Your Guide to Surviving a Kitchen Remodel

How to Live Through Your Kitchen Remodel and Thrive

Despite what you might think, staying home during a kitchen renovation might not only present challenges from the meal standpoint. Through our years of experience, we have observed families navigating through different challenges and coming out the other side. Here’s our advice:

1. Your family meals
2. Food storage
3. Cleaning up (const. Material storage)—roganizate
4. Designate a special remodel-free space
5. A checklist of essentials

1. Your Family Meals

Whether you live by yourself of have a bigger family at home, meal time is a key concern. In order to maintain your routine, our advice is as follows:

• Designate a makeshift prep, dining, and washing up areas. You may use the bathroom sink to do the dishes, a separate dining room for every meal (as opposed to the island or everyday breakfast table in the kitchen), and clearing a surface for meal prep.
• For the prep area, it’s a good idea to keep your breakfast appliances out (coffee maker, toaster, electric kettle, etc.), invest in  a burner, and, if you have a microwave, leave it out at hand as well.
• Leave your kitchen essentials at hand (find a checklist below). To give you a broad idea, this includes: kitchen utensils, cookware (compatible with microwave), and dishes.
• Wash dishes immediately after eating. When working (living) within a constrained space, anything out of place or dirty can create visual chaos. We strongly advise you not to leave dirty dishes out if you want to avoid many headaches.

🏠 Want some inspo? Take a look at the before and after of our past projects.

2. Food Storage

• Refrigerated and frozen food: While you may not have access to your kitchen, you may have access to your fridge or plan ahead where to plug it in a different room during the remodel. If you do move the fridge, you should protect the floor of the room it will be in. Consider buying a plastic protector for the space.
• The pantry: This is a great time for a deep cleanse—are you really going to use those nearly-expired lentils? Once you have finished deciding what ingredients to keep and which to dispose of, think of the ones you really do use on a daily basis. Make room in a living room cabinet or set up a designated box / bin to store your pantry items. 

3. Cleaning Up

Although we are going to assume that your kitchen remodelers are professional—ergo, clean and tidy, there’s always going to be a bit of extra dust around. Make sure you leave your cleaning items out and squeeze out a few minutes at the end of your day to clean up.

4. Designate a Special Remodel-Free Space

Pick one room (other than your bedroom) and make it yours. What does this mean? You should make one room free of construction workers and anything remodel-related (so, no tool storing, no kitchen items, etc.). If you can’t make it a whole room, a quiet corner might suffice.

This one’s for your sanity and grounding yourself amidst the remodel process.

5. A Checklist of Essentials

After observing families and going through our own kitchen remodels, we have put together a list of essentials to keep handy:

• Grilling tools.
• Knives: carving, veggies, and bread.
• One dish per person in the house
• One glass per person
• One set of silverware per each
• Coffee, tea, sweeteners + mugs and cups per person.
• Washing up: detergent, sponge, dish towels.
• Salt, pepper, nutmeg, olive oil, balsamic vinegar
• Food bags
• Can, bottle, wine openers
• Bowls
• Crackers and cookies

☝ Making meals and freezing them in advance is an excellent way to save money on takeout and also wash less.

Check out our kitchen remodel in Conroe, TX

To Dispose or Not to Dispose—That Is the Question

While we won’t judge if you switch to disposable kitchenware for a bit, we will encourage you not to. Not only is this choice better for the environment, but it’s also more economical in the long run—especially during an already expensive renovation period.

Plus, eating off real plates and using proper utensils helps maintain a sense of normalcy during what can feel like a chaotic time. Think of it this way: you’re already dealing with enough disruption, so why not preserve the small comforts that make meals feel civilized? Remember, this temporary inconvenience is just that—temporary. In a few weeks or months, you’ll have your dream kitchen, and these small sacrifices will seem insignificant compared to the joy of cooking in your beautiful new space.