An Old Town Scottsdale Condo Kitchen Remodel, Week by Week
September 13, 2026
Owners of condos and lofts in Old Town Scottsdale usually ask us the same first question, and it is rarely about cabinets. They want to know what the next few months will actually look like. How long before anything happens. When the noise starts. Whether they can stay in the unit. What the neighbors will put up with.
A remodel in a shared building has a rhythm that a house does not. There is a long quiet stretch at the start where the real work is paper and measuring, then a short burst of loud days, then a longer stretch of careful, quieter work that depends on other people showing up in the right order. Knowing that rhythm in advance takes most of the stress out of it.
What follows is how a typical same layout kitchen remodel runs in a concrete condo or loft building, from the first walkthrough to the day the building manager releases the damage deposit. Every building has its own rules, so treat this as the general shape, not a promise about yours.
Before Week One: The Part Nobody Sees
The work starts long before a cabinet comes off the wall, and the earlier weeks set the pace for everything that follows.
Reading the alteration agreement
Most associations have a document that governs remodeling. Some call it an alteration agreement, some a remodeling policy, some bury it in the rules and regulations. It tends to cover the same ground: which work needs approval, what hours noisy work is allowed, whether contractors can use the passenger elevator, where debris goes, what insurance is required and whether a deposit is held against damage to the common areas.
We read it with the owner at the first visit. It is the single most useful document in the whole project, and it answers a lot of design questions before they are asked. If the agreement says flooring must carry a sound control underlayment, that changes the floor build up and possibly the cabinet toe kick height. If it says no work on weekends, that stretches the calendar.
Learning the building’s bones
At the same visit we look for the things that decide what is possible:
- The ceiling. Is it a bare concrete slab, a slab with a dropped drywall ceiling below it, or a wood framed assembly? A bare slab rules out cutting in recessed lights.
- The riser. Where do the drain and supply lines run up through the building, and where is the shutoff for the unit? In many buildings, the shutoff for a kitchen is shared with a neighbor.
- The exhaust path. Is there an existing duct to the outside, and does it actually reach an exterior wall, or does it stop in a chase?
- The electrical panel. How much capacity is there, and is there room for a dedicated circuit for an induction cooktop or a second oven?
- The route in. Lobby door width, the elevator cab’s depth and diagonal, the hallway turn and the unit’s own entry door.
That last one surprises people. A countertop run or a tall pantry cabinet that cannot make the turn out of the elevator is a design problem, and it is far cheaper to solve on paper.
Design inside the limits
With those facts in hand, the design conversation gets much more honest. A loft owner who wants a big island sink learns early whether the drain can reach the stack without coring through the slab. Someone who wants a powerful gas range hood learns whether there is anywhere for the air to go. Often the answer shapes the kitchen for the better: an induction cooktop paired with a good recirculating hood, a sink kept on the plumbing wall, and the savings spent on plywood cabinet boxes, full extension drawers and a counter surface that shrugs off Scottsdale’s hard water.
Weeks One Through Four: Approval and Ordering
Once the design is settled, two clocks start at the same time.
The first is the association. We prepare the package the board or its architectural committee asks for, which usually includes a written scope of work, a simple plan, product sheets, a certificate of insurance naming the association and a proposed schedule. Review time depends on how often the committee meets. Some buildings turn a package around in a week or two. Others meet monthly and will send it back with questions.
The second clock is the materials. Cabinets are almost always the longest lead item. Semi custom lines commonly take several weeks to arrive, and custom cabinetry can take longer. We place the order once the association has approved the layout, not before, because a board condition that moves an appliance or changes the flooring can change the cabinet order too.
This is also when the City of Scottsdale permit question gets answered. A kitchen that keeps its plumbing and electrical where they are and only replaces cabinets and counters may not need one. Adding circuits, moving a sink or changing a wall usually does. The association’s approval and the city’s permit are two separate things, and neither substitutes for the other. When a permit is needed, we submit the plans and wait for it before scheduling any work it covers.
What the owner does during this stretch
Not much, which is the point. The useful things are to clear out the cabinets you are not using, decide where you will set up a temporary kitchen, and let the property manager know your rough timing so they can warn the neighbors who share your walls.
Week Five: Protection and Demolition
Demolition day in a condo begins in the hallway, not the kitchen.
We book the elevator for the hours the building allows, hang pads in the cab, lay protection down the corridor from the elevator to the unit door and put a walk off mat at the entry. Inside, we seal off the rest of the unit with plastic and a zipper door, cover floors that are staying, and set up a place for the debris that keeps it out of the common areas until it can go down in the elevator.
Then the kitchen comes out. Upper cabinets first, then the countertop, then the base cabinets. The building engineer or a plumber shuts the water, and we cap the supply lines and plug the drain so nothing runs into the stack while it is open.
In a concrete building, demolition is louder than people expect, because sound travels through the structure. We keep the noisy work, like breaking out old tile or cutting, inside the hours the rules allow and group it into as few days as possible. Most of the loud part of a same layout remodel is over within a few days.
What demolition often turns up
Opening a condo kitchen tends to reveal one or two surprises. A slow leak under the old sink that has stained the subfloor. A junction box buried behind a cabinet with no cover. A dishwasher drain with no air gap or high loop. None of these are unusual in older buildings, and none of them are dramatic, but each one gets fixed properly before new work covers it up. We would rather call the owner about a forty dollar part than close a wall over a problem.
Weeks Five and Six: Scanning and Rough In
This is where a concrete building behaves most differently from a house.
Scanning before any penetration
If anything has to go into the concrete, whether an anchor for a heavy wall cabinet, a new conduit path or a sleeve for a duct, the area is scanned first. A scanning technician uses ground penetrating radar to locate rebar and, in post tensioned slabs, the steel tendons that run through the concrete under very high tension. Those locations are marked on the surface, and the penetration is placed where the scan shows it is clear.
Post tensioned construction is common in mid rise and loft buildings, and there is no way to tell from inside a unit where the tendons are. Drilling on a guess is how a small kitchen job becomes a structural repair and an insurance claim for the association. Many buildings require scanning in writing, and we do it whether they require it or not.
Plumbing and electrical rough in
With the walls open, the plumber sets up supply and drain connections for the new sink, dishwasher and any refrigerator water line. In a same layout remodel, the drain stays close to the riser, which keeps this step short and keeps the water outage for neighbors to an hour or two.
The electrician runs the circuits the new kitchen needs. Current codes expect dedicated circuits for appliances like the dishwasher, disposal, microwave and refrigerator, along with GFCI protection for countertop receptacles and AFCI protection where required. An induction cooktop may need a larger circuit, which is why we checked the panel back at the first visit. Under cabinet lighting gets its wiring now too, since it is very hard to add neatly after the cabinets are hung.
Inspection
When a permit is involved, a city inspector looks at the rough work before walls are closed. We schedule this so that nothing is covered up ahead of time. Some associations also want their building engineer to look at plumbing connections before they are hidden, and we coordinate both visits.
Weeks Six and Seven: Walls, Floors and Cabinets
After inspection, walls are patched and the floor gets whatever it needs. If the association requires a sound control underlayment beneath a new hard floor, it goes down here, and the finished floor typically runs under where the cabinets will sit so they can be removed later without leaving a gap.
Cabinets come up in the elevator during a booked window, with the corridor protection still in place. Base cabinets go in first and get leveled carefully, because a countertop can only be as flat as the boxes beneath it. Concrete floors in older buildings are rarely perfectly level, so shimming is normal. Upper cabinets follow, fastened into the wall structure, with anchors placed where the scan cleared them if they go into concrete.
This is the week the room starts to look like a kitchen again, and it is also a quieter stretch. Assembling and hanging cabinets is mostly measuring, screwing and adjusting, not the sort of noise that brings a call from the unit below.
Weeks Seven and Eight: Template, Fabrication and Counters
Once the base cabinets are set and level, the countertop fabricator comes to template. They create an exact pattern of the tops, including the sink and cooktop cutouts and the seam locations.
In a condo, the seam locations are not purely a design choice. They are decided partly by what the elevator and hallway can carry. We settled most of that during design, but the template visit confirms it against the real cabinets. If a long seamless run is important, sometimes a freight elevator booking or a stair carry makes it possible. Sometimes the right answer is a seam placed where it will be least noticeable, such as at the sink.
Fabrication usually takes a week or two after template. Install day is short but busy: slabs come up in the elevator, get set and seamed, and the sink is mounted. A plumber comes back afterward to reconnect the sink, faucet, disposal and dishwasher.
Choosing a surface for hard water
Scottsdale’s municipal water is very hard, and whatever you choose will see mineral spots near the sink. Quartz and porcelain slab clean easily without sealing. Granite and quartzite handle it well once sealed. Marble is the one to think carefully about, because the acidic cleaners that remove scale will etch it. An undermount sink avoids the rim where scale likes to collect.
Week Eight and Beyond: Backsplash, Finish and Handover
After the counters are in, the backsplash tile goes up and is grouted. Then the finish work: cabinet hardware, adjusting doors and drawers so the gaps are even, installing under cabinet lights, setting appliances, fitting the hood and its filters, caulking where the counter meets the wall and touching up paint.
We then take the corridor and elevator protection down, clean the common areas, and walk the building with the property manager. That walk matters, because it is usually what releases the owner’s deposit. Any scuff we caused gets fixed before we leave, not argued about.
The final step is a walkthrough with the owner, drawer by drawer, and a short punch list for anything that needs another visit. When a permit was involved, the final city inspection happens here as well.
Living in the Unit While It Happens
Most of our condo owners stay in their homes during the remodel, and it is manageable with a little setup.
- A temporary kitchen. A folding table in another room with a microwave, an electric kettle, a toaster oven or a single induction burner, and the refrigerator moved and plugged in nearby.
- A dish plan. A bathroom sink works for light rinsing. Paper plates for the loudest week are not a failure of character.
- Dust control. The sealed zipper door and negative air help, but plan to keep bedroom doors closed during demolition.
- Pets. The noisy days are hard on animals. Many owners board them or have them stay with a friend for demolition week.
- Deliveries. Cabinets and slabs arrive during booked elevator windows, so you do not need to be home for each one if we have access arranged with the building.
Summer in Scottsdale adds one more consideration. With temperatures well above 100 degrees for months, the unit’s air conditioning runs constantly. Keeping the work zone sealed stops construction dust from ending up in the return air and the filter. We change or cover the return grilles during dusty work for that reason.
Where the Schedule Usually Stretches
Honest schedules name the things that slow them down. In condo work, those are almost always outside the kitchen itself:
- Association review that meets monthly or asks for revisions.
- Cabinet lead times that land longer than the manufacturer first quoted.
- Elevator availability when another unit in the building has booked the same days.
- Restricted working hours that turn a two day task into three.
- Inspection scheduling, which depends on the city’s calendar rather than ours.
We build slack for these into the plan from the start, so the dates we give are dates we can keep.
When a Smaller Project Makes More Sense
Not every Old Town kitchen needs the full sequence. If the cabinet boxes are sound, square and dry, and the layout works for the way you cook, replacing only the countertops, sink and backsplash can transform the room in a fraction of the time. That job typically means one template visit, a wait for fabrication, and a day or two without a sink. It also needs far less from the association in most buildings.
Refacing is another middle path. New doors, drawer fronts and hardware on existing boxes, paired with new counters, gives much of the look of a new kitchen with very little demolition noise. It is a poor choice if the boxes are swollen, sagging or poorly laid out, and a good one if they are solid.
We will tell you which of those fits your unit, even when it is the smaller job.
Getting Started
The most useful thing to have ready for a first conversation is your building’s alteration rules and the name of your property manager. With those two things, we can usually tell you on the first call what is realistic in your building and how long it is likely to take. Call Primalhealthwithjean at (480) 379-3060 to set up a walkthrough at a time your building allows.