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Design Dilemma: Tips on Surviving A Kitchen Remodel

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If eating out every night for weeks upon end sounds like fun to you, you ought to think about having your kitchen remodeled. Because in the end, that’s what remodeling your kitchen often involves —- either night after night of restaurant meals or ramen noodles prepared on a hotplate.

Living this way for an extended amount of time can drive you crazy! So how can you make your kitchen remodeling experience a little more palatable?

1) Plan a temporary kitchen ahead of time. While your dream kitchen is under construction, prepare some corner of your home to stand in as your temporary kitchen. Depending on the layout of your home, this could be your dining room, the bar area in your den, a patio, a corner of your basement or garage or even a hutch or an armoire which allows you a place to store plates and a few kitchen items. Your temporary kitchen should include a table and chairs, a food prep service, an outlet for plugging in a microwave or electric hotplate and boxes or storage crates stocked with food as well as eating utensils. If you can manage it, move your fridge out to your temporary kitchen. And if that doesn’t work, consider investing in a minifridge or an ice chest where you can keep perishables.

2) Stock your kitchen with temporary kitchen basics. These are simple appliances you are most likely to use every day. They include a coffeemaker, microwave, toaster oven, hot plate, slow cooker and an electric griddle or skillet.

3) Embrace simplicity. While you’re in the thick of your kitchen remodel, you will not be taking on ambitious 12-course meals or baking fancy desserts. That means two things: One, you can put away your mixers, bread-making machines and cake pans. Two, you can plan ahead of time for simple meals that do not require many utensils or a lot of fuss and muss to prepare. Great remodel meals include pasta with canned pasta sauce, eggs prepared on an electric griddle, and simple salads. You should also stock up on non-perishable items that can serve as simple meals in a pinch. These include peanut butter, crackers, nuts, dried fruit and canned goods.

4) Stock up on paper goods. Since washing dishes is going to be much more complicated for a few days or weeks (hopefully not months!) look for recycled and recyclable paper plates and cups to do kitchen duty. When it comes time to wash pots and pans, turn to your bathroom sink or bathtub.

5) Plan your kitchen remodel for the summer months, when eating outdoors is feasible. You will preserve your sanity and even make your kitchen remodel an opportunity to embrace healthy eating habits, if you use your patio and outdoor grill as your temporary kitchen. An outdoor grill will allow you to prepare a wider variety of tastier meals and give you some place to relax away from the chaos of the indoors. In addition to grilling fish, chicken, steak, burgers and fresh veggies, an outdoor grill can be employed to bake a pizza, roast meat, or create a variety of foil-packet meals.

6) If you can, leave town. If you’ve got a contractor you can trust, you may find a kitchen remodel the perfect time to visit your relatives, take that vacation, or go on that business trip. If you have a vacation home, it’s a great time to use that as your home base and check in every so often to see how work is proceeding at home.

Remodeling a kitchen is never exactly fun, but if you keep in mind the final results of all your effort, you’ll find it much easier to deal with the temporary inconvenience of not having a full kitchen. Embrace your adventure, good luck and bon appetit!

Do you have any good tips for surviving a kitchen remodel? Please share!