We have friends who wanted some of the old cabinets. They came by last week to pick them up. They wanted them for their basement. The rest will be donated to Habitat for Humanity Restore. Removal of the cabinets was pretty easy. We had everything out within a week. We did get to know our electrical panel pretty well over the week as we removed the oven, cooktop, dishwasher and disposal. I am planning on 8-10 weeks without my kitchen. After the cabinets go in the granite countertops will need to be measured, slab picked out and installed. After that the backsplash tile will be installed. Once that is done I should be able to start cooking again!!

We've been without our kitchen for one month and have 2 more to go. My kids are 6 and 3 and we have a new au pair. For me, the hardest part has been living without a sink - I have to trek upstairs to the bathroom to wash fruit, sticky hands, etc. As a result, I've started buying 2 1/2 gallon jugs of water. We use it for drinking, washing small things, etc. I've also made the decision to not even try to cook meat. Instead, I buy prepared meat at Whole Foods - rotisserie chicken, sliced london broil, sliced turkey. I also buy prewashed lettuce and premade salad dressing. I also make a lot of couscous - all I have to do is boil water on the hotplate and then let it sit for 5 minutes - no draining and minimal mess. Although the kids eat on their plastic IKEA plates, the adults all eat on paper. It's not environmentally sound, but it's a lot easier on my nerves. The one nice side effect of all of this, is that I spend a lot less time cooking. After I come home from work, I can have dinner on the table in 15 minutes. On weekends, I'm not busy cooking meals for the following week, but am out doing fun things with the kids. Although I'm excited at the prospect of my nice, new kitchen, not having to do as much house work has been an unexpected luxury. Good Luck.

Thanks for the advice and support everyone. I've managed to make a few soups (4 different ones - butternut squash, pumpkin, roasted corn & potato, and a turkey rice...I expect that we'll have a lot of soup) that I've frozen and some stuffed peppers that can reheat in the microwave without being much worse for the wear. We have a sort-of kitchen down in our basement - an old fridge, the old range is getting hooked up down there (it'll be used for canning next year and if I need a 2nd oven for anything in the future), we have the laundry sink that i can sort of wash dishes in...the only issue is that we will need to travel through the work zone to get to the basement. Not ideal, but acceptable. We will have our regular fridge in the living room along with a portable island that was in the old kitchen - it has the microwave, an old coffee pot (that I use for tea!) and simple things that we'll need for eating (a few plates, glasses, flatware, napkins, paper towels (I expect that I'll use more paper towels during this remodel than I have in the past 5 years!) We officially got started today. We are in the thick of demolition of the kitchen - cabinets and the rest of what made it look like a kitchen is being removed today. Tomorrow, we are supposed to be getting rid of the old ceiling and wall that is between the kitchen and dining room. Hooray...we are FINALLY started! :)

We are climate zone 5 & 4 (green) - thanks for the link! We do plan to use the rigid foam, seal around it, and then use mineral wool bats between the studs and as extra insulation in the rim joists (which will also have sealed rigid foam). I think this will bring us up to code. I would prefer not to use the spray foam. Our daughter is more chemically sensitive than the rest of us and I am concerned she will react to 3 giant walls full of spray foam. Looks like we will be ripping out the studs! Ugh! Thank you so much for the advice!