Our son was 11 when we remodeled our kitchen and, unlike the creature he would become two years later, we still liked him and wanted to feed him.  But my husband and I were so caught up in choosing the cabinets and appliances and light fixtures and paint colors and flooring and drawer pulls that we never really thought about how the three of us would survive –literally—during the construction period.

Renovations always are disruptive, but when it’s your kitchen, it’s really disruptive. Our empty-nester friends who have gone through this enjoyed having to eat all their meals out, but when you have a school-age child-- or two or three --at home, feeding the family is something worthy of careful thought. For me, our lack of a workable game plan was just short of disastrous. 

Because it simply would not fit anywhere else, our old refrigerator was moved to our back porch. The toaster and microwave ended up in the dining room, which was right next to the kitchen and separated from the construction by heavy sheets of plastic to keep the dust down. The electric coffee pot was in there too, and the coffee grinder and the bottled water, so I was confident that, fully caffeinated, I could give my son a decent breakfast of cereal and some fresh fruit every morning and fix him a grilled cheese or egg salad sandwich for an after-school snack. In fact I was pretty smug about how well this would all work out.

The project begun in early summer drifted into fall, which turned out to be a cold and rainy one.  I had to go out the front door and around the side of the house to the back porch to get something from the fridge. At 7 in the morning in my bathrobe, juggling an umbrella and some OJ and milk and cheese and bread, I felt like I had come back from looting in downtown war-torn Beirut. Many mornings I would make the trip only to return and realize I had forgotten the cream for my husband's coffee, sparking another argument about how he should drink it black like I do. Back out in the rain I would go. I finally took to making a shopping list for the things I needed to get from the fridge.

This situation went on far longer than we had anticipated, since the project was stalled when the floor tiles turned out to be wrong and the new stove was too big for the allotted space. Shockingly, snow fell several times, making my morning run even worse.

We did eat dinner out every night, which resulted in my son’s intense dislike of restaurants from that day forward. We could never get him to eat out again, which I suppose resulted in considerable savings over the years, so it might be a hidden silver lining in that particular cloud. 

Here are some ways we could have avoided the horror:

1. Have a foolproof method of feeding your family on the days your appliances will be non-functioning. Remember, children can still get sick with colds and flu despite your best efforts; how will you heat that chicken soup?

2. If possible, move all your old appliances to the same room so you can essentially set up another temporary kitchen.

3. Plan kitchen remodels for the warmer months in your region, realizing you will be eating out of doors quite often.

4. Make sure all your new appliances, light fixtures and flooring materials are on the premises before you let the contractors rip out your old kitchen.

5. Line up plenty of sleepovers for your children during this period. Better yet, do it during the summer while they are off at sleep-away camp.