How to Make Life Easier During Your Kitchen Remodel

After careful planning to achieve the kitchen of your dreams, the big day has come to start the renovation. It’s now time to make way for the demolition crew, plumbers, electricians, carpenters and installers. For some, this can be an unsettling experience because it means a central part of your home will not be unusable for a good deal of time.

To minimize the disruption, you must take an organized approach to packing up your kitchen. This is important since efficient organization will help you and your family experience less chaos during the whole process. After all, you will likely be living in your home while the work is being done.

Gather Supplies

Boxes, newspaper, packing tape, quart-size and gallon-size storage bags, trash bags, masking tape and markers will all be needed. Consider using drop clothes to cover furniture and other items in your household.

Cleaning Supplies

You will need various cleaning products while you sort through things, and for general cleaning while the kitchen remodel is in progress, so have these items handy.

Organize your thoughts

An easy way to organize the process in your mind is to divide your items into specific categories. Sort through things you no longer use and determine what is broken and no longer serviceable. You will need to create the following groups: Keep, give away, throw out, or donate. 

Pull out the things you need for everyday use

Coffee makers, tea kettles, toaster oven or toaster, cooking utensils such as can openers, vegetable peelers, mixing bowls, pots and skillets. You might even want to set up a mini kitchen in another part of the house. This might even include a small microwave you may have. This will allow you to perform some of your daily food preparations without too much hassle.

Since you may not have access to water in your kitchen, use disposable paper plates, cups, dinner wear, paper towels and paper napkins, as well as food storage containers.

Pack what you infrequently use

Holiday platters, dinnerware and specialized bake wear should all be marked and packed. Store them in a closet or basement, keeping like items together when packing.

Protect your valuables

Remove valuable wall art and pictures in the kitchen. Additionally, cover these special items to protect them from accumulating dust.

It’s also a good idea to cover other items such as computers and other electronics.

Cover doorways leading to adjacent rooms. This will prevent dust from traveling to other parts of the house during the remodeling process. You may also want to consider covering furniture as well.

Protect Pets

Keep your pets away from work areas. Dogs and cats can be a danger to themselves and the work crew if they are underfoot. The best option is to keep them in a closed room away from the work area. You could also hire a pet sitter to care for your pets while the work is being done.

Enjoy the process

The purpose of proper organization is for you and your family to experience the minimum amount of disruption. Although this will no doubt be a challenging time, things will go much smoother, and you will perhaps even enjoy the process if you follow these steps.