into the new space. Learn how to use the new appliances and make your recipes come out right. Figure out the new traffic patterns. Make the space yours.

VIII. Party time! Share your new space with friends and family and post your pics on GW!

It sounds like I'm probably more the exception here, as first concept to final execution will only be about 4 months, but I'll toss out my experience just to mix it up and provide another perspective.

We moved into our house in late March knowing we would redo the kitchen, but we were focused on our master bath first, so I didn't do much more than imagine how I'd change the layout. In early September I started working on the layout in earnest (HD had a 10% off cabinets deal that expired Oct 15, and while I hadn't decided to go with them, I used that as my decision deadline). I went to 4 places initially, then picked one (it was HD) and worked the design to death with them for a few weeks. During that time I also picked appliances (had a general idea, but did some tweaking in conjunction with the cabinet design).

My decision on finish and door design came out of OD'ing on kitchen design books (alas, not on GW, as I hadn't discovered it yet) over the course of a few weeks and synthesizing it down to recognizing the look I liked. We did select the granite before we nailed down the cabinet finish to make sure we had a look that we liked together.

We ordered the cabinets Oct 13, and In the 5 weeks we were waiting for the cabinets, we picked out the tile and shopped for faucets. And discovered GW.

We tore out and rebuilt everything during Thanksgiving week. We're waiting for the granite counters now, and will then do a few finish-up items like backsplash (still haven't decided) and tambour install.

So we were pretty quick. Will there be things we end up wishing we had done? Probably. Will it matter? I doubt it, because they should be small things. If this had been my "last kitchen" would I have obsessed more? Possibly. But then again, we planned our (large) wedding in 4 1/2 months a couple years ago, so I think I just tend to be a quick decision maker.

We do have the luxury of being DIY-ers, so it's easier to modify things as we go, or add more stuff later without worrying about subs and schedules. We did put in an air switch due to reading recommendations here, and considered plugmold, but didn't use it would have been a pain with our configuration (a whole bunch of little strips).

Good luck with your decisions!

dcwesley, I'm a combination of you and your husband--I am thinking and planning everything to death, but I also just want it DONE. My husband is just kind of along for the ride. he gives input when I ask, but for the most part, he just stays out of my way.

I first started working with a KD almost two years ago. That didn't go so well, because he had a lot of his own ideas and really wasn't all that interested in paying attention to what I wanted. His drawings were so not me that there was no fixing them. I got frustrated and let the process hang for awhile.

Then, in about August of this year, my brother hooked me up with a GC that had done some very good work for him. The GC got me hooked up with a different KD. This one paid closer attention to my ideas (he couldn't help it--I gave him a pretty detailed drawing to start with), but he had no respect for my budget. His plan came in way over what I said I could pay, so we parted ways, as well.

A good friend then steered me to a local cabinet maker. I gave him my drawings and the second KD's drawings and told him what I would change about both of them. He came up with a new plan that I love that is also well within my budget. I ordered my cabinets in the middle of November, and they should be ready to install by the second week in January. If all goes as planned (ha, ha!), we will be finished by the end of January.

Around the same time I first met with the cabinet maker, I found this forum and learned a lot of things that I wanted to incorporate into my design. I communicated these things to him, and he helped me make decisions. I think I found the forum when I did a Google search for soapstone. I found one of floridajoshua's posts and, as it turns out, he will be doing my countertops (can't wait!). GW has been a lifesaver during this process. I do wish I had found this forum a year ago. I think it would have made the last few weeks a lot less stressful.