Kitchen Cabinet Installation Timeline: What to Expect (San Antonio)

How long does a kitchen install really take in San Antonio? Most contractors say "about 2 weeks." The real answer: it depends. Here's a realistic day-by-day timeline.

The two weeks before anyone touches your kitchen

Most of a kitchen timeline happens before demo day. It runs: free in-home measurement → free 3D design back to you in about 48 hours → sign off → order. Anything from our 36 in-stock styles moves fast because the boxes are already in the building on Isom Rd. Special-order paint colors and custom sizes are where weeks appear, so lock your color early. If you're moving a gas line, a sink drain, or adding circuits, that's also when permitting and inspection enter the picture — a like-for-like cabinet swap usually doesn't, but ask before you assume.

Day by day, once work starts

1. Day 1 — Demo and haul-off. Four to eight hours for a standard kitchen. In 1970s–80s tract homes the old boxes are often nailed straight through the drywall into studs, so budget for patching. Pre-1950 homes with lath and plaster take longer and make more dust.
2. Day 2 — Floor and wall prep. If tile is going in, it goes down before cabinets and needs cure time before anything heavy sits on it. Skipping flooring? This day disappears.
3. Days 3–4 — Cabinet install. The part everyone thinks is the whole project takes 1–2 days. Uppers hang first, then bases get shimmed dead level and scribed to the walls.
4. Day 4 or 5 — Countertop template. Hard gate: the templater cannot come until boxes are set and level, and your sink and faucet must be on site. Fabrication then runs 5–10 business days.
5. Days 12–15 — Countertops in, sink and faucet plumbed. Usually a half day.
6. Days 15–18 — Backsplash, hardware, toe kick, punch list.

Realistic door-to-door: two and a half to four weeks, of which only one to two days is actual cabinet hanging. Anyone quoting "two weeks flat" is quietly assuming your countertop shop has no queue.

What actually causes delays here

• Out-of-square walls. Standard in local tract construction. Fillers and scribing absorb it, but it adds hours.
• Slab movement. San Antonio's clay soil leaves plenty of kitchen floors half an inch out of level across a 12-foot run. Shims fix it; pretending it isn't there ruins a countertop seam.
• Missing sink, faucet, or appliances. The single most common delay we see. Template day cannot proceed without them.
• Summer fabrication backlog. Slab shops here are busiest June through September.

Living in the house while it happens

Set up a temporary kitchen on day zero: fridge relocated to the dining room, microwave, coffee maker, a folding table, paper plates. Plan on 10 to 14 days without a kitchen sink — that's the part people underestimate, not the noise. Keep pets in a closed room on demo and install days. Our crew is bilingual and we work seven days a week, so weekend days can absorb slippage instead of pushing your finish date.

Your next step

The date on your calendar starts with a measurement, not a guess. Book a free in-home measurement and we'll walk your kitchen, flag the square-wall and level issues before they cost you a day, and hand you a real schedule alongside your free quote.