Kitchen Workbook: 8 Steps to Surviving a Remodel



Congratulations — the kitchen remodeling project you have planned for months is now ready to start! Now comes the tricky part: making do with a fully working kitchen for the length. There’s no escaping the inconvenience, but using some smart planning, it does not need to wreak havoc on your own household. Follow these hints to create the construction process as smooth as possible.

Echelon Custom Homes

1. Designate a kitchen stand-in. Eating out all of the time gets tiresome, and of course that the strain it can put in your own budget. And however much takeout you bring home, you’ll still require a spot to generate school lunches, pour a bowl of cereal or brew coffee. Set up a temporary kitchen someplace that’s from the method of building.

If you are lucky enough to have a morning kitchen or even a guesthouse, you can turn that into food-prep central. Or outfit a corner of the cellar, garage or workroom with a couple portable tables, standalone shelves, storage crates and folding chairs.

Colmar Kitchen Studio

2. Winnow your kitchen gear down. During a remodel, your own eating and cooking routine will be interrupted, and however much you like to cook, challenging meals will be challenging.

Keep things simple and peel down to the kitchen gear you really, truly can’t live without. Be merciless — how often are you going to use your food processor or waffle iron? Stash the essentials close at hand and store the rest.

Dreamy Whites

3. Plan meals around appliances. Portable workhorses such as slow cookers, microwaves, toaster ovens, electric griddles and skillets, hot plates and coffee makers could get you over the mealtime hump.

Transfer your refrigerator to some temporary kitchen if possible; if not, invest in a minifridge and a chest freezer (assess Craigslist or Freecycle), or borrow them from a friend.

Witt Construction

4. Stock the pantry with disposables. Without your usual spot to wash dishes, you’re going to be getting creative (the bathtub, an outdoor hose, a cooler full of sudsy water).

Make life simpler by stocking up on recyclable or biodegradable plates, napkins, utensils and cups. You will streamline cleanup and cut down on the stress of your temporary displacement.

Urrutia Design

5. When the weather cooperates, set your grill to do the job. Here’s a secret: Your grill can do almost anything that your oven can. Need to roast vegetables or meat, or bake pizza? Visit the grill. You can even station your Scout days and utilize it to get foil-packet foods, pans of rolls and biscuits, skillet and cobblers and, of course, s’mores.

Charmean Neithart Interiors

6. Keep a stash of nonperishable snacks. When you are hungry but can’t face putting together a complete meal on your makeshift digs, snacks can save your tummy.

Peanut butter, crackers, dried fruit or fruit leather, canned goods, trail mix and more could make for fast foods in a pinch.

Amoroso Design

7. Leave town for a brief while, if you can. If you are thinking about a vacation or wish to schedule a business trip, now might be a fantastic time, assuming you are familiar with the remodeling job continuing on your absence. Bonus points if you are visiting relatives — you might score a home-cooked meal or two.

8. Bear in mind the big image. From the grand scheme of homeownership, this is but a brief period of inconvenience involving years of kitchen bliss. Keep the process in perspective and treat it like an experience. If you are hard at work on your sparkling new kitchen, the temporary hassles will fade from memory.

Perhaps you have created it through a kitchen remodel? Please discuss your best survival trick below.

Next: Browse thousands of inspiring kitchens

Guide: How to Remodel Your Kitchen

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