Practical Tips for Surviving a Kitchen Remodel

These Practical Tips for Surviving a Kitchen Remodel are to help me and you save some sanity! As many of you know, I’m currently going through a kitchen remodel. Actually, practically a whole home remodel that we are opting to stay living in our home through.

Remaining in our home during the remodel process will help cut down on overall costs saving us money. It also means that we don’t have to relocate all of our belongings and our cat.

Although an affordable route, it can also cause quite a headache, leaving me to wonder how to survive a kitchen remodel. So, I thought I’d share some of these tips for living in your home during a kitchen renovation! With recipes to help you get through the day to day.

We appreciate your support

My Kitchen Remodel

I have an update on how we’re doing as of February 2024 with some Tips for Updating your Home that you can use in your own house.

I won’t have access to my stove or oven, but I do have a small countertop oven. I’ll have use of space saving appliances like the air fryer, the crock pot, egg cooker, Instant Pot, rice cooker, microwave, and the grill.

I won’t have any real space to chop veggies, so pre-chopped veggies like bagged cole slaw, chopped onions, and shredded carrots as well as frozen veggies will be a great help.

I will have a fridge, so I can keep cold food.

These things are most likely the things you’ll encounter as well.

Things to think about in the planning process

With your house transformed into an active construction area, you’ll lose one of your home’s most essential spaces, the kitchen, and possibly even the dining room and living areas.

Be sure to keep in close communication with your contractor through the process.

This can seem like a really difficult situation to deal with, and it may even overwhelm you occasionally through the process. That’s ok, it’s normal. We all fall apart sometimes. Tacos fall apart, and we still love them! Lol

However challenging all of this might seem, surviving a kitchen remodel is possible, and you’ll end up with a fantastic new modern kitchen. Keep the end in mind, and you’ll be ale to cope a little better.

There are several ways to mitigate the stress of construction. Let’s take a look at some Practical Tips for Surviving a Kitchen Remodel, starting with the essentials in this temporary kitchen design. Think of this as your survival kit!

Managing stress during a kitchen renovation

I admit that I haven’t been so good at this part!

It’s easy to become stressed out or even angry during a kitchen renovation. Trust me, I’ve been there. Simple things and problems can be overwhelming and seem like the end of the world.

Adjusting your attitude and perspective before the project starts is so important to staying sane. Try to keep in mind that the current frustrations and sacrifices you’re making are worth it since you’ll have a beautiful, updated kitchen space at the end.

Expect delays and the unexpected. And these will surely be frustrating.

Sure, you can go out to eat, but even that will get old quickly. Eventually you won’t be able to imagine wanting to dine at a restaurant again, and all that dining out will get expensive.

Setting up a temporary kitchen

You’ll want to start by planning out and setting up a place to prepare food and clean up afterwards. Your temporary kitchen can be in a nearby room, the garage, or even outside depending on the weather.

And, most importantly, where will you make coffee in the morning? I joke, but it’s a serious question. You want it to be near a water source, like a sink. You’ll need a power outlet and a counter top to place it on. And you probably don’t want to walk outside through the rain to get to the garage to make the coffee every morning.

Old dismantled kitchen cabinets can create a makeshift mini-kitchen space. Two sawhorses with a plank on top can be used.

You might be able to use the patio or deck and grill for a lot of the time.

Do you have a spare table, temporary camping, or card table? These will be great work spaces for the makeshift kitchen during remodel. Push the table up against a wall if possible. And near a power supply outlet so you can plug in a slow cooker or air fryer.

Put aside the kitchen supplies you think you’ll need in your makeshift kitchen before packing up the items you’ll be less likely to need.

Here are some basic cooking kitchen appliances, dishes, and preparation necessities you may want to stock your temporary kitchen with:

• Folding table, card table, or camping table for food prep
• Knives, forks, spoons, and cooking utensils
• Cups, bowls, and plates
• Food storage items like Tupperware and ziptop bags
• Cutting boards, one good all-purpose knife, strainers, etc.
• Frying pans and other pots
• Other small cooking appliances (we’ll look at these a little lower)
• And don’t forget about your furry friends – they need bowls, spoons, food as well

If possible, see if you can set up the fridge in the garage or basement. Or perhaps you have a second fridge out there already. We bought a small second small fridge for just this purpose.

Can the fridge be moved outside?

Can the fridge be moved to the deck or patio? It’s possible, but it’ll depend on the weather.

Refrigerators have an ambient operating temperature range, and if the outdoor temperature goes below ~ 40 degrees, the compressor won’t run. If the compressor doesn’t run, then the freezer won’t work.

Avoid setting a refrigerator in full sun. The heat will force the compressor to work much harder and more often, which will shorten its life.

Dish washing station

You’ll also want a place to wash the dishes. A sink. A bathroom sink, maybe. Maybe the sink that was formerly in the kitchen can be your dish washing station.

I found the bathroom sink to be the best area for me. And I bought myself a {affiliate links} dish drying rack and drying mat. I found these helped me so much so I didn’t have to wash and dry the dishes all right then and there.

I set the mat and rack up on top of the dryer or on top of the bathtub shelf. And, I think the mat was really pretty.

If all else fails, you can use a bucket and a hose, but honestly, that’s gonna get really old really fast.

Designate a dining space

Don’t forget about a place to eat. No one wants to eat around all that noise and drywall dust.

Can you eat outside? Maybe the weather is good and there aren’t too many bugs, and you can sit and eat on the patio or in a covered outdoor area.

I have a {affiliate link} small folding picnic table that we’ve been using upstairs.

Set up a folding card table or temporary dining table of some sort.

Maybe you even want to make it look inviting with a beautifully colored tablecloth and cloth napkins. No one says you can’t have luxury even though you’re roughing it. It’s considered glamping then, right?

Or, maybe you have a favorite couch or armchair and a TV tray table that will work.

What cooking appliances do I need?

I’ll have a small space for my temporary kitchen. It has the new mini fridge and a sink. It’s where I store my small appliances anyways, so they’re already available to me there.

Think about what equipment might come in handy for throwing meals together. Some suggestions include:

• Coffee maker
• Countertop oven or toaster oven
• Crock pot or Slow cooker
• Air Fryer
• Microwave oven
• Camp stove
• Egg cooker
• Rice Cooker
• Mini fridge
• Instant pot or pressure cooker
• Hot plate

Make a Meal Plan

You can use all of these cooking appliances to make delicious and healthy meals in your temporary kitchen. They’ll be cheaper than eating out all the time, and much better for you.

The key to success is to plan what you will eat during the renovation so you can work out which utensils and appliances you’re going to need in your temporary kitchen.

I recommend (from experience) that you start thinking about what you want to keep available to you about a week or two in advance of actually needing to pack it up. Set things aside that you don’t need, but don’t tape up the box. That way you can double check yourself. There will be time to change your mind if you need to.

Also, label the boxes with what’s inside: plates & bowls, mugs and glasses, pots & pans, spices, etc…

While you might feel lost without your oven and stove (I know I feel that way), there are still plenty of other meals you can prepare in the temporary kitchen. Think about quick and simple meals that can be cooked with minimal cookware and ingredients.

General thoughts

Although normally I’m a big fan of fresh fruits and veggies, now might actually be a time where I suggest avoiding them.

They will go bad faster and take up space in your temporary kitchen. They’ll also be unwanted pressure in the back of your mind knowing that you’ll have to chop and use them before they go bad.

Give yourself a break from the start and only go with frozen bagged veggies, dried ones, and pre-chopped ones. That way there’s less pressure on you.

In the recipes below I’ve given suggestions for changing the ingredients a bit.

Fresh onions can be swapped out for dried onions, bagged pre-chopped onions (fresh or frozen), or just leave the onions out.

Same thing for garlic.

Eyeballing spice amounts will work out just fine most of the time. Especially for big pots of soup made in the crock pot.

Yes, you may lose out on some flavor by making these types of changes, but you’ll save a ton of headaches by not chopping fresh veggies, fruits, and herbs.

Also, if you make these changes to a recipe, please don’t go back and write a bad review that the recipe wasn’t great. Maybe go back and try the recipe as it was written later in your new kitchen!

Practical Tips for Surviving a Kitchen Remodel: the recipes

Meal Planning during a kitchen remodel

Here are a few recipe examples broken down by cooking appliances. These are meant to help spur ideas for you. Use them as a guideline. Dinner now doesn’t have to be perfect or gourmet.

Crock pot or Slow cooker

The crock pot will probably be your best friend through this process. It’s great for soup, pot roast, chili, stew, pulled meat. There are lots of ideas here, and just keep in mind that soups are really flexible – toss in whatever you like.

One of the things I used to make for parties all the time was a BBQ pulled beef. I took two large steaks and poured two bottles of BBQ sauce over them in the crock pot. Make sure the meat is covered by the sauce, if not add some water. Let it cook until the meat is tender and shred-able. This can be served on buns or over mashed potatoes or rice.

Air Fryer

You know I’m a big fan of the air fryer. It’s great for fish, chicken, potatoes, and veggies.

Instant pot

The pressure cooker is great for rice, sauces, pasta, chicken, large cuts of meat. You can also sauté in the IP. 

Microwave

There’s so much that the microwave can do! Frozen microwave meals, steamed vegetables, instant rice, leftovers. And here’s a collection of things to cook in a microwave.

Counter top oven or toaster oven

Frozen meals and leftovers can be reheated in the smaller oven. Frozen pizzas (just be sure to have a cutting board and pizza cutter or bigger knife) are a great inexpensive way to keep the family happy.

Electric tea kettle

The tea kettle will help boil water for instant soups, oatmeal, and pasta.

Rice Cooker

Of course, you can make rice, but you can also steam things like vegetables and Asian dumplings in the rice cooker.

With the steamed rice make Tuna Mayo Rice Balls (these can be served in a bowl rather than a ball as well).

Grill

Camping and living without a kitchen have a lot of things in common, including cooking under the stars. I’ve heard my husband say a couple of times, “this is just like camping, and Debi hates camping”.

The grill is great for proteins like fish, steak, chicken, and shrimp. Vegetables and kebabs come out great from the grill.

I’ve even placed large heat proof pots on the gill for chili and soups.

Make fish tacos, cook pizza on the grill (they even sell pre-made pizza dough at the store, usually in the deli section), and cook shrimp on the grill.

More appliances

Other cooking appliances to consider adding to your temporary kitchen setup might include:

Hot plate or camp stove: to make pasta, eggs, soup. This tortilla soup can be made on the stove, I’d probably just leave the onion out for a quicker prep.

Coffee Machine: did you know you can cook things in a coffee pot? Check out these things to cook with a coffee machine.

No cook and cold food: You may learn to love cold foods like cereal, granola bars, Instant breakfast drinks, yogurt, cottage cheese.

Go to the deli section at the grocery store and see what they have in the deli counter. Pasta salad, hummus, potato salad, cole slaw, and deli meats are all great options. Cheese boards and charcuterie boards are a fun meal.

And don’t forget the dishes

After you eat, you’ll want to wash up.

I highly recommend cleaning the dishes as soon as you’re done eating. No need to keep piles of dishes, and with a smaller space for a kitchen, you’ll thank yourself for keeping it clean.

Most likely you’ll use a bathroom, laundry room, garage, outdoor sink, wet bar, or basement sink. And, hopefully that sink will be near your kitchen set up. You can also use a bathtub if you have one.

Use a drying rack to place the cleaned dishes on.

If you don’t have a bath or a sink big enough, you can use large plastic storage containers as your wash station. Get two bins, one to wash, and one to rinse in. And you can use an outdoor hose.

Don’t forget to keep the dish soap, a scrub brush, and a dish towel out (don’t pack them away).

Of course, there’s the paper plate and plastic utensils option. No need to wash up. The cons of this are the addition to landfills as well as the extra cost. But it’s much easier for clean-up.

Consider these items for quick clean-up after your meals:

• Disposable plates and bowls
• Napkins or paper towels
• Plastic cutlery
• Plastic wrap
• Aluminum foil
• Plastic storage bags
• Food storage containers

Let’s keep in touch

Did these tips help you?

Do you have tips to add? I’d love to hear them. Let me know in the comments.

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