How to cancel a kitchen contract, and how the clock works

Three business days, five for a senior citizen, counted from the day you get the signed copy.

You are allowed to change your mind. For most kitchen contracts signed anywhere other than the contractor's own office, California gives you three business days to cancel, no reason required and no penalty. Here is how the clock actually runs, the one case where it does not apply, and how to cancel so that it counts.

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3
Business days to cancel
Counted from the day you receive a signed, dated copy of the contract that carries the cancellation notice.
5
Business days for a senior citizen
Every "three" and "third" in the notice becomes "five" and "fifth" if the buyer is a senior citizen.
10
Days to get your money back
Once you cancel, the contractor has to return anything you paid within ten days.

How the clock works

The three days do not start when you shake hands or say yes on the phone. They start when a specific thing happens, and getting that straight is most of the protection.

The clock starts on the signed copy: Not the verbal agreement. Receiving a copy that is signed and dated by both of you, and that contains the cancellation notice, is the moment the three business days begin.
Business days, not calendar days: Weekends and holidays do not count against your three days. A contract signed on a Friday is not half expired by Monday morning.
Cancel in writing: Email, mail, fax, or hand deliver a written notice to the contractor at the address printed on the contract, by midnight of the third business day. A phone call is not a cancellation.
Say who and when: Include your name, your address, and the date you received the signed copy. That is all the notice has to contain.

Source Business and Professions Code 7159

The exact notice your contract has to carry

This wording is not ours and it is not a summary. The law makes the contractor print it, in at least 12 point boldface, right next to a space reserved for your signature, which you sign and date to show you received it. If this box is not in your contract, that is itself grounds for a complaint.

Three-Day Right to Cancel

You, the buyer, have the right to cancel this contract within three business days. You may cancel by emailing, mailing, faxing, or delivering a written notice to the contractor at the contractor's place of business by midnight of the third business day after you received a signed and dated copy of the contract that includes this notice. Include your name, your address, and the date you received the signed copy of the contract and this notice.

If you cancel, the contractor must return to you anything you paid within 10 days of receiving the notice of cancellation. For your part, you must make available to the contractor at your residence, in substantially as good condition as you received them, goods delivered to you under this contract or sale.

Owner signature

Date you received it

The one case where it does not apply

The three day right is built for the sale that comes to you, at the kitchen table or on the doorstep. If you went to the contractor's own place of business and negotiated and signed the contract there, the right does not attach. That is the main exception, and it is worth knowing before you assume you can always walk it back.

Signed at their office: A contract negotiated at the contractor's own place of business does not carry the three day right. The protection is for the sale that came to your home, not the showroom you chose to visit.
A senior citizen gets five: If the buyer is a senior citizen, the window is five business days instead of three, and the notice itself is retitled to say so.
Seven days after a disaster: For repair or restoration of a home damaged in a declared emergency, the window is seven business days. Different situation from a planned kitchen, but the same idea, more room to reconsider.

If the notice is missing

If your contract does not contain the cancellation notice at all, the law does not just shrug. It says plainly that you may file a complaint with the Contractors State License Board. A missing notice is one of the clearest signs that the contract was not written to the standard the law sets, which is a good reason to look again at everything the contract should contain and at the contractor's license record before the work goes any further. If you are starting over with someone new, one call about a kitchen remodel in Canyon Country is where that begins.

Source Business and Professions Code 7159

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