How to survive a kitchen remodel

Make Preparations and Get Organized

Plan to do the following before demolition begins:

• Carve out time to pack up the kitchen properly or arrange for movers since it’s a big task.
• Think about whether some sort of refrigeration will be possible. Perhaps there’s an old fridge in the garage you use for beer or a minifridge elsewhere in the house. It’s worth renting a small one or buying one secondhand. Just be sure there is a place you can plug it in outside the kitchen.
• Include takeout food and restaurant expenses in your overall renovation budget. 
• Change your attitude. Tell yourself and anyone who usually listens to you vent that you’re adopting a chic, healthy European lifestyle that involves stopping by the market every day for that night’s supper provisions. Note that these shopping trips will require some time management, but on the plus side, they will get you out of the construction zone.

Set Up a Makeshift Kitchenette

If possible, set up a mini kitchen in another room. Think about what equipment might come in handy for throwing together meals. Suggestions include:

• Coffee maker
• Electric teakettle
• Toaster or toaster oven
• Slow cooker
• Portable electric grill
• Electric frying pan (if you have a place to clean it)
• Minifridge

If your house has a mini kitchen or a wet bar elsewhere, you’re in luck. This is a great spot to set up. 

For the rest of us, it’s more of a challenge. The mini kitchen can go just about anywhere in your house, but cleanup is the catch. So think about how you’re going to handle a small-appliance cooking mess before you make it — this may involve the patio, a hose and a dishwashing tub. 

I didn’t include measuring cups or mixing bowls among the things to leave out of the packing boxes (see below) because making pancakes or anything else that requires them is not an easily cleaned-up meal — rinsing out a batter bowl in the small sink in your lovely master bathroom is a bad idea. 

Menu Plan

Now that you know batter and other messy stuff is a no-go, get used to the reality of your new at-home menu. It will consist mostly of food you can toast indoors or grill outdoors, as well as soup, cereal and cold sandwiches. “You’re going to want to buy stuff at the grocery store that you can stick a spoon in,” says Dan Harris, who is living through a kitchen renovation and is my father.

Clean Up Immediately

Keep dish detergent, a scrub brush and a dish towel at the sink you’ve designated as your cleanup site. The designated food trash can should have a lid to contain odors and keep pests away. Scrape dishes into the trash, wash them, dry them and put them back in their designated spots.

Make a List of Things to Leave Out

Figuring out what not to pack is key because once you box up your stuff, you won’t be able to find anything you need until after the kitchen is completed and the boxes are unpacked. 

Suggestions from folks who have been through this recently:

• Grilling tools
• Carving knife, bread knife, paring knife
• Cutting board
• Two or three platters
• Coffee, tea, sweeteners, a few coffee mugs and teacups
• Paper plates and napkins
• A set of silverware and a dish-and-glass place setting for everyone in the household
• Liquid detergent, scrub brush, dishwashing tub, dish towels
• Salt, pepper, favorite spices
• Foil, plastic wrap, a storage container or two
• A few serving spoons
• Can opener, bottle opener, wine opener
• Koozies
• Pet food and bowls
• Place mats and a tablecloth
• Large tray for carrying food from wherever it is prepared to wherever it will be served

A Word About Paper and Plastic

A lot of people go strictly paper and plastic for dishes and silverware, and if that’s what you need to do to get by, there’s no judgment here. But it’s bad for the environment, it’s expensive, and it gets old. You will need only one plate, bowl, mug, glass, fork, spoon, knife and place mat for each family member because without a kitchen, cleanup will be immediate. 

And no extras are required; please know that no one else wants to be a dinner guest at a house undergoing a kitchen renovation. It’s like the Seinfeld episode in which Kramer revealed that he had prepared all the food in the shower. 

Keep Paring Down

While packing up the kitchen, keep a donation bin nearby. As you touch each item, ask yourself if it is worth packing, storing, unpacking and then finding space for in the beautiful new kitchen. When was the last time you used it? Does it, as Marie Kondo asks, spark joy? Where are you going to put it in the new kitchen? Can you imagine yourself using it in the new kitchen? The answers to these questions will let you know if you should wrap it up and pack it or pass it along to someone who needs it.