Kitchen remodels do not usually run late because someone worked slowly. They run late because one step happened out of order and everything downstream had to wait. The sequence is not flexible, and understanding it tells you a lot about whether a schedule you are being shown is realistic.
It starts before demolition. Cabinets are the long lead item, often six to ten weeks, and nothing about the finished room can be measured until they are physically in place. Any contractor who starts demolition before the cabinets are ordered and confirmed is choosing to have your kitchen sit unusable while a truck is somewhere on a highway.
Once demolition is done, the walls are open and that is the only chance to move plumbing and add circuits. Rough-in happens now, gets inspected now, and then the walls close. Skipping the inspection to save two days is how a wall gets opened again in month two.
Then drywall, and here is the part that gets rushed. Cabinets need flat walls and level floors. If the drywall is wavy or the floor dips, every cabinet run has to be shimmed and scribed, doors never line up quite right, and the countertop seams sit proud. Time spent making the room flat and square is repaid three times over during cabinet installation.
Cabinets go in, and only then can the countertop be templated. That template is the single most schedule-critical moment in the project, because fabrication takes one to two weeks and nothing else can be finished until the tops are in: no backsplash, no sink, no cooktop, no plumbing connections. Everything after that, the backsplash, appliances, trim, and paint touch-up, moves quickly.
So when you look at a proposed schedule, check for three things: are the cabinets ordered before demolition, is there an inspection between rough-in and drywall, and is there a realistic gap between countertop template and installation. If all three are there, the date at the bottom of the page is probably a real one.