What to Do When Your Custom Cabinets Are Delayed

The Call No Homeowner Wants

Your kitchen remodel is on schedule. Demolition is done, the rough-in work is complete, drywall is up, and the room is painted and ready for cabinets. Then you get the call from your contractor or the cabinet manufacturer: the cabinets are delayed. They were supposed to arrive this week, but now they will not be here for another three to six weeks. Maybe longer.

Your heart sinks. Without cabinets, countertops cannot be templated. Without countertops, the sink and faucet cannot be installed. Without the sink, the plumber cannot do final connections. The entire finish phase of your kitchen remodel is now on hold.

Cabinet delays are one of the most frustrating and most common disruptions in kitchen remodeling. Understanding why they happen, what you can do about them, and how to prevent them puts you in a much stronger position.

Why Custom Cabinet Orders Get Delayed

Manufacturing Backlogs

Custom cabinet manufacturers operate on a queue system. Your order is produced in the sequence it was received, and each set of cabinets requires individual fabrication. During peak remodeling season (typically March through September), manufacturers experience higher order volumes that can stretch production timelines.

A single cabinet shop may have dozens of orders ahead of yours, each requiring custom measurements, finish matching, and quality verification. If any order in the queue takes longer than expected, it pushes every subsequent order back.

Material Shortages

Custom cabinets require specific materials: particular wood species, veneer, finish chemicals, hardware, hinges, drawer slides, and specialty items. If any single component is unavailable, the entire order can be held up. Hardwood availability fluctuates based on lumber supply and demand cycles. Specialty finishes and imported hardware are particularly vulnerable to supply disruptions.

Quality Control Rejections

Reputable cabinet manufacturers inspect finished cabinets before shipping. If a finish is uneven, a door is warped, or dimensions are off-spec, the piece is rejected and must be remade. This quality control process protects you from receiving defective cabinets, but it adds time when rejections occur.

Shipping and Transit Damage

Cabinets are large, heavy, and finished with delicate surfaces. Damage during shipping is not rare. When a cabinet arrives with a cracked panel, a chipped finish, or a broken component, the damaged piece must be remanufactured and reshipped. This can add 2 to 4 weeks for a single damaged unit.

Order Errors

Sometimes delays result from errors in the original order. Incorrect dimensions, wrong finish specifications, or missing pieces require correction at the factory. These errors can originate with the designer, the dealer, or the manufacturer, and they all result in delays.

What to Do When the Delay Hits

Step 1: Get Specific Information

When you learn about a delay, ask for specific answers, not vague promises:

• What is causing the delay? (manufacturing, materials, shipping, quality)
• What is the new estimated delivery date?
• How confident is the manufacturer in the revised date?
• Are all cabinets delayed, or just specific pieces?
• Is there a partial shipment option for the cabinets that are ready?

Concrete information helps you and your contractor plan. “A few more weeks” is not actionable; “delivery confirmed for March 15” is.

Step 2: Assess the Impact on Your Project

Work with your contractor to map out exactly how the delay affects the project timeline. The key dependencies in a typical kitchen remodel are:

1. Cabinets arrive and are installed (1-3 days for installation)
2. Countertop templating (must happen after cabinets are installed; 1 day)
3. Countertop fabrication (7-14 days after templating)
4. Countertop installation (1 day)
5. Plumbing and electrical final connections (1-2 days after countertops)
6. Backsplash installation (2-4 days after countertops)
7. Trim, hardware, and punch list (2-3 days)

A 3-week cabinet delay does not just push the project back 3 weeks. It pushes the entire finish sequence back, including the countertop fabrication time that follows cabinet installation.

Step 3: Keep Other Work Moving

While cabinets are your bottleneck for the kitchen, there is likely other work that can proceed:

• Flooring: If you are installing hardwood, tile, or LVP in adjacent rooms, that work can continue
• Painting: Touch-up and finish painting in other areas of the home
• Bathroom work: If your project includes a bathroom remodel, shift resources there
• Exterior work: Painting, landscaping, or exterior repairs
• Electrical and plumbing rough-in: If not yet complete in other areas
• Hardware and fixture staging: Verify all hardware, fixtures, and accessories are on hand and organized for installation when cabinets arrive

Your contractor should provide a revised schedule that fills the gap productively rather than leaving the crew idle.

Step 4: Communicate with Your Countertop Fabricator

If you have already reserved a templating and fabrication slot with your countertop supplier, contact them immediately about the delay. Countertop fabricators also work on queues, and losing your slot can add another 2 to 4 weeks once cabinets finally arrive. Most fabricators will work with you to reschedule, but the sooner you communicate, the better your options.

Step 5: Consider Your Options

For shorter delays (1-3 weeks), patience is usually the best strategy. The cabinets you selected are the cabinets you want, and a few weeks of delay is a small price for a product you will live with for 15 to 20 years.

For longer delays (4-8+ weeks), weigh the costs:

• Extended contractor overhead: Your contractor may charge for idle time or extended general conditions
• Temporary housing costs: If you are living elsewhere during the remodel, each extra month adds $3,000-$6,000+ in the Bay Area
• Opportunity cost: Your kitchen is unusable for additional weeks
• Emotional toll: Living in a construction zone or temporary housing wears on everyone

If these costs are substantial, discuss alternatives with your designer and contractor. Semi-custom cabinets from a well-regarded manufacturer can be delivered in 6-10 weeks and offer many of the same finish and configuration options as fully custom.

How to Prevent Cabinet Delays

Order Early, Order First

The single most effective prevention strategy is ordering cabinets as early as possible. In an ideal workflow, cabinet selections are finalized and the order is placed during the design phase, well before construction begins. This gives the manufacturer the maximum production window and creates a buffer for any delays.

At Custom Home, we place cabinet orders during Phase 1 (Design). By the time Phase 2 (Build) begins and demolition starts, the cabinets are already 6 to 10 weeks into production.

Confirm Lead Times Before Selecting

Before falling in love with a specific cabinet line, ask about current lead times. Lead times vary significantly between manufacturers and fluctuate throughout the year. A manufacturer quoting 8 weeks in January might quote 14 weeks in May.

Verify the Order Before It Ships

Request a pre-shipment review or approval process. Some manufacturers send a final order confirmation with detailed specifications for your review before production begins. Catching errors at this stage prevents delays caused by wrong sizes, wrong finishes, or missing pieces.

Have a Backup in Mind

Identify a second-choice cabinet option during the design phase. If your first choice encounters a catastrophic delay (manufacturer going out of business, major supply disruption), you have an alternative that can be ordered without starting the design process from scratch.

Choose a Design-Build Partner

Working with a design-build firm that handles both design and construction provides a structural advantage in managing cabinet procurement. The design team selects and orders cabinets, and the construction team schedules work around confirmed delivery dates. When delays occur, one project manager coordinates the response across all trades and suppliers.

When to Call a Professional

If you are managing a kitchen remodel yourself and encountering cabinet delays, consider the following points when deciding whether to bring in professional help:

• If the delay is causing cascading impacts on other trades and you are unsure how to reorganize the schedule
• If the cabinet manufacturer is unresponsive or giving conflicting information
• If you are facing a decision between waiting and switching to an alternative product
• If the delay has financial implications (extended temporary housing, contractor overhead) that need to be managed

A professional project manager or general contractor experienced in kitchen remodels has dealt with these situations many times and can provide clear guidance.

Why Custom Home Design and Build

Cabinet procurement is one of the areas where Custom Home’s two-phase design-build process delivers the most value. Because we manage design and construction as a single, coordinated effort, cabinet selections and orders happen during Phase 1, before construction begins.

Our design team works with a curated network of cabinet manufacturers and dealers. We know which manufacturers deliver reliably, which lines offer the best combination of quality and lead time, and how to write specifications that prevent order errors.

When delays do occur (and occasionally they do, even with the best planning), our project manager immediately adjusts the construction schedule to keep the crew productive on other tasks. We communicate the revised timeline clearly and work with countertop fabricators, appliance suppliers, and our own trades to minimize the total project impact.

The result is a kitchen remodel that stays as close to schedule as possible, even when things outside our control go sideways.

Start your kitchen remodel with a team that manages every detail from design through delivery.