How to Establish a Temporary Kitchen

It can be pretty difficult getting by without a kitchen. If it looks like your remodeling project will be a lengthy one, prepare ahead of time. Families with small children can find this time to be extremely stressful, so preparation is key to a successful project. Eating out every night can get old and expensive. Save the eating out for one night each week. This will offer a good break as well as a little family adventure. Gather coupons to take the bite out of the expense.

Select a room in your home for a temporary kitchen. If possible, implement a bedroom or a dining room for your temporary kitchen. You can build temporary cabinet by using two small tables or two drawer file cabinets of equal size and a sheet of plywood. Lay the plywood across the tables and you have a great work space and eating area.

If possible, move your refrigerator into the space so that you can keep perishables. This is especially important with young children, when baby milk must be kept cold. If it is not possible to put a full size refrigerator in the room consider an apartment or dorm sized refrigerator for your temporary kitchen. You can pick one up a nice one, like this Frigidaire 2.5 cubic foot refrigerator for just over $100 at Best Buy.

For cooking, consider moving your microwave into the space as well. Don't have a small one? You can find a small microwave like the 1.2 cu. foot Panasonic at Walmart for around $100. In planning ahead, prepare meals and freeze them. Pop them in the microwave for easy preparation.

If it is summer utilize your barbeque grill as much as possible for cooking. Turn your remodel into a fun family time with outdoor meals. Camping cook stoves is another great idea for meal preparation, but be sure that you purchase a stove that does not give off smoke. This can be dangerous if used indoors.

Box up all your breakables and plan on using disposable dinnerware. This takes a lot of the stress out of cleanup. Cabalas offers a great camping kitchen outfit that will work well in a temporary kitchen. Purchase two large plastic dish pans for cleanup. You can place these on the table you have made or on the camp kitchen. It will provide preparation space as well as storage and a place for a camp stove and is also available for around $100.

Keep in mind that anything you purchase for your temporary kitchen can be sold or used when the remodel is done. Items such as the refrigerator or camp kitchen can be sold on websites such as Craigslist or Ebay, recouping most of what you paid for the item. You can also sell used items in your local paper for a small fee. Be sure to check shipping prices and list them properly.

A remodel does not have to be a bad experience. If your remodel will be dusty, cover the doorway to keep the debris in the kitchen and box up everything you will not be using.Clutter makes things more difficult. Determine what is absolutely necessary and box the rest up.

It will be over before you know it!