Renovating your kitchen is often one of the most exciting yet challenging times of home ownership. However, once you see your completed kitchen, it can suddenly feel like it’s all worth it! At the beginning, you will be faced with a multitude of decisions, the biggest being whether to remain in your home during the renovations or move somewhere temporarily.
Everyone will approach this decision differently, particularly if you have a bunch of kids and a few pets thrown into the mix. But, if you move, where do you go? How will you manage looking after the kids in a hotel and what about their school, not to mention the dogs, cats, guinea pigs, and so on? Staying with friends or family is often the practical solution, if not the best idea you have ever had in your life.
So that leaves staying in your home without a kitchen. If this is your decision, then let’s take a look at some of the other factors that you will need to consider, to make your kitchen renovation run as smoothly as possible.
Timing
The timing of your kitchen renovation might be outside your control, particularly if your contractor is busy. However, you might try to avoid the hot summer months and instead try to push it towards the cooler months. This might not be as important if you are just having a cosmetic makeover, but if it’s anything major then it can be tiring trying to feed everyone using a microwave in a hot lounge for 6 weeks!
Timing also refers to the completion date of your renovation, so don’t forget to ask for a detailed timeline from your contractor so you can make sure that it’s all going to plan. Remember, however, that most building timelines are flexible, so don’t become too frustrated if the renovation takes longer than expected.
Work arounds
If you are seriously considering staying at home during the renovations, how will that work? You will need to keep your kids and pets away from the work area, both for safety reasons and to allow the tradies to accomplish their work without interruptions. How will you manage without power or water and how long will it last? Can you move your dining table into the lounge so you can avoid going into the work areas?
Take some time to consider how your family will need to operate without a kitchen for the length of the renovation and then create some work arounds that will keep you sane! Also consider the renovation regulations in your area.
Makeshift kitchen
You will definitely need to create a makeshift kitchen during the renovation, which should be fairly simple if you are a camper. Just pull out all your cooking gear, including the portable stove, move the fridge into the lounge and you should be good to go! If you don’t have any camping gear, then you can rely on the microwave, toaster, sandwich maker, electric slow cooker and frying pan or buy a small camping stove as they are not expensive. Then, of course, there’s always the trusty BBQ which will most probably come in very handy during your renovation.
Preparing meals in advance and storing them in the freezer is another good idea that will reduce your stress levels when everyone is hungry. You can also order takeaways or eat out, but that’s a much more expensive option, which might not suit your budget. If everyone sticks to the plan and helps out where possible, the time will pass quickly and you will soon have a beautiful new kitchen for you and your family.
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