When you’re planning a kitchen remodeling project, it’s easy to get lost in planning the details of the remodel itself, especially the fun things that really impact the dream kitchen you’re envisioning in your head, such as flooring materials, light fixtures, countertops, and that huge island you’ve been picturing in your kitchen forever. Those are all important things to plan, but you also need to plan the not-so-fun aspects of surviving the kitchen remodeling process. A typical kitchen remodel takes between 6-8 weeks, and it severely impacts your day-to-day routine. 

Simply put: Yes! While it may be preferable to some to live elsewhere while your kitchen is a construction zone, that’s not always affordable or feasible for many families. People live in their homes during remodeling all the time, and you can too. You just have to consider all of the aspects of your daily routine that will be disrupted and plan ahead to get through them, such as:

• How will you wash dishes without a sink? 
• How will you prepare food?
• How do you plan to remove all of your belongings from your kitchen and where will you store them?
• What other areas of the house will be subject to dust/debris and foot traffic during the remodel, i.e., paths from exterior doors to the kitchen? 
  

Especially if you’re taking on a full-blown gut job kitchen remodel where everything needs to go, right down to the flooring and the wiring behind the walls, you’ll need to figure out how to survive temporarily without a kitchen. Here are some suggestions so you don’t have to double your budget to eat out at restaurants every day. 

• Create a basic temporary kitchen elsewhere. If there’s another area of your home that has some kind of sink, such as a basement or garage, that could be ideal. Move your refrigerator (or ask your kitchen remodeling contractor to help move it)  to that location and set up a makeshift workstation that can be used for basic food prep, i.e., chopping veggies, making sandwiches, etc. Small appliances such as your microwave, blender, crock pot, and a small two-burner electric cooktop will make this a doable temporary solution. 
• If you don’t have space inside your home for a temporary kitchen, you can also set it up outside. Especially if you’re remodeling during the warmer months, your grill can help you get through the months when you don’t have a full-size stove or oven. You can run your garden hose for a water supply and use a cooler with a drain to wash dishes (or wash them in a washing basin in the bathtub).
• Cook meals in advance before demolition begins and freeze them so they’re quick and easy to heat up
• Keep just your kitchen basics out, like basic cooking utensils, a couple pots/pans if you have an electric cooktop, and a couple plates, bowls, cups, and silverware for each family member (or just use disposable dishes and eating utensils if you prefer). Pack up everything else so it doesn’t get damaged and figure out where you’re going to store it. You may have storage space in your basement or a spare room. If not, you can rent a storage pod to store these items in until your new kitchen is ready to move into. 
  

While the kitchen will be the true construction zone during your remodel, other areas of your home will be affected as well, and your family’s routine will be challenged in more ways than just one (how you’ll feed yourselves). 

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  Depending on where your kitchen is located in relation to your exterior doors, you’ll need to clear a path for workers to remove old materials and bring in new ones. You should map out this path beforehand and make sure to protect your floors. You could lay down some old rugs or plastic drop cloths over the floors on this path to make sure your floors aren’t damaged by foot traffic and/or debris removal. 
• You’ll want to keep an eye on your small children and/or pets and make sure they’re kept clear of the construction zone and the path to the door, so they don’t get injured. Pets and children are naturally curious about what’s going on in the home, but there are many aspects of the remodeling process that present danger, so it’s especially important to supervise them if they’re in the home during demolition and construction. 
• There’s going to be a LOT of dust and mess. If you’re the kind of person who likes to keep your home pristine and puts in time every single day to constantly keep it clean, this will be a unique challenge for you. There’s going to be a lot of dust, and it’s not going to contain itself to just the kitchen. No amount of cleaning will keep your home pristine during a remodel, so try to deal with the mess without losing your mind. It will be worth it when you have your dream kitchen completed! 
  

Because the kitchen is the center of the home, remodeling it comes with inherent challenges, but you’ll be glad you put up with some dust, noise, and inconvenience when you’re entertaining in your beautiful new kitchen! 

Tennessee Designs Kitchen & Bath Remodelers is your trusted local “kitchen remodeling contractor near me,” helping homeowners in Chesterfield VA and surrounding areas accomplish their dream kitchens and bathrooms. We would love to talk to you about your goals and dreams for your home! Contact us today for your free kitchen remodeling consultation!