Look at these two, happy as can be. Clearly, THEY have a functioning kitchen. As anyone who has ever lived through a full kitchen renovation can attest to, it's hard to stay happy, healthy and well fed throughout. Certainly many of our readers have survived with style - want some tips from the trenches? Here they are, thanks to the Apartment Therapy comment brain trust:
We are almost done with our kitchen remodel, which we started over Labor Day weekend. We moved the refrigerator, butcher block island, cafe set from the breakfast nook, and all the essential cooking tools into the dining room. I cooked on a two-burner hot plate or on the grill, and we washed dishes in the camp sink in the (clean) bathtub. Good luck! - Maria Joy
1. Set up a "kitchen" area somewhere else, with a toaster oven, coffee maker, tea kettle, microwave. 2. Grill, baby, grill. 3. Expect it to last much longer than 2-3 weeks. - Wally3
We had no kitchen for nine (9!) weeks while ours was ripped out, dehumidified and replaced. We got through this by freezing a lot of meals beforehand (mainly stew, chilli and bolognaise sauce) that we could heat up easily with rice, pasta and veg (this saved a lot of money and kept us in healthy food); we BBQ'd occasionally even though it was February (we even managed roast potatoes once); we borrowed a double gas camping burner and kept our microwave which we set up in the living room with a big table, a fridge and shelves for the stuff we needed.It was a good idea to not just survive but prepare and think about what we needed so it was a nice place to prepare food. We used a washing up bowl to wash dishes (which we limited in use!). We also made sure we covered the floor so the carpet didn't get wrecked. We didn't eat curry or fish (too smelly in the living room) and we kept to simple food! By the end of it we were craving grilled food, baked goods, and spicy stuff but we survived without resorting to take-away too often.
- JMD
We were without our kitchen for 3 months. It was no big deal, really! We had available to us: our refrigerator, microwave, and bathroom sink. How we coped with this: Take out, eating out, microwave "meals". We did each 2 or 3 times per week. In addition, we had to make our child a lunch to take to school each day. We got through it, ok. Now we have a nice kitchen and an album showing our remodel as it progressed. - aaakid
It's chaos here.....chaos taking place on horrible grey "stone tile" laminate that was unearthed when I took of the floating floor. Wost bit.....fast food, cereal, and sandwiches for 3 days now! Best bit.......moving the coffee maker into my bedroom!! WHAT A SLICE OF HEAVEN in the morning! - marcspice
We ran into so many unexpected hurdles in our house renovation that we ran out of money for the kitchen, which we had gutted. To make it work for now, we bought a 9-foot stainless steel work table with integrated sink from a restaurant supply warehouse for about $300. Then we bought two hot plates from Target. (We had bought a fancy Dacor gas range off of Craigslist for cheap, but it isn't working; long story.) An extra large toaster oven works well for heating things up, and thankfully we do have a new fridge. Our trusty old butcher block island on wheels gives us more prep space. - mergirl
Set up a mini kitchen in the bathroom. Minimal dishes, coffee maker, microwave and a cabinet for supplies. We ate lots of toast, cereal, sandwiches, trader joe's microwave, etc. Honestly, it isn't that bad. We treated it sort of like camping for a few weeks. - acaj08
Another mini kitchen: * move the fridge out * dining room table instead of counters * coffee maker, hot plate and electric griddle instead of stove * toaster oven and crock pot instead of oven * wash dishes in bathroomYou can probably borrow various small appliances from friends to make your life more interesting. Most people have lots of single purpose items they received as gifts and don't use such as hot dog cooker, fondue pot, bread maker, sandwich maker, and waffle iron.
- GrainSmasher
BF has been w/out a kitchen for several months now. He set up a faux kit in the foyer w/ a full size fridge, microwave, toaster oven, and hot plate! Toaster oven is the lifesaver! - hishouseherhelp
Going on 4 months without a kitchen! And since most of the house is under renovation, it doesn't sound too tempting trying to create a mini functional kitchen. We just bought a refrigerator (yay, cereal in the mornings) but other than that.... it's just been A LOT of eating out. It will still be another couple months before we have our dream kitchen and my biggest fear is that I'll walk into it and think "What, I have to cook and do dishes now?? Let's just order out." - mszia
The grill, paper plates, the garden hose, and takeaway! After a weekend of 16-hour days, my husband and I are nearly done with our partial remodel, which included rewiring, re-plumbing, modifying the vintage cabinets for a larger cooktop and a dishwasher, building a new countertop, and building a new plywood cement subfloor. I'm grouting the counter today, and on Friday we install the floor tile. We did not set up a makeshift kitchen in hopes that we would work faster from annoyance, and it worked (caveat: no kids or dog). You will get there, too, even if you have some setbacks! - montoni
We lived without a kitchen for over a year thanks to severly underestimating our home's remodel, which ended up being a complete gut/rehab. As a result, I gained 13 lbs. from eating out, I can't look at a microwave meal without wincing, and I know every restaurant delivery guy by name within a 5 mile radius of our home. Next time...who am I kidding? There won't BE a next time. : ) - modtramp
Please keep the good intel going by adding your own advice and ideas to the comments…
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Two cats and I got through a 3 month reno with the fridge in the hallway and the guest bedroom set up with: microwave, coffee maker, toaster oven. I stocked up on paper plates, styrofoam cups and plastic utensils. The cats ate off paper plates, too. Not only did I never take out, I brought breakfast and lunch to work everyday and even made a huge salad to take to a potluck dinner. I really only cooked on weekends - ate a lot of lean cuisine and sandwiches during the week.
we made due with only the essentials for cooking:
#1-coffee maker (a must)
#2-toaster
#3-hot plate (for "ambitious" meals such as canned chili and quesadillas)
the refrigerator was in the living room and we used the utility sink in the laundry room to wash dishes.
by the end of the 3 month project, I had learned to live without a microwave and we didn't even both to include one in the new space.
The fridge and microwave got moved to the garage and we stocked up on disposable utensils and plates because we did not have a utility sink. Not gonna lie. We ate out a TON. A few different friends hosted us for dinner weekly on different nights which helped tremendously. Our reno lasted about 6 weeks and was well worth being temporarily displaced.
I've renovated too many kitchens to count! An electric fry comes in handy, and setting up the entire temporary kitchen works well away from the actual renovating is a plus. I spent a week or so cooking simple "re-heatable" meals before I set out to re-paint my kitchen-even that can seem to take forever!
You'd be surprised what can be accomplished with a single-burner hotplate, a microwave, a small fridge and a sink - That's all the "kitchen" I had when I lived in Japan for 2 years and I didn't exactly starve...
I have one word. CROCK POT.... plus toaster, coffee pot and fridge in the dining room.
Almost nine (9!!!!!) years ago my downdraft stove died and I was not ready for a kitchen gut to build my dream kitchen (big garde projects) I have been using: broilking hot plates (better control than my stove had), an induction portable and two cadco convection ovens. When the big do happens I'll move all to the basement. Funny thing happened along the way: love my induction so much I ditchin' idea for the big wolf. Some good things happen to thoes who wait and wait...
When we had our kitchen done we were able to leave the dishwasher in place for nearly the whole time. I was cooking on one burner and a microwave (plus grill) but at least I could put everything, even pans, in the dishwasher. It saved my sanity because I would have hated to wash them in my bathroom sink.
And the irony of it all is the dishwasher would be the first appliance I'd get rid of, normally.
Ha! While reading the last comment I thought "Wow! That's just what happened to us!" Then I saw it was me who had posted it!
Ah, memories...especially of doing dishes in the bathtub. Yeah... There definitely won't be a next time!
Glad to read survival tips! My parents just redid their kitchen and it might be coming up for us after the bathrom gut job.
I'm in month 5 - FIVE - without one, and we've still got several more to go (we're a bit slow). We rely on takeout, the pity of others, and soup. I could charge Hollywood elites to come and lose weight. But I don't have the room. Here's how we managed over the holidays: http://isitahouseyet.com/2010/12/31/how-to-get-by-without-a-working-kitchen-when-you’re-renovating-yours/
If you are forced to do all of your cooking in a smaller, temporary room, I would actually consider a small microwave and then some non-electric alternatives. If you can nuke water, you can cook just about anything (but you have to watch for high sodium prepared meals). We got addicted to our French Press coffeemaker and learned to live off of bagels instead of anything that needed to be toasted.
I think the kitchen work station and cutting board are made by John Boos, which you can find here (sorry for the link): http://www.carolinarustica.com/john-boos-cutting-boards/c/1322/
While alternative strategies for cooking and bathing are very important, you can save a lot of time and headache by planning and budgeting your project with razor sharp focus. Materials should be on hand before demo. And don't change your mind. Lol.
I remember seeing a friend heat her toddler's formula on a camp stove while they were going through a kitchen renovation, and it made me determined to never renovate the only kitchen or bathroom with a young child. Just... too much of a pain in the ass -- better to wait!
Part of negotiations with my husband on our kitchen was that first we put in a utility sink in the laundry room and set up the temporary kitchen in there (fridge in garage). Second that we keep the living room intact so we could "escape" the renovation when we needed to. My only regret is that we have (we're in the middle of things now) to walk through the old kitchen to get to the laundry room kitchen.
The Kitchen had a similar article with some good suggetions:
http://www.thekitchn.com/thekitchn/frugality/ideas-on-building-a-barebones-indooroutdoor-kitchen-116087
Here are mine:
We basically camped out in our house during renovations - which took almost a year, in different iterations. For about 3 1/2 months (and lived out of one room in the house), we didn't have a stove or sink - and for over a year, we only had an old fridge in the garage. We also had a microwave and toaster in the garage during that time.
1. Big pan to wash dishes in outside - if you don't have a sink
2. BBQ - preferably with a little side burner
3. Toaster oven - we only had a regular toaster and regretted it
4. Microwave
5. Basket of utensils for 4, tongs, serving spoons, sharp paring knife, bread knife.
6. Set of dishes, bowls and glasses for 4. Definitely wine glasses for 4 - trust me, you'll need these during a renovation, hehe.
7. Spray olive oil - for the bbq
8. Aluminum foil
9. Glad plastic containers for leftovers
10. Spices - chili flakes, small pepper and sea salt grinders, Cavender's Greek Seasoning, sugar.
11. Coffeemaker. I use a Melitta carafe with a filter holder on top and just boil water to pour over it. Keeps the coffee hot - comes in handy when you're trying to keep the contractors awake.
We bbq'd ALOT - we live in Southern California, so while it does get nippy in the winter at night - bbq'ing is always an option. We ate alot of steak, fish, shrimp and chicken seasoned with Cavender's Greek Seasoning - bbq'd on the grill. We also grilled a ton of asparagus on foil, sprayed with olive oil and seasoned with fresh ground pepper and sea salt.
We'd make a meal of the grilled meat, asparagus, fresh tomatoes and avocados. We seriously ate this at least 3 times a week because it was super easy and created the least amount of dishes. We also entertained quite a bit with that meal - our friends were good about eating at makeshift tables on paper plates. I'd also nuke a bowl of seasoned black beans from the can and grill some tortillas on the grill. We always had a bottle of good red wine on those nights.
Some nights, we were too tired after working full time and renovating that we just nuked Lean Cuisines. Or we'd make pbj sandwiches.
The reno was stressful - but we had some great times grilling and drinking during that time. good luck with the house!
All you need to survive is a prep surface, a grill, a bar fridge and a hotplate. Obviously an elaborate dinner party is not possible but it's essentially a mini kitchen and you can easily cook for a family of 4 with that. We did it for 3 years overseas and it's really not that difficult, especially if just for a month. If you can't survive in the comfort of your own home with essentials...well....
We just passed our final inspection on a six-month kitchen reno (we're new DIYers who are slow!) and I have to say that the temporary kitchen was nowhere near as terrible as I expected it to be. (In fact, I think part of why we were so slow was that we were eating quite nicely with the temp setup!) Dishes were a pain, but we washed them in our bathroom sink (we only have one bathroom and this really wasn't a big deal, just something we had to stay on top of so they wouldn't pile up). We kept a dishpan in the bathroom with dish soap and sponges, etc. so they wouldn't be mixed up with the bathroom things. We don't have a microwave, but have an electric kettle and a good toaster oven, and friends loaned us an electric burner-hotplate-thing, plus we had our fridge. With these things, we were able to cook most of what we normally cook---just avoiding anything with a lot of sauteeing/frying so we wouldn't coat our dining room with grease. We used our dining room table as a counter surface for prep. We did get a little more takeout than usual (eating out or getting takeout 2x a week instead of our normal 1x a week). We bought lots of frozen Trader Joe's food, which was great (even discovered some things we'll be putting in the permanent rotation for quick dinner nights!) Pasta, soups, chili, etc. all worked well on the single burner. Our toaster oven could fit small casserole pans and pie dishes, so we could bake a lot in there. We bought disposable plates/silverware to have on hand, but didn't end up using them in the end---we didn't have a dishwasher pre-reno, so we were already used to washing dishes by hand, and just had to adjust to using the sink/tub.
Going kitchenless isn't the most fun in the world, but it's definitely not a huge hardship either, provided you have a fridge, a source of water, and some means of cooking food. Personally I think the toaster oven, single burner, and kettle are worthwhile investments (all can be had pretty cheaply, though of course there are higher end versions too!) if you'll be out of your kitchen for more than a month or so.
My kitchen renovation took 3 1/2 months (a month longer because of unforeseen dry rot that needed to be addressed. Despite that, I did a rotation of cooking one pot meals, frozen meals, and take out to keep my sanity. It's much easier if you're cooking for one but when you lose two out of four rooms, your world becomes much smaller and limited.
I recommend timing a renovation to warmer months of the year. Unfortunately, mine ran through the holidays so I couldn't cook anything elaborate nor have anyone over.
The "kitchen" was in 3 rooms: my defunct living room with my frig, the bathroom sink to wash dishes and my office to cook: a hot pot (boils water for pasta, coffee, etc), a double burner and a toaster oven. No microwave. It wasn't easy running back and forth getting ingredients and cooking the first few nights but I developed a routine that worked.
The plus side of all the painstaking waiting is that I have a kitchen that's functional, beautiful & people want to visit me more. And I have a few good one pot recipes I still use today!
If you are DIYing, you can get things done relatively quickly. I completely redid my kitchen, and it was done in two 5-day stretches. The first stretch, I was only without a sink for about 3 days. At the end of the first stretch, all my appliances were in place and I had temporary luan counters. It was surprisingly non-painful. Well, the work was physically very painful, but the inconvenience level was pretty low.
I've made do before during kitchen renos with a toaster and an electric wok, it was enough to get me through, this time though I went with toaster + induction burner + electric water kettle and I've been able to make enough food at home and with enough variety that I didn't feel deprived.
We did ours in Adelaide, Australia over 2 months with no cooking facilities, but during our Summertime - easy BBQ dinners outside - yum!
The cook book stand in the picture looks like a Music stand or antique lecturn - has anyone seen something like that? Even if its in the States?
/Sonja
"you can save a lot of time and headache by planning and budgeting your project with razor sharp focus."
That only works if you don't run into major glitches. When we started peeling back the layers of my kitchen, we discovered it was not structurally sound and the entire back wall of the house had to be removed and re-framed. We also discovered some cracked plumbing and drain pipes had to be replaced.
The work for this will end up doubling my kitchen budget and timeline.
These are not things you can account for no matter how much you plan ahead. :)
However - six weeks later and I still have a freezer full of pre-made, home cooked meals. Talk about a lifesaver!
Two months ago we began the process of gutting and completely renovating our kitchen. It is now nearly complete.
My husband and I have been using our dining room as a kitchen during these 2 months. We pushed our table up against a wall, where we have our coffee maker and microwave and toaster oven. I keep a few baskets under the table to hold our cereals, teas and oatmeal. My refrigerator moved into my dining room as well and I have been storing other dry items on top of it. I have 4 of everything, coffe cups, plates, bowls and silverware items. Luckily the weather has been nice here so we have been putting our grill to good use. We also have been eating a lot of salads and sanwhiches, and ave been eating out once a week. I can't say I have the best method as my home is so unorganized right now as things move from room to room. But, I have been taking advantage of the lovely weather and working on my flower and veggie gardens!
I guess I'm being optimistic believing Lowe's when they tell me it'll be a week to pull the old cabinets/countertop out and put the new ones in? (And when that does happen, I'm going JMD's route -- lots of homemade frozen meals and moving the small appliances to my dining room.)
Doing it right now. 3 weeks without a home cooked meal. :(
After a 3 month total gut and remodel of our kitchen my husband and I agree that we should have moved out of our house during that process. We both found it very difficult. We are, however, LOVING our new kitchen!
@madampince, if you're just replacing cabinets and counters like for like, a week is probably on the nose. Ours only took months because we were taking down walls, plastering, running new electrical and plumbing and ductwork, flooring, etc.---and only working weekends and waiting for city inspections in between. The actual cabinet install was only two days and the counters one; that part was pretty painless!
A lot of boiled noodle soups, dumplings and fresh veggies for me. Going on Week 3. It will be done in 3 days. If I had to go a year like someone above, I think I'd kill myself.
I have been using a mini coil burner and I have reduced my eating to a few utensils and 2 plates. I wash them after every usage. It has actually inspired me to get rid and donate a bunch of stuff as I'm creating a modern sleek kitchen so this kinda minimalism, though has been stressful, has also been inspiring.