How long from moving into a house would it take to replace kitchen?

[Mountainsided]

We’re looking to buy a house that would need a wall knocking down (and supporting as it’s probably a supporting wall) and putting in a new kitchen, flooring etc. We have the opportunity to not move initially so don’t have to live there whilst the works going on. But realistically from completing and getting the keys, how long would it take to find a contractor/builder, design a kitchen, knock the wall through and out a floor in? I’m guessing more than 2 months? Any more than that and we’d have to move in and live there, which is fine also.

We got the keys to our new house mid-Sept. We'd like to do bathroom and kitchen.... We are no further forward. Someone recommended a builder, he came to look at it and give a quote. He said he'd take on the work and keeps promising to come in and measure up, but hasn't showed. (TBH we haven't chased him up either).

We're new to the area so I really want to use a recommended builder.

How far through the buying process are you?

We moved into our house in Jan/Feb, and did a similar amount of work: knock through (not supporting though) kitchen, tiling, plastering.
We were lucky that we lined up a builder who was able to start quite quickly, and our plumber and plasterer were pretty flexible too...
We had a functioning kitchen by end of April. We used DIY kitchens and had a 6 week wait I think from order to delivery.
I would stay out whilst the messy stuff is happening if you can (the dust was horrendous) but the actual kitchen fitting was relatively quick and not so bad!
Just as a side note, some of the good builders round here are booked up months in advance, so there is a risk it could be a few months before your chosen builder is ready to start.

Thanks, it’s good to know what is possible/realistic and thanks for the dust warning!