I've got a great Surviving Home improvement question. Any suggestions on how to live in a home during a kitchen remodel?

Daniel, thanks so much for your question. I am really excited that you and others are taking advantage of asking for free home improvement advice along the lines of Surviving Home Improvement. I will try my best to help you get a solution to your problem.

Let me start off by assuring you that your family is not alone in this situation, especially when it comes to being without your kitchen for a few weeks. However, there are solutions and steps both you and your contractor can take. It is of the utmost importance for your contractor be willing to work with you along these lines.

Here are some of the ways we worked out solutions for families to stay in their homes, be able to cook and wash dishes etc. while the kitchen work is going on. Keep in mind, you will have to make some sacrifices, but you can also make it a fun time for the family.

If you have a room close to the kitchen, there is a way to set up a temporary cooking area in that room using your old oven, a ventless hood fan, a few of your old cabinets and a microwave. At the most, after the job is completed, you will need to have a wall in that room touched up, patched and re-painted, but that is a small cost if it can help all of you survive the kitchen remodeling project and stay in your home.

If you have a dining room, family room, den or even a bedroom that is close to the kitchen, preferably on the back side of one of the kitchen walls, then you have tackled the first step. I always try to do this on the back wall of the kitchen where the oven/range is located, but it doesn't have to be that wall, it just helps make things easier. You can still use this method in a room that is further away, but it may cost a little more to set up, mainly do to wiring issues, but it still can be done.

If you have a standard free standing range, have your contractor, or if you are handy, take a couple of the base cabinets and set them on the wall of the room you have decided to use along with the range. Usually we put the range on the wall close to where it was located on the wall in the kitchen and then set a cabinet on each side of it. You would then want cut off a couple pieces of the old countertop, if any of it was able to be saved, and place them on the cabinets. If you don't have any top material left, you can just as easily use plywood for the tops. Remember, this is only temporary.

Note: It is not important that you attach the base cabinets to the wall, however, any upper cabinets will need to be screwed through the drywall and into the studs.

Next if you don't already have a ventless hood fan or an under cabinet microwave with a ventless fan built in from your existing kitchen, go out and buy an inexpensive ventless hood fan or if you are going to buy one for the new kitchen, you will be able to use it. Take one of the upper cabinets that is no taller then 24" and that is about the same width or wider then the hood fan, usually a 30" or 36" cabinet will work, and then install the cabinet with screws, above the oven. The top of the cabinet should be set at 84" off of the floor.

Take a look at the drawings below to get an idea of how this will look. The first will show all the existing rooms in this example, as they would be before the kitchen is remodeled. The second will show the kitchen gutted and ready for remodeling, a new remodeled laundry room in the existing pantry area and the existing dining room used as a temporary kitchen.

This next drawing will show you a 3-D view of the above temporary kitchen layout.

If you would not be adding the new laundry room, you could always use a nearby bath to wash the dishes, an existing laundry room or have a laundry sink installed in the garage if you do not have one there already.

Keep in mind that it may not always be possible to locate the oven/range on the back side of the existing kitchen wall. In that case which ever wall you would choose, the electrician would have to either run the wire he is going to use for the new oven and allow enough to run to the temporary location, or use what is already there if it is long enough to reach the relocated oven/range.

If you have a built in oven and a separate cooktop, then you will need to locate those on the wall, but I would put the tall cabinet that held the wall oven in the corner and then take the cabinet that the cooktop was in and locate it next to the tall cabinet and then put another base cabinet next to that. Take a look at the picture below for this set up.

The next drawing will show you an overview of how the above layout will look.

You can also set a microwave on the counter in the temporary kitchen area or on a table or cart. You just need to get creative and make what you already have work. Plus, if the room is large enough, you may be able to put a small dining table in the room as well. 

You probably want to know if this will cost you additional money. The answer is yes. How much? Well it will depend on how much of the work you can do yourself. I would advise you to do as much as you can, but when it comes to the wiring, have the electrician do that. 

If I were doing the job for my client and using the relocation methods above, and if my client installed the cabinets and relocated the appliances and then I had my electrician do the wiring, I would estimate that it would cost somewhere between $150.00 to $300.00, depending on how much additional wire would be needed. The main thing to remember is that the oven runs on 220 wiring instead of 110, and the cable is more costly then the standard 110.

Also, you can patch and paint the walls in the dining room yourself after the new kitchen is completed and save money that way as well. You would have about $30.00 in painting materials.

There is one more thing that you may need to have done. If you have carpet in then room you are going to use for you temporary kitchen, you can either have it professionally removed and the re-installed after you complete the kitchen or take some 1/2" or 1/4" plywood, and lay it on top of the carpet where the cabinets and appliances will be temporarily located. You can cut the plywood to fit yourself or ask you contractor or lumber supplier to cut it to the size you need. The extra plywood should cost you no more then about $50.00. If you decide to leave the carpet, make sure you cover any exposed sections up with drop clothes or plastic. Remember you will be cooking in this room.

If the room has hardwood or laminate flooring, then you should buy a roll of rosin paper from your local home improvement center or flooring supplier and lay in down on the entire floor before you begin setting up the temporary room up. Make sure to tape down all the seams and edges with masking or duct tape. This will help protect the flooring from getting scratched up. If you have tile, you can use the plywood if you want or place the items on top of the tile. The tile is very durable and should not be problematic. However, if you are like me, I take extra precautionary methods to avoid any potential problems.

Also remember to take a plastic tarp and tape and seal off the entry way between the existing kitchen and the temporary kitchen, so that the dust from the work being done while the kitchen is being remodeled, stays in the work area. I recommend doing the same with any opening between the kitchen and the rest of the house if possible.

If you take these measures, it will cost you a little more money, and may have to walk further to get to the sink to wash the dishes, and wash them by hand, and you may have a couple of rooms in your house crowded with some extra furniture for a few weeks, but you will be able to stay in your house during the remodeling project and you will be able to survive your home improvement project.

I hope this helps. Rick

Rick Maselli is Founder and Editor of Showroom411.com and Ask Rick