Kitchen Delievered - How To Survive Re-Fit Hell?

[boolifooli]

I have never had to cope with a kitchen re-fit, we are having the whole thing ripped out and starting from scratch. Is it as hellish as I am anticipating? Top tips on surviving, anyone?

We have just undergone 3 weeks of kitchen re-fit hell!!

We kept all the doors to the kitchen area closed and sealed with plastic sheets whilst the builders were in. It minimises the thick layer of dust that WILL form everywhere in your house. We are lots of readymeals etc. using the microwave which we set up in the diningroom along with the fridge, toaster and a limited number of plates etc. We had no kitchen water or gas/electric until quite late in the process. DD, 13mo, ate alot of cereal, yogurt, picnic food and we went out visiting as much as we could at mealtimes. DD is well known now at our local pub

Top tip = paper plates

tis very liberating to get the bin bag out after a meal and chuck it all in.

Very liberating!

also use plastic cups for the builders drinks, otherwise you'll be doing endless washing up in the bath.

There is an M and S meals for two deal on at the moment - their lasagne is fab, massive and goes in the microwave. You will also need the wine.

Eat out, go away for the weekends as they will be particularly disillusioning as there is unlikely to be any progress at these times, think hard about your gorgeous kitchen that will be in place soon.

Ours took nearly three weeks - the first week we ate out/take aways; the second week soup/jackets etc and the third week was ready meal hell (especially as the microwavable stuff tends to be stodge like cauli cheese etc and it was actually quite nice weather)

We had a new kitchen and a new bathroom within three months and the bathroom was worse - we only have an outside loo.

You'll be fine (wish I'd thought of paper plates though!)

I didn't find it too hellish but then ours was done in a week (though not including floor, tiling, lights, snags).

Look very very closely at what is being delivered. As if you don't notice clonks and bashes at the time, they are very fussy about reporting it later.

And go in every night and tiptoe round looking at what the builders have done. As that way I noticed that something had been put completely in the wrong place. It also meant that I noticed that the tap I had chosen looked simply terrible (my fault, not good at visualising things) and I was able to nip and replace it the next morning.

I also persuaded a neighbour to give me the keys to her place so I could go round there with DD in the day for a bit of peace and quiet. As it was hugely hugely noisy and I just wanted to escape.

Good luck.

Mine took weeks because I had to have damp proof coursing done too.

My top tips are: as well as paper plates, have plastic cups and glasses so that when you're carting stuff to the bathroom to wash, you're less likely to break stuff. Have a toaster and microwave and it's not soooo bad. Be prepared for it to take a lot longer than you had anticipated. And to be asked questions that you don't know the answer to (like 'where do you want the lights? how high do you want the tiles to go up the walls?' Perhaps that's just me though ) But on that score, have a think about your wishlist. I had two extra double sockets put into mine (I clearly am not a very ambitious person when it comes to wishes) and they are fantastic. What else do you want to change apart from the furniture? Do it all now or it will always annoy you that you didn't get those things done when you were going through the disruption.

And afterwards when it is all done you will be soooo happy that all the hell will be a distant memory and you will think that it is definitely worth it indeed

That's a good point, and a question I was going to ask 'At the end, will it all be worth it?'

We set up a mini kitchen in the dining room, with an electric camping ring on a worktop protector, a microwave, a kettle, a fridge/freezer and a toaster. So we had lots of pasta/risotto and stuff as well which wasn't too bad.

Washed up in the bath. Not fun!

Agree, dust gets everywhere.

If you have a door from the kitchen onto the garden, ask your builders to use that, rather than the front door, then tape a dust sheet around the hall side of your kitchen door. Dust will still mysteriously appear but you'll keep it to a minimum.

We stayed with my sister for three days as we had our heating done too so no heating or running water for a while. Sadly, we still didn't have either when we got back and we weren't prepared for that! Stock up on bottled water and ask them if they can turn the water on for you to refill bottles as and when. We didn't have drinking water for quite a while.

Mine were 2.6 and 11mo when we had it done and they got used to napping through a lot of noise. Didn't seem to disturb them as much as expected.

Above all, remember it's only a short-term thing and it'll be worth it! I still get a little excited feeling when I look around my gorgeous kitchen, eight months on.

Thanks guys, just this morning we ripped out one of the kitchen units and have set it up in a corner of the lounge with toaster, kettle etc and have put the fridge/freezer in a cupboard where it will stay until we get the new one after the re-fit. Builder should make an appearance sometime next week...