How do you cope when fitting new kitchen

[sproodlemummy]

We're looking to be starting our kitchen renovation in the next few weeks, but there's lots to be done before the kitchen can go in, such as

Removing the ceiling so kitchen can be re-wired
moving the boiler
moving washing machine into the cellar
knocking a wall down
ripping the old concrete floor up
re-plumbing the downstairs toilet
moving the stop tap
installing new radiator
taking a large window out & the bricks underneath for a bi-fold door
bricking up the back door
converting 2nd window into the new back door/or full length window

So my question is, the first thing we need to do is basically rip the old kitchen out and move the boiler. How do you cope with no kitchen for up to 6 weeks (maybe more). Do you move a few kitchen pieces into another room? We currently have a rangemaster but its a gas hob so cannot be moved to a new location.

It's feeling very overwhelming right now and I really don't know how we're going to cope.

I should point out that we don't have any children, only our precious dog so we don't have to worry about babies/kids which does help a little, but the thought of eating ready meals or takeaways for weeks fills me with dread.

thank you x

Yes to moving essentials to another room. Do you have a shed/garage with power? Big items can go in these if so. Use a barbecue and cook everything outside whatever the weather.

We had a sink,microwave and toaster set up in another room. It suprised me how much food we could cook actually.

And prepare for dust. So much dust.

Yes we have a massive garage with electricity.

BBQ - that's a fabulous idea and one that i'd never thought of before

In another room, set up a camping kitchen. If you don't have a microwave, get one. We also borrowed a friends baby belling hob. You will need a fridge and if you can't move your big one onto the camping kitchen, get a drinks one from argos for essentials. A laundry basket with holes for storing and rinsing plates etch in the bath or shower, and a washing up bowl you can put on a surface to minimise sore backs when washing up (I washed up in the bath for 4 weeks before I worked this out). If you can bear to, massively reduce how many plates cups etc you have access to, we had 2 plates, 2 glasses, one cup, one set of cutlery and a bowl each, 2 saucepans, and some tupperware that could go in the microwave. I think we also used camping crockery not china.

We are clearing out the toy room into the kids room and using that as a kitchen. We are moving the oven in there and have got a two ring electric hob to sit on the dining table and putting all other electrical stuff on there

Ikea sell a single hob induction hob for about £30, was great during our recent kitchen rip out. I also made several weeks worth of meals in a big batch cook and froze them- microwave rice helped. I second the dust, we took a wall and ceiling down, was horrendous even made its way into closed rooms, good luck x

@PlateOfBiscuits yes the dust is making me very anxious! Nearly 2 years ago we had most of our house re-wired, a new staircase fitted, 2 new bathrooms. Nearly every single room was upside down and the thought of going back to that dust, albeit for one room rather than the whole house fills me with dread

Go away on holiday during the worst and dustiest bit of the installation.
Batch cook lots of nice home made dinners and put them in the freezer, so you can simply defrost and microwave them during the renovations. Consider buying a cheap little two ring camping stove. Grill food on the barbecue and serve with salads, or microwaved vegetables.
Eat out at restaurants. Have carryouts.
I had no kitchen for a week, as they demolished walls while I was away on holiday, shortening the down time. I just moved the kettle and microwave into the hall and used my own meals from the freezer.

We're going through similar shortly. We'll be moving the fridge and microwave into the living room along with the kettle and toaster. We've also got a plug in slow cooker and I'm considering a george foreman grill thing.

The kids are expecting Domino's and McDonald's every week but that's not happening.

Buy plastic sheeting and duck tape (or similar). If you are having ceilings moved or plaster taken off, or even put back on, tape the plastic to the top of every door frame. (So you move the plastic to open the door inward). Builders are unlikely to take care of plaster dust moving around the house. My house is long and thin and 3 storey. The plaster dust travelled from one end along the whole length and up/down 3 storeys! I don't mean just a bit either!

Clear plastic storage bins with lids (the stackable ones for toys etc). Use these for plates and bowls, cutlery, a couple of pans etc. Stack them and you can see what they contain. Makes it so much easier to make a meal in a garage etc. Have others for food. You will want food in the boxes as a garage has all sort of creepie crawlies...

Can you put your fridge in the garage too? If you can put a temporary table in your garage with kettle, toaster, microwave (perhaps a camping stove), then with all these you should be fine

Microwave and kettle and toaster in another room and you can get a double little boiling ring to plug in and cook on too www.argos.co.uk/product/4235314
We managed for weeks. Washing up in a bowl. Move fridge and freezer into the dining room or other space

Get an old piece of worktop in which ever room you use, a 2 ring hob, microwave kettle and a mini oven if your microwave isn’t a combi. Slow cooker is useful if you already have one.

I’m doing this at the moment. Haven’t had a proper working kitchen for weeks and won’t till October. It’s a big job here. Have a 5 year old and 3 year old. Really it’s been fine. We have microwave, toaster, slow cooker and kettle in the dining room and all the pots etc are stored in there and we have been eating at a small table in the living room.
The sink we have temporarily plumbed in at the opposite side to which we are working and then it moves every couple of weeks as we do different bits.
Fridge and freezer and also in the dining room.
With the hot weather we’ve had a lot of barbecues which has been good fun too.

Oh and we have a George Foreman grill too that gets used most days.

Mine was started a year ago and the first day was mostly destruction of the old kitchen etc but what they did is set a temporary wall up and in this little room (which was approximately where my utility would be) they set up a sink, a washing machine and a electricity supply onto a temp work surface.

I had a microwave that had a grill in it, and bought a temporary 2 ring hob.
I then was able to create quite a wide range of dinners for the two of three months until we had the kitchen in.

www.argos.co.uk/browse/home-and-garden/kitchen-electricals/mini-ovens/c:29574/

You might be able to get them second hand? Once you are are done with them you can sell them or give them to a charity that helps rehouse homeless people?

Will definitely be getting one of those portable hob things - great value too.

If you can, move out. Seriously. We had a big kitchen and bathroom refurb at the same time and even though at no point were we left without electric or water, it was hell.

We moved all essentials in to the dining room and microwaved a lot of food. The bit that drove me mad was the noise and dust. The builders were very good but of course dust was everywhere even in rooms where we had shut doors. The noise and constant coming and going was the worst. However we were doing it with a riddle and I was 6 months pregnant. In the end I moved into my mum in laws for a few days.

Worth considering about the dog though- both my front and back door were always open and our dog is a bolter. May be worth having the dog stay somewhere else during the day. Mine stayed at a friends.

wow great idea's here folks, the camping kitchen is an inspired idea and the induction hob from Ikea is a bargain.

We do have a dining room that we can set this up all up in.

Also love the idea of only having a couple of plates, cups etc so that your washing doesn't build up.

Toddler, not riddle. Though he does speak in them.