Are you moving any appliances? Changing the arrangement of cabinets? That is, are you putting cabinets in basically the same place they were? Is there currently a vent duct for the hood, or an obvious wall you can vent through?

Because if you aren't doing a whole big redesign, but just getting new stuff, you can start interviewing GC's now and getting preliminary bids. Which cabinets and counters won't matter that much, unless you're buying them through the GC. More important is how much to do the construction job: the plumbing, electric, including running electric to the new island, any vent work needed for the hood, fixing the ceiling, etc.

And if there are any oopsies in the walls that might get in the way of certain of your design ideas you might hear about it ahead of time.

In theory, if you're not particularly picky, and only want stuff that's available right now, and if nothing untoward is going on that you don't know about like (heaven forfend) crumbling pipes, it's possible. But the 6 weeks to get them cabinets can turn into 3 months or more, especially if things come in wrong and need to be reordered and remade. Also, assuming your GC is on board.

No matter what, in all of your agreements and orders you should write "time is of the essence". Have target dates for completion of various parts of the job with penalties for delays and rewards for coming in on schedule.

And get all of your finish materials ordered and delivered ASAP.

That is, it is possible. If you push it through. And you only choose that which can be delivered at the time you need it. And you can get the people working for you invested in your timeline. And you're lucky.

People have done it.

Are you moving any appliances? No

Changing the arrangement of cabinets? That is, are you putting cabinets in basically the same place they were? Yes, minor peninsula addition. The island will replace a table eat-in area.

Is there currently a vent duct for the hood, or an obvious wall you can vent through? I have a useless ductless hood now. Range is on an inside wall. The obvious choice is to go up to the ceiling, across the room to the exterior of the house.

It never occurred to me to interview GC's now. Good point!

The rest of your post poses concern, especially the "People have done it" ! I really expected the process of design to go faster than it has.

Thanks for your reply.

You may be able to get a head start on your town permits, too, by collecting the forms and information you will need to apply for permits. Some towns will require your drawings, others won't. There will be requirements for inspections at a few key points along the project, and you can find out what your town's requirements for that are, too.

You need to check with your town to see if you even need permits - if you're not moving plumbing, electrical, gas or anything structural, many towns won't require permits.

I've been told my kitchen reno is being done in record time with some major construction. I removed 2 major support posts, move heat to get in the beam, and moved old brass water feeds to fit in my vent. The kitchen was a total gut job... ceiling walls and floor. We had to run new wire because old kitchen was 30 years old with some 70 year old wiring and needed to be brought up to code. The total time from my finalized plans to completion will be about 8 weeks. My cabinets are custom and built locally and they took 5 weeks. The demoing and roughing took 2 weeks so they were ready exactly when the cabinets were ready to go in which is this week. So far so good. I have all my appliances ready for delivery and have my hardware, tile and fixtures here waiting to be needed. The key is to have everyone in sync and have all your materials ready when needed. Fortunately I didn't have to order anything that wasn't in stock.

So basically it can be done if you finalize your plans and line up your contractors asap.

Good luck!

Depends a lot on how fast you can make decisions. That part took me forever. I placed the cabinet order (custom) in late October. Our cabinets go in Monday. Christmas slowed things down some. And we are doing a lot of our own work. My hope is everything will be done by the end of March. So ours will be five months from order to done.

Thanks all! I have some new things to think about. It's been so informative hanging out here. I think I have learned as much from some people's 'mistakes' as well as the success stories. I honestly didn't know ALOT! You guys ROCK!