Whether you are planning a tiny renovation or massive kitchen remodeling in your Fort Wayne home, it’s immensely challenging to live without your kitchen. And even if you have the means to eat out or order takeout, think about the money you could save and put towards your renovation budget. But if you’re well prepared, you can survive even a major kitchen remodel as you wait for the new and improved heart of your home to be completed.
Make Yourself a Temporary Kitchen
To start, you need the perfect site—it should be in an area with low foot traffic, near a water source, and far from the all renovations. Consider a guest room, your dining room, your patio, or your garage.
Set Up a Source of Water
If the site of your temporary kitchen doesn’t have a water source and you’re renovating during the warmer season, consider setting up a wash/sink area outdoors. Wherever you decide to set up your wash area, make sure you have a couple of utility bins ready for loading up and lugging dishes and cookware around. If you have a cooler that has a drain plug, you can also use that since it can double as a washbasin as well.
Outfit Your Temporary Kitchen with Multipurpose Items
Since you won’t be using your full-size oven or stove anytime soon, think beyond your handy microwave. Consider the following items, as these could be used in different ways:
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- An electric pressure cooker that can warm, sauté, simmer, and roast. It can also function as a slow cooker.
- An electric kettle for heating all sorts of liquids.
- A blender for sauces and smoothies.
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- An electric skillet for making pancakes, roast, and everything in between.
- Glass measuring cups for heating liquids in your microwave or scooping up soups and other liquids.
- Tongs with long handles for serving salads and flipping burgers.
- Microwave-safe dishes for reheating, serving, and storing.
The main thing to remember is that you should be able to do majority of cooking and food preparation tasks as easy as possible without overcrowding your temporary kitchen, lest you feel overwhelmed. But if you simply can’t live without your clunky coffeemaker, then by all means allot a space for it in your makeshift kitchen. What’s a little space for some semblance of sanity in the midst or disorder, right?
Create Temporary Drawers and Countertops
You can use portable drawers or plastic storage bins that you can easily stash under a table. If you have a rolling cart that comes with built-in drawers, use that for storing dishes, non-perishable food, snacks, basic cooking utensils and supplies, and dishes.
For the countertops, you can opt for a dining table or folding table that can withstand basic meal preparation tasks and to hold small appliances, such as your microwave, coffeemaker, toaster, and blender.
Yes, doing a kitchen renovation, whether on a massive or smaller scale is nerve-wracking and very exciting at the same time. To keep your stress level low and make renovations faster, follow the tips above for making your own temporary kitchen so that you won’t have to get in the way of the contractors.
