A kitchen is the hardest room in the house to live without, which is exactly why people put off renovating it. The dread usually comes from not knowing what the weeks ahead actually hold. So here’s the honest version: the timeline, the permit question, and whether you can still make coffee while it’s happening.
How long it takes
A mid-range kitchen, new cabinets, counters, flooring and backsplash, runs about 4 to 6 weeks once the materials are on site. Push into structural changes, moving a wall, relocating plumbing, opening the room to the dining space, and you’re looking at 8 to 10 weeks. The phrase that matters there is “once the materials are on site.” Cabinetry and stone have lead times, and a renovation that starts before the cabinets exist is a renovation that stalls halfway. We order first and book the build around the delivery.
When you need a permit
Swapping cabinets and counters in the same footprint usually doesn’t trigger a City of Ottawa permit. The moment the work touches structure, a plumbing rough-in, your electrical service, or an opening in a load-bearing wall, it does. For that work we prepare the drawings and submit to the building department for you, the same as we do on the hardscape side. The goal is that the permit never becomes your problem.
Can you live in the house?
For most single-room kitchen renovations, yes. We seal the work zone with dust barriers, protect the pathways, and vacuum at the end of every day, because your family is still living in the rest of the house. We’ll talk through a temporary setup, a microwave and a kettle somewhere out of the dust, so the few weeks without a stove are an inconvenience instead of an ordeal. A full gut that pulls in several rooms is usually easier with a short stay elsewhere, and we’ll tell you that up front rather than halfway through.
Where the money goes
Three line items carry most of a kitchen budget: cabinetry, countertops and labour. Appliances and tile follow. The two-tone look in the photo above, grey bases under white uppers, is a way to get a custom feel without a custom-everything price; the contrast does the work that expensive material would otherwise have to. Where we tell people not to trim is the part you don’t see, the plumbing and electrical brought up to current code while the walls are open. Doing it now costs less than doing it after the tile is on.
One number to call
On every renovation, Lindsey runs the schedule and the trades and Rob runs the crew, and you have one phone number for the whole project instead of five. No project manager relaying a plumber’s note three days late. The people who quoted your kitchen are the people standing in it.
Thinking about your kitchen? Book a free in-home consultation and we’ll walk the space, talk through the scope, and send a written, fixed-price quote within five business days.
Published June 16, 2026 by ALM Construction & Landscaping. General information for Ottawa-area homeowners, not a substitute for the City's determination on your specific project.