If you are doing a total renovation of your kitchen, you should look at the whole room, not just the cabinets. Consider lighting, flooring, appliances, etc.
Some of these considerations can be settled after the fact. Others should only be changed by building them into the renovation. Electric supply changes and lighting should only be done at the time of the cabinet change. You should rough-in the wiring you will need well in advance of putting in the new cabinets.
You all know by now that your kitchen should be built up around your appliances and if you are making a change in them, you should do this in advance of the actual design.
Since we have already been through flooring, I will simply say here that a few types should be done after the cabinets are installed. Ceramic and hardwood should be done before. Pergo and it's derivatives, cork, and sheet flooring should be done afterward.
You should plan on setting up another temporary kitchen somewhere else in the house. Full renovations can take a week at least and sometimes can drag out for a month or more. Food storage and preparation for you and your family should be considered carefully. There will be enough stress and anxiety without worrying about where your next meal is coming from.
There are horror stories out there about kitchen installations which take months so be prepared for the worst. Take up yoga if you're a tense person and roll with the punches. If you have purchased your kitchen from a reputable dealer and they are taking care of the installation, relax and trust that if things get really screwed up you will always have some recourse.
If, on the other hand, you have decided to go with a small dealer, arm yourself with a good lawyer, just in case the going gets rough. It's always good business etiiquette to have a contract drawn up with specific dates for completion of different things. If you can have an air of confidence in your dealings with your contractor, then you will seem less of a target to an unscrupulous dealer.
This is the last article in this series. I'm open to questions and comments about anything to do with the installation. In a successive article I will describe a visit to a customer's house to see a kitchen that I designed. This is notable only because it is the very first time I have actually seen a
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