I was my own general contractor, and I did some work myself, so I allowed plenty of time to get everything done. From tear-out to counter install was 2-1/2 months. I allowed myself a week to paint the kitchen before new cabs were installed, and I think I allowed a week for electrical. There was a 2-week delay from the custom cabinet maker; the time from templating to install of our Cambria countertops was 4 weeks.

If everything goes perfectly, and you have your cabinets, sink, appliances, and other miscellaneous hardware on site, AND if your installer, plumber, electrician, and granite fabricator can coordinate within your time frame, it can be done in three weeks. I would certainly allow more time than that, since things hardly ever go as well as you expect.

3 weeks is cock-eyed optimistically dreaming unless you yourself are an experienced GC doing a project during the winter when all of your local industry contacts have some down time.

Ours was DIY and a complete rebuild. However, it involved adjacent areas as well. I started tearing out the old flooring in July 2013 and ended by installing the pantry doors in November 2014. There was a TON of work on other rooms in the middle of the process though. Really, if I didn't have to do the other rooms at the same time it would have been about 6-7 months.

No plumbing, very little electrical, and no cabinet delays, my kitchen reno took 2 months. It was 3 weeks JUST for the counter tops from the time the cabinets went in. Almost a week for the templater to get out to the house. And then just over 2 weeks to actually fabricate the counters.

Moved kitchen to a completely different room, lots of other projects in the meantime, all DIY. We started in late 2009 and hopefully will be finished by the time our first arrives in late July 2015. :)

OK, Greendesigns ---- it seems that three men to tear out cabinets should take a day. (That is 24 labor hours.) Now, I could be very wrong and I will certainly tell you if you are right---but we are not experienced contractors but my husband did build our last house from excavation to finish in three months. No, he is not experienced but he did it all with two kids (Mutt and Jeff/ Curley and Mo or whatever you want to call them) that he hired for muscle. Now, we are talking about a kitchen. It will not take months or years because we will not pay the people doing the work if it does. The dollar amt. it is

about $20,000 and that does not include appliances. To us that is lots of money and IT WILL NOT TAKE MONTHS. So. How do you like 'them apples'. Oh -- BTW did I mention we will not be using union labor?????? right.

You're on TN time now, in an old trailer. First day, during demo, you'll find a problem. There's always a problem found during demo. And you'll have to deal with the moisture damage-electrical insufficiency--galvanized plumbing rot---something. That will add time. Doing the proper electrical that a modern kitchen requres will require a coup,e of days, minimum. Finding the hidden damage in one of the cabinets-sinks-faucets-flooring-whatever will mean another couple of week delay. Delay that you can hopefully use to take care of the problem that you found during demo.

Of course you won't be paying contractors for weeks! They're contractors. They work for a set price for a set job, with maybe only time and materials for that water damage extra that you find. And there isn't any ''union labor'' in TN except for Teamsters or some electricians.

ryseryse, I don't think anyone here is doubting your abilities. They are simply pointing out that a 3-week timeline is really, really optimistic. If you can get it done that fast, more power to you - but please don't go off on the board because you don't like the answers to your question.

It took DH and I about a day to tear out our old cabinets. That was the easy part.

What takes time is getting people to your house when you need them. You need an electrician. Can you guarantee that the electrician will be available on the specific day you need her? Probably not - so you need to allow for a few days - or more, depending on how long it takes to fix the problems you find during demo (and you will). You can't have the plumber and the electrician there on the same day, so allow a few days for plumbing. Any delay at any stage - either from issues that arise or scheduling conflicts with professionals - will eat up days (or weeks) in a hurry. If your DH is installing the cabinets, that helps, but if you are hiring that done, be prepared for (you guessed it) potential scheduling problems.

Are the cabinets all ready to go in the garage? Have they been completely inspected and measured, so you know they will fit? One cabinet out of whack can slow things down. How about light fixtures, plumbing fixtures, range hood, paint and supplies?

I know some people get granite installed pretty quickly, but once again, scheduling is the key. The fabricator can't come out to template until the base cabinets are in and completely level. Then they go back and cut your slab, and have to bring it back out to install. None of those things alone takes a huge amount of time, but you are not their only customer, so scheduling comes in to play for both templating and install.

8-9 years.

1I always tell customers who are having contractors do the job to allow between 6-12 weeks for their project. For DIY, double it. It's one of the luxuries of DIY that when you're in the middle of a project, if you see where a different decision would make the project better, you're able to change course a tad easier. But, it's usually those ''because we're DIYing, and can afford more, while we're at it....'' that tend to derail the schedule and budget more frequently than those who have engaged a contractor.

And with the terrible weather that everone is having, all of the contractors that you need will be behind schedule already and add more delay into the project. You've got to have a temp kitchen set up, and a sense of humor survival strategy! At least spring is coming. :-)

Just about three months. Total tear out and replace job.

The last kitchen we did took three months from design to finish. However, the actual removal/install took only two days. The granite company followed up and completed the templates and installed the counter tops after 7 additional days.

So about 9 days for the onsite work. That can be more or less depending upon the size of the project and the number of workers assigned to the job.

The actual work goes pretty quickly but most good contractors and shops have long lead times. They can't start your project until they've completed existing jobs.

Snort. I am just now hitting the final finishing touches. They tore out the old kitchen in May of last year . . . That said, the kitchen was part of a bigger remodel/addition, and was "all new" construction . . . It has taken much, much longer than anticipated.

Ours is an insurance claim that we added to. I just turned 36 when it happened. I'm now 37 and a half. Not done.

I'm 73. No I haven't left the forum and really appreciate all of your comments. Maybe I will be the exception!!! sigh. Anyway, as far as problems coming up during the tear-out, we have only lived here for a month. A home warranty came with the house and that was fortunate since practically nothing in the bowels of the house were done to code. We have had extensive electrical repairs, plumbing (new hot water heater with code connections), repairs on the heat pump, shut-offs put on plumbing appliances, and when the new gas stove was put in, they had to correct code violations. Needless to say, we are very happy with the home warranty service. The owner paid about $800 for it and so far it has given us about $8,000 in parts and service. About the only things that can break down now are the washer, dryer and air conditioning. AND if that is going to happen it has to be before next January!

The cabinets were ordered two weeks ago and the tear-out is supposed to start the week of March 16th.

Ryseryse, my kitchen remodel is starting the same day as yours. The race is on :) my remodel is similar to yours in that my footprint is not changing. New cabs, flooring, counters & painting. My contractor told me 1 month. Fingers crossed. That one month time frame includes new flooring in mudrroom, bath, foyer & dining room & painting almost the entire first floor. It will be interesting to see where we end up. Good luck!