Kitchen Renovation Order of Work: The Sequence, Step by Step (Ontario)

Kitchens & BathroomsPlanning Guide

Kitchen Renovation Order of Work: Who Comes When, and What Breaks When You Get It Wrong

Fourteen steps, in the order a good contractor runs them, with the week each one lands in and the mistake each one prevents.

Every expensive kitchen renovation story I have heard starts with two trades in the wrong order. The tile went on before the electrician. The counters were templated before the cabinets were screwed down. The floor went in after the cabinets and now the dishwasher is trapped forever. The order is not complicated. It is just unforgiving.

Checked October 2026 by a Tarion-registered Ontario builder with 300-plus custom homes behind him. Timeline is for a same-layout kitchen with a contractor running it; add a third for layout changes and another third for managing it yourself.

6 – 10 wkcabinet lead time, before anything starts

6 – 8 wkdemolition to done, same layout

2inspections on a permitted job

1week without a sink, minimum

Before anyone picks up a hammer

Design and drawing, signed. A cabinet drawing with every box labelled, the appliance models on it, the sink location, the electrical plan and the lighting layout. You sign it. Everything after this is built to it, and every change after this is a change order. Weeks minus 12 to minus 10.
Appliances chosen, models written down. Not bought yet, chosen. The fridge depth, range width, hood duct size and dishwasher height all set cabinet dimensions. Week minus 10.
Cabinets ordered. Six to ten weeks for semi-custom, twelve or more for custom. The delivery date is the date everything else is scheduled backwards from. Week minus 10 to minus 8.
Permit applied for, if needed. Plumbing moves, walls move, structure changes, or significant electrical: the municipality for the building permit, the ESA through your electrician for the electrical. Two to four weeks. Nothing structural or behind a wall starts until it is issued. Week minus 8.
Everything else ordered. Countertop material reserved at the fabricator, tile, flooring, sink, faucet, lights, hardware. The things that are “in stock” have a way of not being, and a kitchen waiting on a faucet is still a kitchen you cannot use. Week minus 6.
Temporary kitchen set up. Fridge, microwave, kettle and a camp stove or a hot plate somewhere with a floor you can mop. Paper plates. A plan for the dishes. Week minus 1.

The fourteen steps, in order

Step	Who	Week	What it prevents
1. Demolition and disposal	Demo crew	1	Done in a day or two. Everything out to the studs and subfloor if it is a gut. This is where the first surprises are found: the subfloor, the wiring, the stack.
2. Structural work	Framer, with the engineer’s drawing	1	Walls out, beam in, posts down. Framing inspection before it is covered. Nothing else can proceed until the room is the shape on the drawing.
3. Plumbing rough-in	Plumber	1 – 2	Drain, vent and supplies to the sink location, dishwasher and fridge line, capped. Done before electrical so the electrician works around pipes, not the other way.
4. HVAC and venting	HVAC or the contractor	2	Hood duct to the outside, any register moved, the floor vent that was under the old island. Before electrical and drywall.
5. Electrical rough-in	Licensed electrician	2	Circuits, boxes, pot light cans, under-cabinet lighting wiring, island feed. Set to the cabinet drawing, not to where the old boxes were.
6. Rough-in inspections	Municipality and ESA	2	Plumbing and electrical inspected open. Nothing gets covered until they pass. A day or two of waiting that saves cutting the drywall back open.
7. Insulation and drywall	Drywaller	3	Exterior walls insulated and vapour barrier, then board, tape, mud, sand, prime. Three to five days with drying time. Prime now; the finish coat comes later.
8. Flooring	Flooring installer	3 – 4	Subfloor levelled, then the finished floor across the whole room, under where the cabinets will stand. Cabinets sit on the floor, not the floor against the cabinets, so the dishwasher can come out and the floor does not stop at a line nobody will ever see.
9. Cabinet installation	Cabinet installer	4	Uppers first, then bases, levelled, shimmed, screwed to the studs, scribed to the walls. Fillers, panels and toe kick. Two to three days. The crown can wait until after the counters so the installer does not work around them.
10. Countertop template	Fabricator	4	Only after the cabinets are fixed and level, with the sink and cooktop on site so they can be measured. Fabrication takes five to ten working days. This is the week without a sink.
11. Countertop installation	Fabricator	5 – 6	Set, seamed, siliconed. The sink goes in with it if undermount. Then the plumber can finish.
12. Backsplash	Tiler	6	After the counters, so the tile sits on the stone and the joint is caulked, not grouted. Before the final electrical so outlets and switch plates land on finished tile.
13. Final trades	Plumber, electrician, HVAC	6 – 7	Faucet, dishwasher, fridge line, disposal; outlets, switches, lights, hood, appliances powered; registers. Final electrical inspection. Crown and any remaining trim.
14. Paint, caulk, hardware, clean	Painter and contractor	7 – 8	Finish coat on walls and ceiling, caulk at the counters and panels, handles and pulls on, doors adjusted, deficiency walk-through with a list, and the 10% holdback released when the list is done.

Weeks are from demolition on a same-layout kitchen run by a contractor. A layout change with walls and plumbing adds two to four weeks, mostly at steps 2 through 6. Self-managed adds a third to everything, because trades do not wait for each other unless somebody is holding the schedule.

The four orders people get wrong, and what each one costs

Cabinets before the floor

The floor stops at the toe kick. The dishwasher is now an inch lower than the opening and cannot come out without lifting the counter. Ten years from now the replacement dishwasher does not fit. Cost: a countertop lift at $500, or a floor that is never right. The floor goes under the cabinets.

Template before the cabinets are fixed

The fabricator templates cabinets that are sitting loose and get shimmed a quarter inch the next day. The stone arrives and does not meet the wall. Cost: a re-template and a week, or a seam where no seam should be. Screw the cabinets down first.

Tile before the electrician

The backsplash goes on with the old outlet boxes behind it. The electrician arrives to move them to the drawing and cuts the new tile. Cost: a day of tile repair that never quite matches. Rough-in first, inspection, drywall, counters, then tile, then the electrician’s final.

Drywall before the inspection

The plumbing and electrical rough-in get covered because the drywaller had a free day. The inspector asks to see it. Cost: cutting holes in new drywall, a failed inspection, and a contractor who now has a reputation with that inspector. Nothing is covered until it is passed.

The questions that come up every single time

Flooring before or after cabinets?

Before, under the cabinets, across the whole room. The counter-argument is that it wastes flooring under the boxes, which is true and costs about $150 in vinyl plank. The argument for it is that the dishwasher comes out, the floor has no visible edge, and if you change the cabinets in fifteen years the floor is already there. Every builder does it before. Some flippers do it after. That tells you what you need to know.

Paint before or after cabinets?

Prime and first coat before the cabinets so the wall behind them is sealed. Finish coat after the counters and backsplash, because the installers will mark the walls and the caulk line has to be painted. Ceiling before everything.

When does the sink stop working?

At demolition, and it comes back at step 13. On a same-layout kitchen that is six weeks. The week between template and counter install is the one where even the temporary sink is gone. Some contractors set a laundry-tub faucet on the cabinet base to get you through it; ask.

When do I pay for what?

Deposit at signing. Cabinets on order. Rough-in inspection passed. Cabinets installed. Substantial completion. Ten percent held back until the deficiency list is done and the lien period under the Construction Act has run. A payment schedule tied to those stages is the sign of a contractor who has done this before; a schedule tied to dates is the sign of one who needs the money on those dates.

If you are managing it yourself

Print the fourteen steps and put the date beside each one, counting backwards from the cabinet delivery. Book every trade for their week now, and tell each one who is before them and who is after. Call each trade the Friday before to confirm, because they will have been offered a bigger job on Thursday. Be home for every inspection. Do not let anyone cover anything until the inspector has seen it, no matter how nice they are about it. And accept that when the tiler shows up on the electrician’s day, the person who sorts that out at 7:15 in the morning is you, which is the 18% a contractor charges and the reason most people pay it.

The full budget, trade by trade, is in the renovation cost guide and your own version of it comes out of the renovation cost calculator. For the inspections, your municipal building department handles the building permit and the Electrical Safety Authority handles the electrical one; both will tell you on the phone what they expect to see open. Ontario’s renovation rights page covers the contract and payment side.

Questions people ask

How long does a kitchen renovation take in Ontario?

Same layout with a contractor: six to eight weeks from demolition, after a six to ten week wait for cabinets. Layout changes: ten to fourteen weeks. Self-managed: add a third. The cabinet lead time is the part nobody expects; the kitchen is ordered in January to be torn out in March.

Does the countertop go on before or after the backsplash?

Before. The tile sits on the counter and the joint between them is caulked. Tile first means the counter has to be scribed to the tile, which never looks right, and the joint is grouted, which cracks.

Can the cabinets go in before the drywall is painted?

After prime and first coat, yes, and that is the normal order. The finish coat waits until after the counters and tile. Cabinets against bare drywall is a mistake because the wall behind them is never sealed.

When should the appliances arrive?

The week of cabinet installation, so the installer can set the openings to them and the fabricator can template the cooktop. Not before, because they sit in the living room for a month. Not after, because the counters get templated to a guess.

What inspections does a kitchen need?

On a permitted job: framing if structure changed, plumbing rough-in, electrical rough-in through the ESA, then final electrical and a final building inspection. On a same-layout cabinet swap with no permit, the electrical work still needs an ESA permit and inspection if circuits are added. Your contractor books them; you can ask to see the passed reports.

Can I live in the house during the renovation?

Most people do. It is dusty for the first two weeks, loud for four, and without a kitchen for six to eight. A temporary kitchen in the basement or dining room with a fridge, microwave and a hot plate, and a plan for dishes in the laundry tub, gets most families through it. The week between countertop template and install is the hardest.

The whole thing in one line

Order the cabinets first, then demo, rough-ins, inspect, drywall, floor, cabinets, template, counters, tile, finals, paint. In that order, every time, no matter who has a free Thursday.

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