02 Jul How to Prepare for a Kitchen Renovation
Make a plan to plan…
…and you can avoid a lot of disasters when preparing for a kitchen renovation.
Notice I said “a lot” and not “all”.
Ok, now that that disclaimer is out of the way…
Pre-renovation realities can be scary—but they don’t have to be! Sarah and I have been planning and planning our kitchen renovation for months now and we’re excited to get started. We compiled a list of things to put in place before we pick up any sledgehammers:
All renovations require significant planning, but aside from the bathroom, none require as much planning and preparation than a kitchen renovation. This past week we spent any and all free time packing up our kitchen. Here are a few tips we compiled as we were working:
- research great places to donate your old but functioning appliances
- go through everything in your kitchen and toss, donate, or sell items you no longer use
- designate a place to store all boxed up kitchen items you’ll need for after the renovation
- set up your makeshift kitchen and ask yourself: do you need a coffee maker? microwave? disposable dinner and flatware? mini fridge?
- double check that your GC and you are on the same page regarding schedule. We created a Google Spreadsheet that we can share with the GC and his team so that everyone can stay on track together and make notes and adjustments to the schedule as needed.
Our house has 600 sq ft on the upper level and 600 sq. ft. on the lower level. In NYC, that kind of space is not too bad but when your living room is 300 sq. ft. and now it’ll serve double duty as a Kitchiving Room (you like that? 🙂 ) space can get cramped and fast! Pack smart and adjust as needed.
Here’s a peek into our living room in her current state:
For us, we don’t really use a microwave often—if ever. So for our makeshift kitchen, we have a mini fridge, coffee maker, and oven. Meal options will be limited, but at least we’ll have coffee and cold beer on hand!
After our purge, this is what remains! Sarah did a pretty good job of consolidating and packing. Having boxes, trash cans, and other various kitchen items in your living room isn’t ideal, but we were pleasantly surprised with how compact we got it!
Our kitchen is empty and ready for a transformation! Stay tuned as we take you on this journey with us!
Is there anything you would add to our pre-renovation checklist?
Katelyn
Posted at 15:29h, 02 JulyBefore recycling or tossing unwanted items, consider listing them on freecycle.com or an active online group in your neighborhood like NextDoor or facebook. Often times neighbors might be able to get actual use of your old stuff rather than resources being used to recycle the item plus you get to meet people in your area!
Sarah
Posted at 19:52h, 03 JulyAbsolutely! We’re donating our entire set of old appliances to a local church!