My daughter just moved into a 30+ Year old house. There are some electrical issues that we are working on, but one baffles me...

There is a 3 way switch that operated 4 cfl bulbs in the kitchen ceiling... when the switch is turned on 2 of the lights go on followed about 1/2 of a second later by the other 2... one of the switches is a dimmer... the bulbs are dim-able...

Any thoughts on this issue?

It's the bulbs. Some CFLs will do that.

As hkstroud said, it's just the CFLs. If you were to put regular incandescents in they would all come on at once.