How To Set Up A Temporary Kitchen While Remodeling

Are you planning on remodeling your kitchen soon? In this post I’m sharing how to set up a temporary kitchen during the process and good practical advice for everything that you might need! 

As you now know, we are finally doing a total gut renovation of our kitchen. Can I get a high five or a woo hoo please?! I’m probably far too excited but we have lived in this house for so long and it’s the only room that hasn’t had a total renovation! The old kitchen has now been torn out and this week the electricians and plumbers have been coming for initial work. Here is now things look right now.

The Kitchen History

And here is the old kitchen. Before you ask me why we have decided to renovate this lovely looking kitchen, read this! Our home was built in 1962 and the cabinets are original. Several people owned the home prior to us purchasing it and the owners before us were heavy smokers. I worked for weeks to remove the odor of the smoke that reeked, even inside the cabinets!

A few years later we replaced the kitchen cabinet doors and the countertops and backsplash have had several iterations. We also enlarged the kitchen by tearing out the wall adjacent to the living room about 15 years ago (total DIY!) and had an island built with pull out drawers. BUT, the inside of the 60 year old cabinet interiors were worn beyond a patch job and a mold test indicated a positive reading lurking somewhere in this room (it’s been found & fixed). So with the value of our home skyrocketing we decided that it was beyond time to give this baby the love that it deserves! I can’t wait to share more of the process with you soon!

Prior to demolition, I planned where I’d be setting up shop (so to speak). It was really a no-brainer to utilize our generously sized laundry room. This room did have a makeover a few years ago and you can see that post here. One of the things that I’m so glad I did in this design was to add a tile backsplash on the wet wall! Find the tile here.

How To Set Up A Temporary Kitchen

In the planning I knew that I’d be meal prepping and cooking in here for at least a couple of months. I do realize that most won’t be able to utilize their laundry room as a dual purpose room. But you can carve out some space in the home, whether it’s in the garage, patio or a spare bedroom. We all need to eat and cook and fast food isn’t practical or healthy for the long term!

Here are some of my best tips on setting up a temporary kitchen that you might find helpful for a future kitchen remodel!

• Pack up your existing kitchen prior to renovation. Separate out what you want to keep from what you’ll give away, toss, recycle or donate. I follow the KonMari method of decluttering (see my post here) and am brutal about my toss decisions!
• Decide on how you’ll be cooking while you set up a temporary kitchen. These renovations can take longer than we plan for. You’ll want to consider your lifestyle and what you absolutely need to get through!
• Five must-haves for your temporary kitchen are a work space, refrigeration, a place to wash dishes and countertop appliances.
• A place for trash.
• Somewhere to eat your meals. Weather permitting we are eating outside on the patio or sometimes in the living room at a table. 

Our laundry room is housed between the family room and our primary suite, with a French door close by leading to the pool/patio. Apparently it was an addition by a prior owner who had it built to be his working photography studio!

Thus, the former owner put in plumbing for a sink and a toilet in his space and we did a complete repurpose renovation of the room. It’s handy to have a toilet in the room, as well as this pedestal sink and a laundry sink. We are trying to keep the toilet off limits while the temporary kitchen in use. The trash can with the bag liner is our temporary kitchen trash bin.

Below is the side with the washer and dryer and pull back shots of how we set up a temporary kitchen. Behind the door is a step ladder so that I can reach the top shelves in the cabinets.

I cleaned out the cabinets and drawers in here and made room for dishes, glassware and cooking utensils. Normally those cabinets store bulk items like paper plates, towels, toilet tissue, etc and I’ve just not been buying bulk to leave space inside.

The Necessary Small Appliances

I brought in only the small appliances that we already have that I use on a daily basis. The first would be the coffee maker! This Cafe Appliances coffee machine is our current brand and we enjoy both the coffee and the aesthetics of the design. Again, I am so glad that we have a tile backsplash!

We set up the coffee station next to the laundry sink for convenience. We do all of the dish washing by hand, which isn’t bad at all! I hang towels over the sink to dry. My husband set up a rack out on the patio for delicate hand laundry.

Consider Storage

I carefully measured every square inch of space in here when planning for storage in the temporary kitchen. On this countertop over the washer/dryer I wanted to be able to store pots and pans and some food items. We do have a pantry closet in the family room (see the makeover here) and we kept our existing refrigerator (in the dining room!) until the new one comes in.

I found this perfect shelving unit for the space and it’s one that can be used anywhere once the kitchen renovation is finished!

A place to keep cookware organized in a small kitchen is definitely necessary, and this adjustable pot and pan organizer is amazing! You can also use it inside of a cabinet since it’s not that large.

When I packed up my kitchen the old set of cookware had to go. I purchased this inexpensive set of cookware for the interim and I’ll have to say that it cooks so well it will be a keeper for the new gas range!

The Other Side

We brought in the small appliances and set them up on the dry side of the room. One of the appliances that I use most often is my Breville Smart Oven Air Fryer Toaster Oven. If you don’t have one of these I highly recommend it! I use it for everything from baking bread and muffins to air frying, cooking, broiling and toasting! 

We purchased this countertop microwave oven, since in our “real kitchen” the microwave was a built in and removed. I plan on moving it into the new walk-in pantry once it’s built.

Here are some of the other must have small appliances we brought in to set up a temporary kitchen. I’ve told you before how much I LOVE this workhorse inexpensive Hamilton Beach food processor and use it daily. It’s the number one food processor on Amazon for a good reason with over 34,000 reviews! I bake bread, so the Kitchenaid mixer is an essential tool. I make sauces and smoothies daily and couldn’t do it without the Vitamix high speed blender. This tool is incredible for making soups as well, as you can heat it up while blending! This instant pot gets a ton of use for cooking rice, oatmeal in batches, potatoes, sautéing veggies and I literally could not live without it!

A new tool to me is this double burner induction cooktop with its slim design. I’ve never used an induction cooktop before and I’m now thinking of replacing the oven at our beach home with one! It heats up quickly, cooks very evenly and cools down almost immediately. This one is portable, so when I’m finished using it in the laundry room I can take it out to the patio. Amazing!

I enjoy cooking in ma petite cuisine so much and it calls to mind some of the apartments we have rented while staying in Paris! There is no window in the laundry room and I feel so cozy in here! Now I’m off to put on some French music on Spotify and cook up a delicious meal! Do let me know if you have any questions down in the comments!

PIN THIS POST TO REFER TO LATER!