Temporary Kitchen / Coping with Builders In!

[LoopyMumbot]

Hi everyone
We are having some building work done next Spring and money is going to be tight. The whole of the downstairs will be affected: living and dining room will become a storage room and the kitchen (floor included) is coming out and we'll have an extension to produce a kitchen diner. Windows will be changed. Now, l know when the (only) loo waste is being moved we will have to move out for how long that takes but, outside of those times, does anyone have any good advice for: temporary kitchen set-ups, coping with no washing machine, coping generally with builders in? I have 3 young boys and the eldest is autistic so l am making plans now (plus it will take me months to shift my clutter!). Any creative ideas for what is basically going to be camping in my house gratefully accepted! Ps l honestly would not be stressing if it was just me and me dh in the house!

I’d add an Instant Pot onto the list . Also we have a Sage smart oven that we got as main oven was on way out and now use that pretty much all the time.

Joseph Joseph have a washing up bowl that is a lot of money for a washing up bowl but has handles and plug in the bottom so easy to carry and drain. I’d get a double hot plate.

Thanks everyone, l am really grateful l'm making lots of useful notes here. Am wondering about whether l need a heat proof mat for anything such as the induction hob? Hope l don't splash any spag bol sauce on my son's bedroom wall whilst stirring... Maybe l need to think about some sort of splash back that won't get close enough to catch fire... Maybe l need a fire extinguisher too!! @CasperGutman curious as to the effect of washing up on the bath? I know l can't go pre-rinsing too much food gunk down there. Will be using my washing up bowl in there then dumping the clean stuff in a box to lift out and dry somewhere less backbreaking...

My neighbours hired something like this - https://www.temporarykitchenpod.co.uk/

No idea how expensive it was.

@LoopyMumbot we didn't really wash up in the bath. We scraped plates off into the food waste first, then washed them in a bowl of hot soapy water on the camping kitchen stand, then placed the clean but soapy dishes on a tray. Once the tray was full, we put it in the bath and rinsed using the shower on the bath mixer tap, then put them to drain on a rack on another tray. This minimised bending as only the rinsing was done in the bath, and a trayful of crockery at a time rather than item by item.

There weren't any lasting effects on the bath itself. It never saw any food gunk, only clean soapy water. The washing up bowl was emptied down the loo, not into the bath as the bath had the clean crockery in it.

The noise and mess from the builders will be constant and unspeakable.

Set up in the bedroom a hotel-style arrangement of kettle, toaster, microwave.

If you absolutely insist, set up a single portable induction hob if you have room. One small pan. One small frying pan. Bear in mind there will be no extraction for cooking smells, no proper washing-up facilities except bathroom sink.

Any clothes you put out to dry will get covered in builders dust.

The work will go on for longer than they said.

Put as much of your stuff as possible into storage. The builders dust will get EVERYWHERE.

If you can afford it - MOVE OUT while the work is being done.

Whether the noise and mess (particularly dust) will be "unspeakable" or "get everywhere" depends on the details of the project you're contemplating.

The noise certainly won't be "constant", as it will be confined to working hours. Depending on your lifestyle you may hardly hear them. Our builders would arrive and start work at 8am and would typically finish at some point between 3 and 4pm. There were only a few exceptions, e.g., when they needed to finish something off in preparation for a scheduled concrete delivery or to make the building safe overnight. We would be out from about 8.20am until half three, so we scarcely needed to be home when the noise was happening. That said, I chose to work from home a couple of days a week to get a decent awareness of how things were going and answer any questions the builders had (to which the answer was usually: we'd like it as shown on the drawings, please!).

In terms of layout, our extension was built on a part of the back and side of the house which could be cut off from the rest of the house by closing two doors. With these doors sealed off by boards screwed over them, no dust got through there into the rest of the house. We kept all windows closed on the side where the building work was, and the builders used the driveway gate while we parked on the street and came and went by a different path and gate.

I agree that it doesn't have to be awful with the dust. My builders put in temporary walls so that they could contain things and it honestly hasn't been that bad. At the moment the floors are bare concrete in 4 rooms and that is a bit more mucky in terms of tracking dust around but only as we are using 3 of those rooms. Mine clean up properly every day in areas we'll be in.
Noise wise, I'd say there were about 5 days when it was awful, but otherwise its fairly short properly noisy bits

@CasperGutman good washing up trick! I am going to figure out a similar plan. I reckon with some forethought l could make washing up 5 people's stuff less back breaking like you did. Plus... I think l will have a separate washing up bowl for mucky builder mugs! Thanks for the dust warnings all, l will put up some curtains over doorways and stuff and box as much as l can and shift out as much as possible to in-laws!

OMG this looks amazing!! But, sadly we won't have room for it as the builders will need the driveway. Genius idea though!

@LoopyMumbot I definitely recommend buying an extra washing up bowl, and maybe a few cheap plastic trays for all the dishes you'll be carrying around the house!!

Hi 👋🏼
How is the renovation going?
What about a Temporary Kitchen Pod? Its a portable kitchen that goes on your drive. They have a washing machine, cooker, sink table and chairs inside.
www.temporarykitchenpod.co.uk