Living through a kitchen remodel.

Setting up a temporary kitchen

Choose a room with a water source close by: a laundry room, a basement bathroom or a bar sink. A folding table, the old microwave, a toaster oven or a single induction hob and a kettle cover most meals. Put a dish rack by whichever sink you will use and keep a small box of daily items out of storage: a pan, a pot, plates for the household, a knife, a board, dish soap and a roll of paper towel.

• Set the temporary kitchen up before demolition day, not after. The first evening without a kitchen is the one that goes badly.
• Pack the kitchen in boxes labeled by how often you use the contents, and store the boxes somewhere you will not need to move them.
• Plan meals that need one pot or none at all. Slow cookers, rice cookers and an electric kettle earn their counter space.
• Decide where trash and recycling go now that the kitchen bin is gone.

Dust and noise

Plastic barriers, sealed doorways, floor protection and negative-air fans reduce dust; nothing eliminates it. Expect a fine layer on surfaces near the kitchen during demolition, drywall sanding and tile cutting, and expect the loudest days to be the first few and the countertop and tile days later on.

• Cover or move upholstered furniture, electronics and anything delicate in adjacent rooms.
• Change furnace filters during and after the project, and close supply registers in the work area if your contractor recommends it.
• Ask for the noisy days on the schedule so you can plan calls, naps and working from home around them.
• In a condominium, quiet hours and neighbor notice are part of the plan rather than a courtesy.

Appliance access

The refrigerator is the appliance you will miss most. If the old one is staying in the house, move it to a garage, basement or dining room with an outlet before demolition. If new appliances arrive early, they should stay boxed and out of the work area until installation; a scratched door on a range that has been sitting in the hallway for three weeks is a hard conversation.

Children and pets

A construction site is not a room children or pets can wander into. Decide where the barrier is and keep it there every day, including evenings when the crew has gone home and the room still holds tools, open framing and exposed wiring. Dogs and cats often need a separate room on demolition days, and some families schedule the loudest days around school hours or a stay elsewhere.

Deliveries

Cabinets, stone, appliances, tile and fixtures arrive on different days from different suppliers. Keep one calendar with every delivery, who is receiving it and where it goes. Cabinets in particular need a dry, protected space near the kitchen, sometimes for a week or more before installation. In a condominium, every delivery also needs an elevator or dock reservation.

Schedule changes

Schedules move. An inspection lands a day later than requested, a countertop template reveals an out-of-square wall, an appliance ships late. What matters is that you hear about it promptly, understand what it affects and know the new date. A schedule built on confirmed lead times and permits in hand moves less than one built on hope, which is why we start construction only when cabinetry and long-lead materials are confirmed.

• How long a kitchen remodel takesThe three kinds of time and what can overlap.

Communication

• Agree on one point of contact on each side, and one channel for decisions.
• Ask for a short update at the end of each work week: what was done, what is next, anything you need to decide.
• Answer questions from the site quickly. A decision that waits two days can cost a week when trades are sequenced.
• Walk the kitchen together at milestones: after demolition, after rough-in and before drywall, after cabinets, and at the end.

Preparing adjacent rooms

The kitchen's neighbors take the brunt of a remodel. Clear a path from the entry the crew will use to the kitchen, and expect floor protection along it. Remove pictures from shared walls, since hammer drills and demolition travel through framing. If the dining room becomes the temporary kitchen, move what you can out of it first. Mark the rooms that are off limits, and expect them to stay clean.

Realistic expectations

• There will be days when nothing visible happens. Countertops are templated only after cabinets are in and then fabricated, and permits and inspections have their own clocks.
• The room looks worse before it looks better. Open walls and exposed pipes are the middle of the project, not a sign of trouble.
• Older Chicago homes can reveal wiring, plumbing or structure that needs attention once the walls are open. A thorough in-home visit reduces this; it cannot eliminate it.
• A punch list at the end is normal. A good walkthrough finds the small things, and a good contractor fixes them.
• It ends. Plan a first meal in the new kitchen and let that be the date you are working toward.

How we plan for it

Dust control, protected walkways, a temporary kitchen plan and working hours are agreed before demolition, not after. You have one point of contact during construction, updates arrive on a set schedule and the site is left in order at the end of each day. The proposal includes cleaning and the final walkthrough, so the last week of the project is planned like the first.

• How our process worksWhat happens during construction and who is on site.
• Chicago condo kitchen remodel checklistHours, elevators and neighbors in a building.