Surviving a kitchen refit

[NeedAHoliday2021]

We have finally confirmed kitchen plans! Kitchen will be gutted and refitted in 8 weeks. They have said it’ll be 4 weeks from start to finish with the first week being be worst then the second will still be quite chaotic then it’ll be useable.

we have 3dc so they are going to stay with relatives the first week but then we’ll have to manage. Any tips how to survive (other than constant takeaways… can’t afford those at the cost of the kitchen).

We're planning an extension and will be without kitchen for a period. I'm planning to manage with kettle/microwave/fridge and a well stocked freezer. I'm also looking at getting an air fryer.

We have a fridge freezer in the garage so that’s helpful. I’m thinking if getting a bbq but that’s more expense. I have a microwave and slow cooker. Neighbour has said I can have a key and use her kitchen as she’s hardly there but I don’t want to abuse that.

Can you have a temporary kitchen made in another area? Our builder used our old kitchen and fitted into part of our living room. It's very cramped bit does work ok.

Set up a small table in your living room with the microwave, kettle and toaster on. Toastie maker too if you have one! Batch cook curry/chilli/soup etc now while you can and freeze. Buy packs of micro rice to go with them. Cous cous can also be made just with boiling water, you can get packet flavoured ones. If you have a slow cooker you could utilise that, or if you have the money maybe invest in an air fryer. I don't have one myself but hear they are very good. If you don't already have one buy a washing up bowl that could be filled at another sink to wash up with.

Table in the living / dining room, slow cooker, micro, kettle or a ninja foodie type thing if you have the budget. It's hard but doable. Can you get the old fridge / freezer plugged in anywhere?

We are in the thick of it at the mo. Started Wednesday and at the moment it's being plastered. My advise is just to get through it as best as you can. My whole house is a mess with boxes of kitchen stuff piled up (no garage to store stuff). I'm taking it day by day and just trying to make sure everyone is fed and just focusing on the finished kitchen!

We are renovating, but its the whole house- so living in a static van in the garden. Even though we had rooms taped off- everything in those rooms is covered by dust and debris! I wouldn't plan on entering or using the current kitchen at all. We did live for a while in the main house which had nothing but an electric socket- not even a fridge/freezer back then. You don't need to live off take aways either!

Set up a temporary 'kitchen' in another room or the garage. Fridge/freezer, microwave and slow cooker is a great start. I'd look at freecylce or olio for a cook top or even a combo one with a mini over. Or argos/asda/amazon etc. An electric fry pan can be useful too. Argos, asda and lidl sell good value BBQ's if you would be using it after wards too. Things like these would be handy:

www.nisbets.co.uk/caterlite-countertop-boiling-hob-double/gg567?vatToggle=incvat&plaid=1&cm_mmc=PLA--14490314367--121825138730--GG567&cm_mmca1=go_14490314367_121825138730_542937850549_pla-1415470868108_c&gclid=Cj0KCQjw-pCVBhCFARIsAGMxhAfhASNWYyNWgtlCSon4iG8qTK5PSBraflww3RxHDqKLlq80C33wzPoaAiHREALw_wcB

www.robertdyas.co.uk/tower-dyt14044-32l-mini-oven-with-hobs-black?gclid=Cj0KCQjw-pCVBhCFARIsAGMxhAfPLrewt0dSFk3hu7pkWVlLu1YAo7ajqdDn6dMKSNs5PybARdG4B4gaAqSREALw_wcB

www.onbuy.com/gb/misterchefr-30cm-multi-cooker~c18039~p56003672/?exta=gshp&stat=eyJpcCI6IjE5Ljk5MDAiLCJkcCI6bnVsbCwibGlkIjo3ODczMTEzOCwicyI6bnVsbCwidCI6MTY1NDk3MDk4OCwiYm1jIjowfQ==&gclid=Cj0KCQjw-pCVBhCFARIsAGMxhAcJaOz1YcU9BH7x8tp_hq_nwbARnvLpCqIV6ZMC-3t2jh5bws2tJU4aAv4pEALw_wcB

Steamer and a George Foreman style grill.

Steamer can be used for rice (put it in a plastic bowl topped with water, any bowl will do), vegetables, fish, boiled eggs. ao.com/product/vc145140-tefal-steamer-stainless-steel-46661-98.aspx

Grill for meat, aubergine, peppers. www.argos.co.uk/product/7938663

You’ll be very healthy!

If you don’t want to break your back washing up in bath, then there are table top dishwashers available. You might be able to get second hand. www.appliancesdirect.co.uk/st/compact-dishwashers

You can get portable hob ovens too. www.robertdyas.co.uk/tower-dyt14044-32l-mini-oven-with-hobs-black I had a family member who had 4 kids and threw huge lunch parties with this type of thing, living somewhere that didn’t have a proper kitchen for years.

We cooked on the bbq a lot. Fish is great on a bbq. Ate a lot of couscous and had a rice cooker. Also I bought a couple of single portable induction hobs. Sold them afterwards. They were fantastic. And had dinner round friends who took pity on us a few times. I also bought a lot of bacon baps on way into work…

We went weeks without a kitchen so prior to this I batch cooked loads of soups, curries, chillies etc. I set up a temporary kitchen in the conservatory, borrowed a microwave and bought the rice sachets. I did start to crave some texture in food but it wasn't too bad. Fortunately we had a sink with hot and cold water in the garden so the washing machine and dishwasher were plumbed in on the patio

We found that the main issue wasn't not being able to cook but doing the washing up afterwards.

Four weeks is a long time to refit a kitchen. Are you having major structural work?

We had our old kitchen taken out, tiling removed, walls plastered, electrics changed around, kitchen fitted and new flooring fitted. It took a week. I'm really pleased with the result.

I've been without my kitchen for 7 weeks. I've just used a microwave and kettle and am washing up in a small sink. It is more expensive food wise to buy pre prepped so if you can cook before and freeze that would be good. Veg cooked with a knob of butter in the microwave is fantastic.

Ikea do a single induction hob which might be useful. I’d definitely create a small camping kitchen.

Have a think too about how you would manage without water or power for a day if you had to. That’s when you might need takeaway, paper plates and some bottled water.

Keep on top of your own washing up and don’t let it pile up - that’s a sure way to jinx your water supply!

Even though you think the building works will be behind a certain point in the house, ime builders end up everywhere for one reason or another. Think about their access to the toilet for one thing. Ask them to lay plastic to protect the floors. It’s worth putting makeshift seals /draught excluders on other doors at the bottom to keep dust out.

Leave them a kettle and cups if you don’t want them coming into your makeshift kitchen for tea.

Be prepared to make a hundred tiny decisions on the fly.

I bought a stand alone hot plate and used that plus microwave and kettle. It's surprising what you can cook with that.

We’re potentially going to be without ours for 6 months or so we think (not until 2024 though due to lack of builder availability) due to having major structural work done/extension

kids will be 5 and 3. Dreading it so following for tips

luckily we have a room we can set up a temporary kitchen in plus a garage with a large sink in but dreading it

not sure we can afford to move out whilst it’s being done

If any of you can manage to get a 'proper' meal at lunchtime (school, work canteen) then do it! Then have a table setup with toaster, toastie maker, breakfast stuff. It helps if this is in a room you can shut the door on as kitchen refit creates so much dust! We had our fridge/freezer in the living room, along with the microwave.

The main problem we ran into was ours over-running from 2 weeks to 6 after the builder's baby grandson ended up in hospital (small family firm) . We ran out of clothes so had to find the local laundrette!

Good luck! It's worth it in the end.

Builder plumbed our washing machine in hall via some long hoses.

Our builders did this too and it was a game-changer! We had a sink, washing machine, some countertop; + portable induction hob, kettle and microwave, and shoved all our books backwards on the shelves to make room for tins & boxes of things. Cutlery upright in jars on the mantelpiece, plates on lower level of the coffee table, etc.

We also got zip-up dust doors to tape around door frames to try to mitigate the mountains of dust, but they weren’t particularly effective.

Much easier when done in the summer! We were without a kitchen for a couple of months during our building work a few years ago, so set up a field kitchen. We put the old worktops on saw horses in a different part of the house and set up the toaster, kettle, microwave, and camping stove on that. The fridge was in the utility and could stay put. I kept out minimal table- and cookware, stacked on the worktop and covered with that thin decorators polythene or in lidded boxed under the worktops. Ditto a basic selection of herbs & spices. We did the odd BBQ, but mostly I just cooked simple hob-based meals, bought the best quality microwave-able ready meals I could find, and used a lot of microwave steam in the bag pre-done veg. We just accepted the additional food costs as part of the build cost. A week is easily manageable: a couple of takeaways, a few nights of pasta, a ready meal for two nights. Cereal for breakfast and sandwiches for lunch.
The worst part was washing up: everything was put in a tough tub (used as a washing up bowl) and taken up to the bathroom to wash. Bending over the bath doing that was hard work. If it was just 2 weeks (well, one really), like it is for you OP, I would suffer it. If we were facing another 2 months, I would get a temporary kitchen sink plumbed in somewhere, even if uncovered in the garden with just a cold feed fed from the outside tap.

I’m wondering If they can move the sink outside? Or leave the utility until the kitchen is done but the utility needs plastering so possibly not.

I’m going to buy a bbq as I want one anyway so might end up outside with a brolly cooking.

Thanks everyone. I’m excited and daunted in equal measure.

Stack dishes in a plastic wahing up bowl and do them in the bathroom, or at the outside tap if you have one. Put down a towel or rubber mat to protect the bath/sink/shower tiles. Kids are better-sized for bending over a bath, so it's very much their job.

Other option is paper plates for everything! Lots of bulk packs around for barbecue season. Best time of year to be without a kitchen.

As other have said, fill freezer with easy to reheat meals and kids favourites. Given it's summer, lots of hearty salads, proper ones full of chopped or grated raw vegetables, pre-cooked pulses, herbs. Add strips of meat or fish for carnivores - use single induction ring or BBQ. You'll all be so healthy!

It will be ok, we had a kitchen and utility room fitted when we had a baby & toddler, the dining room became a makeshift kitchen, microwave, fridge, kettle & toaster, all worked out fine. Good luck, it’s worth it in the end.

But a hot plate - about £20 on Amazon

Paper plates and plastic cutlery. Be prepared for the works to take longer than they say. Air fryer a lot less effort than a bbq. Add in a rice cooker and microwave and then it’s easy.

we had the washing machine and dryer put in the garage as I couldn’t survive a week without

To echo comments above I'd also highly recommend the Ikea portable single ring induction hob. When our previous house was being done we had the induction hob and a microwave on the dining table and that was our kitchen - it worked for us but that was before DCs came along! Washing up was done in the bath which was not fun.

The portable induction hob will also let you see how awesome induction is compared to gas - and a proper induction hob is even better than the portable one. Highly recommend you go for induction in your new kitchen if you're not planning that already 😁