Why this page does not give you a week count
You can find a week count for a cabinet project on almost any cabinet website. Almost none of them are meaningful, because the number depends on variables that differ between every shop and every job: current backlog, door style, whether the work is painted or stained, whether other trades are involved, and how long the drawing sits waiting for approval.
Giving you a number before any of that is known is a sales technique rather than an estimate. What is genuinely useful is the stage list, because knowing the stages lets you ask a shop the right question, which is not how long will it take but which stage are you in and what is holding it.
Stage one: the measure
Somebody comes to the house and measures each wall at floor level, at counter height and near the ceiling, checks the diagonals of the room, and records the exact position of every window casing, outlet, switch, vent and pipe penetration. In an older Mobile house the three heights routinely disagree, and the difference between them is what the scribe allowance has to cover.
What governs the length of this stage is scheduling rather than work: the measure itself takes an hour or two. What it produces is the foundation for everything after it, which is why measuring from a photograph or from the homeowner's own dimensions is a false economy. The installation page explains why the level datum matters so much on this housing stock.
Stage two: design and approval
The measurements become a wall-by-wall elevation with every cabinet numbered and dimensioned. This is the document the shop builds from and the document the quote prices, and it is the thing you actually approve.
This stage is the most variable of the six and the variability is almost entirely on the customer's side. A drawing returned with comments in two days moves the project on. A drawing that sits for three weeks while a decision is made about the island holds everything behind it, because nothing can be ordered or cut until the dimensions are fixed.
It is also the last free moment. Move a cabinet on the drawing and it costs nothing. Move it after the parts are cut and somebody is paying for material and labour twice.
Stage three: materials and ordering
Box material gets specified per location rather than per kitchen. Plywood at the sink base and on exterior walls, MDF where a painted panel has to stay flat, solid hardwood for face frames and door frames. Door style and overlay are fixed. The finish system is named. Hinge, slide and hardware specifications are confirmed.
What governs this stage is lead times, and the two items that most often carry one are the doors, if they are bought in rather than made in the shop, and the hardware, particularly anything in an unusual finish. Both are worth asking about early, because a four week hardware lead time discovered at installation is a four week delay at the very end of the project.
| Item | Usually quick | Can carry a wait |
|---|---|---|
| Sheet goods and solid stock | Yes, generally held | Unusual species or quartersawn material |
| Doors made in the shop | Controlled by the shop's own schedule | Not applicable |
| Doors bought in | Standard styles in standard species | Unusual profiles, inset, or specialty finishes |
| Hinges and slides | Standard concealed and undermount | Specialty corner mechanisms and unusual sizes |
| Pulls and knobs | Common finishes | Solid brass, unusual sizes, anything discontinued |
| Glass for mullion doors | Clear | Reeded, seeded and specialty glass |
General guidance on where waits appear. The specific answer belongs to the shop and the supplier on the day, which is why it is worth asking rather than assuming.
Stage four: the shop build
Carcasses and face frames are built and dry-assembled. Doors are made to the approved profile and overlay. Drawer boxes are built and fitted to their slides in the shop, which is where they should be fitted rather than improvised on site on installation day.
What governs the length here is the shop's backlog and the complexity of the work. An inset kitchen with a lot of drawers takes materially longer to build than a full overlay kitchen with doors, because every inset opening has to be accurate and every reveal has to match. A run of slab doors is quicker than a run of raised panel ones.
Stage five: finishing, the stage this climate stretches
Spraying happens in a controlled space with the doors flat, and the finished work cures before it travels. This is where Gulf Coast humidity has a genuine effect on the schedule, and it is the only stage where it does.
Coatings cure by releasing solvent or water into the surrounding air. Air that is already carrying a lot of moisture accepts less, so the flash-off time between coats lengthens. NOAA's 1991 to 2020 hourly normals for Mobile Regional Airport give a mean dew point of 72.0 degrees on 15 July against 39.4 degrees on 15 January, and 66.15 inches of annual precipitation with July the wettest month at 7.25 inches.
The practical effect is that a shop spraying in an unconditioned building on a July afternoon in Mobile is working to a slower schedule than the same shop in January. A shop with a conditioned spray space is much less affected, which is a reasonable thing to ask about. Recoating into a coat that has not properly flashed off traps solvent and produces a film that stays soft and marks easily for months. The painting and refinishing page goes through the process.
| Factor | Effect | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Painted rather than stained | Longer | Fill, sand, prime, sand, two topcoats, against stain plus clear coats |
| Open-grain species under paint | Longer | Grain filling is an additional full cycle |
| High summer humidity | Longer | Flash-off time between coats extends with dew point |
| Unconditioned spray space | Longer and less predictable | The schedule follows the weather rather than the plan |
| Raised panel rather than slab | Longer | More surface area and profile to cover evenly |
Climate figures from NOAA 1991 to 2020 normals, Mobile Regional Airport. The rest reflects standard finishing practice.
Stage six: installation and punch list
Cabinets are levelled to a laser line struck from the floor's high point, shimmed, joined face frame to face frame, fixed into framing and scribed to the walls. Toe kicks and trim go on. Doors and drawers are adjusted. Hardware is drilled and fitted from a jig so the run reads straight.
Countertop templating happens after this, not before, because the fabricator templates off the installed cabinets. That sequencing is fixed and it is worth understanding, because it means the countertop lead time starts at the end of the cabinet installation rather than running in parallel with it.
A written punch list closes the job: any door needing a further adjustment, any filler needing a further scribe, any hardware alignment. A shop that leaves without one is leaving the last five percent of the job to chance.
When your kitchen is actually out of action
This is the question people are usually asking when they ask about the timeline, and the answer is more comfortable than they expect. Stages one to five all happen without touching your kitchen. The measure is an hour. The design, ordering, building and finishing happen at the shop.
The disruption is concentrated in demolition and installation, plus the countertop templating and fitting that follows. That is also the strongest practical argument for refacing where the boxes deserve to stay: the carcasses, countertop, sink and appliances all remain in place throughout, so the kitchen is usable the entire time.
What actually causes delays
- Changes made after the drawing is approved, because the parts have already been cut to those dimensions.
- Slow drawing approval, which holds every stage behind it and is entirely within the customer's control.
- Missing components on a self-specified order: fillers, end panels, toe kick and scribe material are the usual suspects.
- Other trades. A sink that moves brings in a plumber, and a plumber's diary is not the cabinet shop's to manage.
- Hardware lead times discovered late, particularly unusual finishes and corner mechanisms.
- Countertop scheduling, which cannot start until the cabinets are installed and templated.
- Rushing the finish in high summer, which does not delay the project but does produce a soft film that marks for months.
Does the season you start in matter?
A little, and not in the way people expect. The weather does not stop cabinet work in Mobile at any point in the year. What it does is change the finishing schedule and, marginally, the moisture content the cabinets settle at.
NOAA's 1991 to 2020 normals for Mobile Regional Airport put October at 3.69 inches of rain, the driest month, and July at 7.25 inches, the wettest. The mean dew point runs 39.4 degrees in mid-January, 54.8 in mid-April, 72.0 in mid-July and 57.6 in mid-October. Google Trends data for Alabama shows searches for custom cabinets peaking in March, June and April, which is roughly the spring remodelling season and has nothing to do with the weather being better for the work.
| Season | Effect on the work | Practical note |
|---|---|---|
| Winter, driest indoor air | Finishing flashes off fastest | Cabinets installed now are at the dry end of their annual cycle |
| Spring | Peak demand; shop backlogs lengthen | The busiest period, per Alabama search interest peaking March, June and April |
| Summer, highest dew point | Finishing schedule stretches | Ask whether the shop sprays in a conditioned space |
| Autumn, October driest month | Straightforward all round | The quietest and most predictable window in practice |
Climate figures from NOAA 1991 to 2020 normals, Mobile Regional Airport. Search interest from Google Trends for Alabama, pulled 30 September 2026.
None of that is a reason to delay a project. It is a reason to ask one specific question: whether the shop's spray space is conditioned. A shop with a conditioned booth works to the same schedule in August as in January. A shop spraying in an open building does not, and in July that difference is real.
Who is responsible for what
Most schedule arguments are actually responsibility arguments that surfaced late. Settling this at quote stage removes almost all of them.
| Item | Usually the cabinet shop | Usually the homeowner or their contractor |
|---|---|---|
| Measuring and drawing | Yes | No |
| Approving the drawing | No | Yes, and the date it happens sets everything after it |
| Removing existing cabinets | Often, as a priced line | Sometimes, to save cost |
| Disconnecting plumbing and electrics | No | Yes, via a plumber and an electrician |
| Installing the cabinets | Yes | No |
| Countertop template and fitting | No, a stone fabricator | Coordinating the fabricator |
| Permits for plumbing or electrical work | No | Yes, via the relevant trade |
| Final adjustment and punch list | Yes | Raising the items |
A typical split rather than a universal one. The point is that it should be written down, because every row in this table has caused a delay somewhere.
The questions worth asking a shop
Rather than asking how long it will take, ask these. The answers tell you far more about whether a schedule is real.
- What is your current backlog before my job would start in the shop?
- Do you spray in a conditioned space, or does the summer weather affect your finishing schedule?
- Which items on my specification carry a lead time, and have they been ordered?
- When do you need the drawing back from me to hold the date you are quoting?
- Who is templating the countertop and when, relative to installation?
- Is any other trade involved, and whose responsibility is it to schedule them?
- What does the punch list process look like and when is the job considered finished?
For the build itself, see custom cabinets. For the permit and licensing questions that sit alongside the schedule, see the permit and licensing guide. A measured quote, and a real schedule with it, starts at contact.