Kitchen renovation - what do I need to do?

[eventhekitchensink]

We’re having our kitchen fully renovated in a couple of weeks. They will be taking the floorboards up and insulating under the void, putting underfloor heating and LVT down in the kitchen and hallway, putting in a fitted kitchen, new appliances and redecorating. Moving the sink and a few of the light fittings. Wall mounting a TV.

I’m excited to have it done but I am also shitting myself as it’s taking all our savings, we have DC aged 4 and 7, and we’re not going to have access to the kitchen for 5 weeks.

What should I be doing to prepare? So far on my list is:

• pack up fragile stuff and move it upstairs
• move the fridge into the sitting room
• rig up a temporary kitchen in the utility room, with kettle/toaster/microwave/air fryer
• put everything else into storage (need a van and a self store unit)

Is there anything else obvious I am missing?

Have you thought about where you are going to do the washing up?
If you have a freezer, maybe batch cook some meals that you won't be able to make in air fryer e.g. chilli/stew/pancakes, and put in freezer?
I think I would see if I could invite myself round to a friend/families house for dinner regularly, once a week or so, then return the favour when my kitchen was finished!
Good luck! It'll be amazing when it's all finished! 🎉

I would take the oppurtunity to get rid of anything you dont want as you pack, unless its something you do use at least once a year eg xmas plates or something do you really want to keep it? this might save you a few boxes/fit in a cheaper storage unit. Also if you can organise the boxes by cupboard/drawer as you imagine for the new space, ie if you have a random assortment in a cupboard try and put them with items you'd prefer them with, then when you are unpacking its easier to organise the new cupboards, especially if you are changing the amount/size/configuration of them.
Keep a picnic blanket/tablecloth handy for 'exciting' floor picnics in the living room with the kids, lots of cold lunch options like quiche and sandwiches can feel a bit more special that way then it might distract them from the upheaval a bit.
Hope it goes smoothly!

I bought a one ring induction hob from ikea. About £40 I think. Found it really helpful to make quick meals like pasta.

Thank you @Iliveonabighillthat is great advice re batch cooking.

We don’t really have any friends or family nearby (I feel like a right loser saying that!) but our neighbour has offered her oven from time to time. We are lucky that we have a big sink in the utility room so will be able to wash up … although DH is pushing for paper plates!

I think it’s the weekends I am dreading where the house will be a building site and everything will be in disarray for the kids.

That’s a great shout actually @musthaveanapI really could do with decluttering properly. In theory we will have loads more storage space in the new kitchen - I will remind myself of the floor plan and try to pack up in a way that will be easy to unpack. May also take the opportunity to get rid of things like manky old tea towels, of which we have many. Ditto bags for life etc.

Amazing idea! I will definitely do this!

Bumping for any more tips! 🙏

How exciting OP!

-Do you have anywhere in the house, garage, shed or friends to store boxes rather than paying for storage?
-I agree with culling things. Very of date things, open packets of things that are old etc. If they are unused items, or even open and only used once, you can advertise them on the olio app to give away (if you could be bothered)
-Label boxes on the top and sides to make it easier to find things when stacked
-Have a think about the 5-6 weeks. Any birthdays coming up or celebrations where you might need candles/party bits?
-An electric fry pan is handy for making lot of 1 pot things like a striy fry, fried rice, paella etc. Or just for cooking bacon, sausages, eggs. https://www.argos.co.uk/product/2999975?utm_custom6=LIA&utm_source=google&utm_medium=free_listing&utm_campaign=merchant_center&deeplink=true

-Have you already chosen your cabinets/layout? Get as many drawers as you can!
-You can get plinth drawers for under the cabinets to store tins in.
-You said you are moving the sink. The one, main regret when we recently renovated our kitchen is that the plug hole in our sink is woefully small. When you have SO many decisions to make when renovating, the size of the plug just wasn't on my radar. I wrongly assumed that all kitchen sinks came with those large 8cm wide type plugs with the basket you can lift out. Ours does have a tiny basket, but the pug size is only about 4cm wide and blocks daily 😡

Great advice, thank you. I will check the size of the plug hole tomorrow!! And will have a look at the electric saucepan, thank you!

We have a loft which is used as a spare room so I can cram a bit in there (it’s not very large). We will need to store three bits of furniture so they’ll have to go in a self storage unit until I can sell them. No one is biting on FB Marketplace at the moment. Good idea re labelling boxes. DH and DS both have a birthday during the work 🥴

There are lots of drawers in our design I’m glad to say, someone else gave me that advice too!

Another thing re the temporary kitchen:

-Ensure you have a water supply and somewhere to throw the water post washing up
-Ensure the table or whatever you use is stable enough to prevent kettle/cooking appliances from falling, especially as you have young children. At one point we used a fold up wallpaper table with ply board on top. DH accidently knocked the leg and all the appliances fell off! Luckily, nothing was hot or turned on at the time.
-Have a chair or stool available for you to use. Regular kitchen benches are high and should be the height to chop/cook whilst standing. If your temporary cooking area is say a dining table, these tend to much lower and you'll be stooping over if you stand to chop/cook.

Have you got a microwave rice cooker? They make a big difference as can do easy chilli and rice with a slow cooker.

I think just for the short term I'd use microwavable rice pouches. I think in this time of chaos you need some easy wins!
I'm following for tips as we are planning something similar soon.

Theres not much in it. I was surprised too.

Silly me I just read 'rice cooker' and thought it was an electric one. They are quite big so not ideal when space is limited. I've never heard of a microwave one. I'll have to check them out

You probably have a paper plan from the designer/supplier. Ask for another copy and stick securely it to a suitable wall. All telephone numbers/contact details/messages/notes can be hand written and nobody is hunting for the plan.

Buy all ready meals and disposable plates and cutlery. Top up with ready salads and fruit. Fish and chips from chippy plus other take-aways, biscuits, cakes, ready sandwiches etc. Make your life easy and don't sweat about the unhealthy: It's not a change of lifestyle more picnic at home. All you really need is a kettle, tea, coffee, milk, squash, lots of mugs (enough for the day plus for the builders) and a microwave. Don't bother cooking or getting any 'special' equipment.

Depending on how big the utility room is, if you have a dishwasher in the old kitchen, you could get the plumbers to temporarily install it in there for you to use in your temp kitchen. You could also get them to cut off some of the old work surface, plonk it on top, and use that as your temp work surface (re. PP's point above about stability).

More great ideas, thanks so much. I hadn’t even thought about having enough mugs! Great point!

We were in building/kitchen chaos for half of last year - I would suggest:

Move absolutely everything you don't need from the floor you're having the work done on, as the level of dust/dirt/general filth has to be seen to be believed.

You may end up with short periods of no water/electricity etc (we had no boiler for three days at one point) so plan for how you will get water/clean and wash up, or plan to leave for a day or so!

If the power is on and off, move everything to a proper freezer if you have one - fridge ice boxes defrost super quickly, but a proper 4 star freezer is fine with the lid shut for 12+ hours.

Make sure you have contingency money. Our plumbing bill went up by £1k due to various unavoidable costs, and the same with a drainage issue. These things ALWAYS cost more than you think, as something generally always crops up, so try and plan for a contingency fund so you don't get caught out.

Everywhere WILL be dirty. Try and make your peace with it. Keep your hoover filters clean as all the brick/plaster dust etc will break your hoover if you don't.

There will be far more stuff in your kitchen cupboards than you realise - think about where it's all going to go, and what you can live without for a bit!

And.. if you have space, hire a shipping container and put it on the driveway to ram with all your stuff - it's about the same price as a storage unit, and you don't have to drive anywhere to move and access your stuff.

Sorry me, yet again!

-I agree that everything will get covered in dust! We had crates with clip on lids in a separate room and even things in those got dusty!
-The workmen might ask to use your vacuum cleaner but ask them to use theirs because they'll suck up nails, wood off cuts and all manner of crap
-When renovating the whole house, we often had 6+ workmen onsite and I lost the plot cleaning mugs and making tea for them all. I set up a tray with a cheap kettle, tea/coffee, mugs, spoon and milk and left them too it. I told them to pick a mug and wash it out themselves/re-use it during the day. If you buy cubed sugar, there will be FAR less mess!
-One of neighbours let us park our car in their drive each day. It meant we could get out whenever needed and not have to ask the trades to move their vans from our drive.

I am so grateful for this amazing advice, thank you hugely. I am going to read it properly with a cup of tea after the kids bedtime!

I have thought of a last tip that I wish had occurred to me before we had our kitchen replaced: if you are getting a new oven the same size as the old one, remove the shelves and keep them. New ovens seem to only come with one shelf.

New oven is going to be a slightly different size, annoyingly!

We had the one ring induction hob from Ikea too - it was a total life saver and meant we ate fairly normally. I quite enjoyed the back to basics - 4 plates mugs bowls etc. of it.
make sure you have lots of mugs and preferably a separate place for the builders to make their own drinks so you’re not having to serve/ offer. Biscuits go down well though.
if you’re doing any building work be warned it will be really dusty - be vigilant about keeping room doors closed and have lots of cloths and rubber gloves for a regular damp wipe down of your main area

We had a temporary kitchen for about 14 months (our kitchen was a DIY job) and had an air fryer (the type that are like a small oven), a double ring camping gas stove hooked up to a gas bottle, a sink (but only washing water not drinking)and it was fine. Having a pressure cooker helped save on bottled gas. We also had several 5 litre water bottles which were filled from an outside tap. Your plans look ok but I would advise you get some large volume water bottles for times of no water.