We're going to be doing a complete kitchen remodel. The plan is to gut the room and completely redo it.
How difficult is it to live in the house while something like this is happening? Since both work and school are remote, should we just go rent a beach house for a week or something?
*you* are going to be doing it, or you are having someone do it? What's the timeframe?
For a full gut it's going to be more than a week.
We lived in ours while we had it done. Ours was out of action more than a month because we built an addition, reconfigured the kitchen layout, etc. It was ripped down to the studs and subfloor.
We had ours done by a contractor. No way I would have tackled it.
Our old laundry was in the old kitchen. We had them build a frame and put a 220v plug on our old glass cooktop so we could set it on top of the dryer for temporary use. We kept the fridge and a portable microwave in action, moving them around as needed.
We did a major kitchen/family room addition a couple of years back, I did the HVAC had a contractor for everything else. The kitchen portion from gut to done was about 10 weeks. We kept the stove temped in for all but a week or so of that. The fridge and the microwave lived in part of the new family room for a while. Worth it in the long run but not easy while you’re living in a construction zone.
Coordinating the various trades, cabinet / countertop/ appliance installation/ inspections, etc. is always challenging. Any delay in a key area can snowball and add days if not weeks to the overall time table. Note that all this was well before the “current situation”. A lot of things (appliances for example) are long lead right now and if you’re going the contractor route the good guys are likely to be very busy if our area is any indication.
Between the two burner induction thing we got from Costco and the instant pot - it was no big deal. 6 weeks of down time between mid-october and thanksgiving. Paper plates, bowls, and cups with plastic cutlery meant almost no dishes.
Plan for way more than a week. If you can keep a fridge running, set up a microwave and a good two-burner hotplate in an alternate location. If you've got a grill you can use so much the better. No matter what, it will be disruptive, but it can be done while staying in place.
I just did (2 years ago) a full gutting with the exception of a couple wall cabinets and floors. It took about 2 weeks while working full time, and fortunately I live alone. The microwave and paper plates were my friend. I try to limit my single-use plastics, so I just used regular silverware and washed it in the bathroom sink.
Once everything was in place and they came to measure for the countertops, my heart kinda sank when they said it would be another 3 weeks. I cut a piece of plywood for one section of temporary countertops, and temporarily placed my sink on some 2x4s.
In my last house, I went full-on crazy. Tore it down to studs and subfloor, moved the stove and added a gas line to convert, moved the fridge and plumbed it for an ice maker, drywall, custom cabinets, under cabinet lighting, in-wall speakers, the WORX. My (now ex) wife and I lived in it during the renovations. It wasn't bad. I think the whole thing took closer to 3 months, partly because I had to wait for things like countertops. That's not 3 months of no kitchen use... that's three months of not having a completed kitchen. There might have been a couple days without a sink, and I think I recall a few days of using a cooler instead of a fridge while I was doing the floors, but no big woop.
I never really gave it much thought. I completely gutted my bathroom in a 1-bath house. There were a couple days of brushing my teeth in the kitchen, and I made sure that I had all my ducks in a row before I did flooring. You know... lay flooring up to the toilet, then wait for a good poop, then yank the toilet and finish the flooring so you can install the new toilet with minimal chance of, well, you know.
I just do it. Plan and do. Have fun. And do a build thread.
Thanks for the replies so far. I can do some of the work, but hiring a pro will be faster and probably better for 90% of it.
My house was built in 1942, and it seems like maybe the kitchen was remodeled once after that? We replaced some appliances when we moved in, but the cabinets are real wood (and will be moving to the garage), and the floor is several layers of laminate tile. I'm REALLY hoping we don't find asbestos in there.
We'll be taking it down to the original floor and possibly the studs on the walls. I'd like to have the entire thing rewired- there are a few two prong outlets. I'm wanting to get the gas line run from where it terminates at the hot water heater into the kitchen so we can install a gas top range with an electric oven. One window will have to be resized in order to run the counter top around the corner.
I've got a grill, an instant pot and a deep freezer. I'm not sure if we can keep the main fridge running, but I can probably pick up a small one, put it in the garage and keep the milk and produce in there. My main worry is really how to keep the cats from getting into the walls or something during the teardown.
Oh, and if you missed the thread from this summer... I lived without floors for a month... and I mean no floors, no subfloor, no joists. You opened my front door and stepped down 18" onto the dirt crawlspace. Roof over my head. Don't care.
Maybe it's just me. Am I the only one? 
We had our contractor do ours last February. It was almost 4 weeks start to finish but it is a big room and a lot needed to be done. It remained somewhat useable most of the time so it wasn't unbearable.
Curtis73 (Forum Supporter) said:Oh, and if you missed the thread from this summer... I lived without floors for a month... and I mean no floors, no subfloor, no joists. You opened my front door and stepped down 18" onto the dirt crawlspace. Roof over my head. Don't care.
Maybe it's just me. Am I the only one?
Why, yes you are.......
Your floors probably have asbestos. I used to get all worried about it until I saw how pros do it. It usually involves a dust mask on them and a fan in the door or window. If you have plywood or underlayment between the subfloor and the vinyl, they will likely set a circular saw (attached to a shop vac) to the thickness of the flooring and cut it into smaller shapes and pry it up. I am always amazed at how they scare the snot out of you with asbestos fears, and it is bad stuff, but to see pros doing remediation you'll think, oh... that was easy.
Also, being a 1942 house, you're probably "lucky" and it has MC wiring... the stuff with two conductors inside a spiral steel jacket. If that's the case, you're likely ok to just add a new receptacle. This is not electrician advice since I'm no expert, but I have seen electricians do this. The jacket becomes the ground.
Is it possible to move the fridge into the dining room so you can plug it in and use it? If not, maybe a $50 craigslist dorm fridge for essentials like milk and eggs.
I usually find these projects to be a fun way of exercising my brain. Almost like camping when you forget half the things you wanted to bring.
In reply to 759NRNG (Forum Partidario) :
It wouldn't surprise me.
We did all the demo. Had friends over to help it along. Hired pros to do the walls, floors, cabinets, and appliances. Maybe a week? Didn't move out. Didn't get a on RV trailer. I did final paint and trim however. Barely remember being displaced or inconvenienced. Get take out!
The best tip I can offer is this. If at all possible keep the sink base and the section of the counter top that holds the sink intact. They don't need to be in place, but cut the old counter top down to size so you can put the sink base back in place when you are done working for the day. Two water feed lines and a drain hook up and you are back in business for the night.
Curtis73 (Forum Supporter) said:Oh, and if you missed the thread from this summer... I lived without floors for a month... and I mean no floors, no subfloor, no joists. You opened my front door and stepped down 18" onto the dirt crawlspace. Roof over my head. Don't care.
Maybe it's just me. Am I the only one?
Nah, you're not alone, my partner and I are pretty tolerant to living rough while renovating.
We've been living the equivalent of glorified camping for the last 12-18 months, we don't care, it's a small sacrifice for the long term gain we'll get from it.
Still cooking on a 2 burner camp stove and using a cheap little bench top oven to bake and roast. It can be limiting at times, but it just makes me a more inventive cook.
Last place we had, the bathroom and toilet were the hard ones to cop. We ended up with a camp toilet that we used for the week the toilet referb took. The bathroom I had to cobble together a temporary shower at various points. When it was time for waterproofing and tiling we were hitting the gym of an evening so we could shower there hahaha. I also got us a 12v camp shower which we used a few times when we worked to late on the bathroom to make it to the gym.... A bucket of warm water and a camp shower outside in the middle of winter wasn't the best of fun, but it was an experience hahaha.
I am a plumber that does 10 or so kitchens a year. Plan on 10 weeks or so especially if you are doing granite countertops. Most people set up a temp kitchen in a clean room. If you have a laundry sink, that's the ideal spot because you can wash dishes. Microwave, hot plate, coffee maker, toaster oven, are essential. Lots of easy to eat food, and paper plates help matters. Outdoor grilling makes things easier as well. Find someplace to plug the fridge in. Plan on washing dishes in the bathroom. Working class people seem to manage just fine and go with the flow. They seem to settle into a mode where its like they are camping. The wealthier the customer the more drama it creates. Get whatever you need on the job now. Don't wait until you are ready for the materials. Lately everything has been coming in damaged. Probably because of corona and rushed orders. Literally have not done a job in over a year where there was not a delay because something came in broken. Broken cabinets, broken oven doors, just about every dishwasher, missing trim, etc. Tradesmen are flat out and just getting people to the job when they are needed is difficult. Most jobs sit idle for days and weeks at a time waiting on one contractor. Last one, the electrician went deer hunting for two weeks and then I went to Florida for a vacation. Three weeks waiting to close the walls, but that ran into almost 5 because of holidays and not being able to get inspectors out. All that could have been avoided if the contractor kept to his schedule. Everybody knew we were taking off and when.
We remodeled our kitchen a few years ago. We set up the fridge in the garage and put the microwave on my work bench. I have a sink next to the bench, so we were set. The kids called it the hobo kitchen.
tr8todd said:I am a plumber that does 10 or so kitchens a year. Plan on 10 weeks or so especially if you are doing granite countertops.
This times eleventy. All the planning in the world can't predict the lead time on custom counters. You might contact 10 countertop fabricators and they might all tell you 1 week lead time, then you spend two months building the kitchen only to find that they're suddenly in the weeds and can't get to it for weeks. You also can't pre-measure for countertops. You have to have the cabinets installed, trued, plumb, level, and completely ready for installation before they can even be measured, let alone cut.
BenB (Forum Supporter) said:We remodeled our kitchen a few years ago. We set up the fridge in the garage and put the microwave on my work bench. I have a sink next to the bench, so we were set. The kids called it the hobo kitchen.
I helped a buddy with his kitchen. He moved the fridge to the living room and hung the TV on the front with some of those over-the-door hooks. Watching the superbowl was a hoot. Easy access to the beer, but everyone in the room had to lean sideways to see when you opened the door.
Get a grill.
I did mine and it took way longer than I anticipated. I think it took me 3 months start to finish but I am no contractor and only had my wife to help when she did not have to look after the kids.
I also gutted most and left the sink until I got all the cabinets.
I did mine. I built an extension cord to move the range into the living room. We also moved the fridge and microwave. Washing was done in large pans with water from the bathroom and we used paper plates. It took 3 weeks because I had to rip all the flooring up and replace several joists and a sill.
All in it wasn't horrible but it was a little stressful. We ate out a fair amount.
Late to the party as usual. More or less confirming some statements above. We had a remove-everything-and-replace kitchen remodel done about 5 years ago. We ate in our finished basement for 6 weeks. It already had a sink, microwave, and mini fridge. We added a single burner induction cooktop, ate a lot of takeout, used disposable plates and flatware, and put our regular fridge on the front porch. It was mildly annoying but really not too bad. Worst part was dealing with our jerk of a contractor, but the guy who actually did most of the work was great, and so was the result.
I tore my whole house down section by section. Lived in the rest of it. It took me 20+ years and 31,000 hours. Plus I had help for another 3500 hours. A typical house takes 2500 man hours from start to handing over the keys. I remember getting up in a nice warm bedroom, climbing down the ladder into the snow covered (12” ) main floor walking across to the refrigerator for breakfast orange juice then heading off to work.
I tore my whole house down section by section. Lived in the rest of it. It took me 20+ years and 31,000 hours. Plus I had help for another 3500 hours. A typical house takes 2500 man hours from start to handing over the keys. I remember getting up in a nice warm bedroom, climbing down the ladder into the snow covered (12” ) main floor walking across to the refrigerator for breakfast orange juice then heading off to work.
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