Ordering Long Lead Items for a Kitchen and Bath Project

Most people wait to order cabinets until the old ones are on the curb, and then spend weeks living in a gutted room. The breakdown sitting on kitchen and bath riverside madame and me lists the items that set the calendar for a kitchen and bath remodeling job in Riverside, CA, and none of them should be left until demolition.

Cabinets set the whole schedule

Semi-custom and custom cabinets are built to order and often take the longest of any item on the job. The countertop cannot be measured until cabinets are set, and the backsplash tile cannot be finished until the countertop is in. A delay in cabinets pushes three other trades. For that reason the cabinet order goes in before demolition starts, with the delivery date written into the schedule.

The bathroom vanity and its top

A vanity is usually a shorter lead time than kitchen cabinets, but a custom size or a stone top adds weeks. The faucet holes in the top must match the faucet chosen, so the faucet is picked first. A vessel sink needs a taller faucet than an undermount sink, and ordering them in the wrong sequence means drilling a new top or buying a new faucet.

Tile and the overage order

Porcelain tile, subway tile and mosaic sheets come from a specific dye lot, and a second order may not match the first. The crew orders extra for cuts and breakage, and keeps a few boxes after the job for repairs. Special orders, imported tile and large format porcelain can take weeks, so the tile choice is made early enough to arrive before the waterproofing is done.

Plumbing fixtures and valves

A shower valve, a cartridge, a tub filler and a kitchen faucet each have a rough-in kit that goes in the wall before the tile. The trim comes later, but the valve body is needed at rough-in, so it is ordered first. A faucet finish in a less common color can be backordered for a month, and the plumber cannot pass inspection without the right valve body set at the right depth.

Which room orders first

On a two room job, the items for both rooms are ordered together, because the same crew and the same delivery truck serve both. Orders for the room that opens first take priority, then the second room follows. A pallet of tile that arrives for a bathroom that is not ready sits in a garage in a Riverside summer, where cardboard boxes warp and thinset bags harden if stored in the heat.

A checking routine before demolition

Before the first wall comes down, every long lead item is confirmed with a date, a delivery address and a check that the model, size and finish match the plan. A crew that starts demolition with the cabinets, vanity, tile and fixtures confirmed has a schedule. A crew that starts without them has a hope.