Kitchen refurb advice

[darlingtwinklebum]

I'm due to have my kitchen refurbished next week.. the whole lot is being ripped out and replaced with nice new bits! Once the kitchen is done they'll start on the bathroom.
Has anyone got any advice on how to stay sane? I'm dreading the mess/having to cook/keeping the kids safe and out the way.
Guess I'm just starting to panic now that it's going to be a whole lot harder than I thought

Oh I hear ya! We've had the builders in since the end of last year and have been living in two bedrooms for the past 6 weeks. Our ground floor is completely out of bounds! Our 'kitchen' is two camping tables in the roof

I've found it easier to just roll with it: there will be dust and muck and I've just decided not to get too het up about it.

Have you got a microwave, kettle, toaster and sandwich maker? That should keep you going (and I highly recommend Aldi ready meals!). Have wine in the fridge at all times.

Regularly buy interiors mags and browse Pinterest while the work is going on. It'll remind you why you're doing it. Take great pleasure in choosing all the accessories!

Take lots of pics so you can see how far you've come. Include the kids in the decision making - get them to choose new mugs for the kitchen, for eg.

And breathe....! My motto right now is "this too shall pass". And it will.

@SallyOMalley thanks for your reply!
Goodness I would've gone mad if I were you you're doing well dealing with it all
You've given me some good ideas there.. I am so excited to have it all done but now it's happening I'm having a bit of a panic about it. I know it'll all be fine and if we have to we can go to family for dinner but still it's the thought of having stuff everywhere and kids that won't leave things alone wine is a definite yes!

Tbh, the novelty wore off pretty quickly as far as the kids are concerned. They just ignore all that's going on around them now. It's amazing how quickly it all becomes the 'new normal'!

My youngest has been a bit unsettled with it all, but we talk about how she wants her new bedroom to look and how she wants it decorated and it cheers her up. My eldest loves talking to the builders about how/why they do things. He was fascinated by the plasterers' stilts when they came to do the ceiling downstairs!

So am I!! I’m thinking it’ll be sandwiches and take aways for a week. Skip is coming early Monday making it real.

Are you clearing your kitchen this weekend? I’ve got two huge boxes and determined to throw away stuff I’ve collected and not used. Or donate to charity.

So exciting! What are your kitchens like?

Set up a Tea station somewhere (kettle and mugs and tea and coffee ) and portable induction hob ( from Ikea ) are both life savers.

@Villanellesproudmum yes clearing it all this weekend.. didn't realise I had so much crap I don't need! Currently have lots of kitchen bits shoved in a corner in the living room hopefully it won't drive me too mad 
@SallyOMalley current kitchen is an awful peach creation.. everything is peach! So it's all being ripped out and having white cabinets and black marble worktops. Kitchen is quite small so can't do anything major but just the few bits that we can do will be enough I think. Oh and finally I will have a dishwasher put in! Think that may be the part I'm most excited for

@HumptyNumptyNooNoo good idea about the tea station will start setting that up this weekend to get used to it before next week!
I've just ordered loads of microwave meals to make it as stress free as possible.. eating crap for a week will be easier than trying to cook something and then realising I can't find a pan or spatula or whatever else every night!

Solidarity! My kitchen refit starts next week too, I'm dreading it :) I can't wait for it to be finished. I've got a load of ready meals in the freezer and have just finished clearing out the cupboards. WHY have I got so much crap, and duplicates of things?! Hope we all end up with the kitchens we want.

We were kitchen-less for almost 2 months a few years ago (we had a new floor put in, and had to take some of the plaster off back to the brick) but we managed pretty well. We cooked on a camping stove in the garage and used the microwave more than usual. There was a minor incident when my son realised that roast potatoes were off the menu for a while though. Good luck; it will all be worth it!

An electric wok is your friend. I have an Aga and when it’s hot we don’t put it on much. But a microwave, a barbecue and the electric wok covers most things. (Dp can do a full roast dinner including roast potatoes in a barbecue )

Good luck! It really will be worth it in the end.
Take millions of photos.

If possible stay friends with the guys doing the job, I set them up with tea and coffee and offered a radio and made sure there was a 'little something' everyday like Penguins or little KitKats.
One or two of the different tradesmen said at some places they didn't even get a hot drink.
Because I was fairly nice and tried to be cooperative they were nice to me.
Every night they put my built-in oven up on trestles for me and reconnected it so I could use it, even when there was a gaping hole in the floor and no ceiling up.

That Poo-Pourri stuff [pong-killing toilet spray] was brilliant for the downstairs loo, if your guys are not bringing a Portaloo.

A combi microwave, a sandwich toaster, kettle, toaster & get the dishwasher plumbed in first. When I got my first house that's how we lived for nearly 3 months after ex husband said he would have my kitchen installed in 3 days. We had enough pots so that we had a couple of sets each, & kept everything in the dishwasher, had to fill the kettle from the downstairs Washbasin in the toilet. A slow cooker with lots of liners & a halogen oven would be useful as well. Ask your builders to put an old unit with worktop in the garage to make a temporary kitchen.

Glad to see most of you have come through the other side of this just fine! I will definitely be using some of these ideas and will make sure to be friendly with the builders.. had planned to offer tea anyway but biscuits and treats are on the list now too.
Will try to keep updated to let you know how they're doing.. I'm hoping it'll be a fairly quick job since we're not knocking anything but cupboards out and having new flooring put in.. famous last words

Gosh that’s a breeze! Wall down, doorway moved, floors dug up, underfloor heating put in, ceilings down, rewiring, new kitchen, new flooring and redecorating. And then the decorator spilled varnish over the new floor which meant plinths had to come out, floor had to be replaced and redecorated! We managed with a temporary kitchen in the utility for 6 months, plenty of wine and a sense of humour! It will all be worth it!

Just started ripping ours out this weekend, builders start on the 15th, am looking forward to end of May when it should all be done, that’s if my German kitchen doesn’t get stuck in a port somewhere due to Brexit.

We had our kitchen replaced at the end of last year and it was out of action for about three weeks in total. Worst thing was having no sink or dishwasher as we had new quartz worktops which were last to goin and sink could not be connected until then.

My advice would be gave a good clear out of stuff you no longer use before the work starts.
Set up a tea and toast station and microwave for ready meals, baked potatoes etc. If you can move your old fridge into the living room or wherever you have your tea station so you have somewhere to keep food fresh.
Keep a plastic bowl with washing up brush, tea towel washing up liquid and do washing up in basin or bath.

Taking note of all these tips, good luck OP. My kitchen is also small, I’ll try and do before and after pictures, although the decorator is delayed by two weeks.

What did you do with the contents of the kitchen cupboards during the refurb?
Plates and stuff very heavy so I'm thinking of hiring some sturdy plastic crates rather than cardboard boxes.
I'm currently trying to rub down contents of larder whilst stocking up freezer with batch meals. We intend to live on baked potatoes plus random freezer meal done in microwave if it's raining, bbq and salad if dry.
I've put plastic washing up bowl on THE LIST !

Run down contents of larder!
I'm not polishing tins of baked beans!

Set up a proper temporary kitchen in another room. Kettle, toaster, microwave, induction hob , fridge, work surface - you can use a table with a bit of the old worktop on it.

Canned food, dishes, basic cooking equipment easily accessible. Kitchen bin.

Washing up bowl to wash dishes in bath.

If your washing machine and tunble drier are in yourkichen then washing will be a bigger problem.

You need to sort out your temp kitchen BEFORE the workmen arrive. It’s not their job to do this - they will just disconnect everything , rip it out and put in the skip.

You need to seal off the area of the house where the work is going on, if at all possible. Can you get them to use only the back door for example.

What arrangements are made for the workmen to go to the loo ? Where will they put the skip and their vehicles so they don’t piss off your neighbours ?

Cover carpets in nearby rooms .

Don’t make them tea and coffee. Make a tray with mugs, supplies and a kettle and leave it in the area where they are working.

How are you going to live in the house with no bathroom ?

I've packed all our breakables in boxes and everything else has gone in those reusable shopping bags so I can stack them too
I'll definitely be setting up a tea station for me and then one for them seems like a good idea too

As for the bathroom they've said they will make sure we have a toilet when they leave and they'll make sure we have a bath.. although I'm not convinced about the bath bit! I'll probably end up taking kids over to family so we can have proper washes.. don't fancy my chances otherwise!

Chaos has started ! Dust everywhere, feels very satisfying seeing my old kitchen being ripped out. ESP the little beige square tiles.

@Villanellesproudmum Me too! They're working pretty fast they've got all the units and cupboards out and are just ripping off the disgusting floral wallpaper.
There's mess everywhere but I'm trying to avoid the area for now! It's a bit odd having all these people in the house though  I'm sure I'll get used to it though!

We just had ours done. Was all going fine until the electrician found a major fault and had to investigate every socket in the house. He then condemned half our downstairs sockets as unsafe for use. So we ended up cooking on the upstairs landing for a few days. So I would say be prepared for anything!