I stayed put. My kitchen remodel only took one week; I removed half a wall, replaced all the cabinets and counter, moved the refrigerator and also moved a doorway. The floor was completed by another company a week later. I still had my fridge during the remodel, since we kept it. That was a huge help! We also had a utility sink put in the side porch, not for the remodel but just to have one. That was done quickly so we also had a sink to wash things in. Someone loaned me a small counter microwave. I kept the crew supplied with coffee, snacks, and a [place to warm up food if they wanted.

My remodel cost around $20,000 and I'm very happy with it. I can't imagine what you'd get for $350,000!

I stayed put but it was only a refresh, not a remodel. We moved the fridge around the corner to the dining room and I don't remember whether the stove went there or into the garage. Because we weren't getting new cabinets, life was much easier. We had young teens at the time and we ate a lot of microwave food for a few weeks. It wasn't a bad experience but we had a large house and an alternative traffic pattern through the basement to the entryway. It only took a few days to remove the old sink and rejigger the cabinets for the new sink setup. Then there was a few more days when the floor was sanded and refinished.

In my midrange area, most homeowners stay put for remodels unless they have local relatives or friends with some extra space. I recently worked with an older couple who spent several days at a hotel as their one bathroom was being updated.

I think most people stay in their homes, unless they are doing a total gut and rebuild.

I've been reading the kitchen forum for years and most people set up a temporary "kitchen" somewhere in the house and mostly survive on take-out, pre-made foods and if the weather allows, cooking on outdoor gas grills.

I took a month long vacation ... when I returned my kitchen was done (total gut job)

We’re living here through our kitchen/ laundry/ downstairs bath remodel. We’ve moved upstairs, where the only functioning bathroom is (shared with the guys during the day), and the kitchen has moved to the dining room (the kining room), featuring our fridge plus 90% of the kitchen contents on and under the dining table. I cook with the electric skillet, crockpot, and occasional microwave.

I haven’t yet left the house while the guys are here; not from lack of trust but because things come up. Our builder is great; doesn’t want to put up a yard sign (he has all the business he wants), answers all my goofball questions, very calm, low-key sense of humor. I stick around because when they unearth something that might affect design or cost, we can deal with it then and there.

Hoping to be done in early November. I’m considering starting a blog: Cooking without a Kitchen, lol

We stayed. We have 2 kids in elementary school so leaving was not an option.

I think we are most surprised by the contractor's cost. We have not moved any walls, didn't move any plumbing, layout remained the same. Well, we did install an additional plumbing line for our new fridge, but that took about a morning's worth of work, nothing super extensive. His final invoice came in much, much higher than his estimate, so we are reviewing it and asking questions.

My kids were awesome and super flexible and patient during this entire 6 week project. I, on the other hand, have had it. I want everyone out of my house. LOL. Counters get installed today and the bulk of the work will be complete.

I’m almost done with renovation #3, and when we’re done the entire 4400 square foot house will have been remodeled top to bottom. We did it in 3 stages over 1 year to be able to live in it. #1 was the entire downstairs, kitchen, 1 bathroom, 1 bedroom, laundry room, flooring, sliding glass doors, front door. We lived upstairs and it took 10 weeks. Definitely the hardest one. #2 we did upstairs flooring, master bedroom/bath/closets (we moved into the downstairs bedroom/bathroom and the kids stayed in their rooms) and that was 8 weeks. Now we’re in week 6 of 2 kids bedrooms/j&j bathroom with 2 vanities, 2 closets, flooring, and then another guest bathroom upstairs. Daughter went to college before we started and son moved to the downstairs bedroom this time. We planned it out this way and it wasn’t horrible, would I do it again, probably not. However my contractor has been amazing, they clean up every single day before leaving and they also protect the floors with ram board, they put out painters cloths every day, covered all hall way furniture, rerouted the dust outside instead of through the ducts every day, etc.. I can’t imagine if they didn’t do all of that. And he did not charge a premium for this, just what they do! Yes it was an expensive remodel all together, but very happy with everything.

I stayed put through a long remodel which did include moving plumbing and down-to-the studs work. My refrigerator was in the garage and I made great use of my microwave and small appliances in a makeshift “kitchen” area. I only moved out for a few days because it was required during asbestos removal. And no, there was no extra charge for daily clean-up (!!).

We've done it both ways. First home, three children, pets - we added a partial upstairs (MBR suite) and gutted the kitchen. Later we gutted both main level bathrooms, one at a time. Some days were not fun, but we survived. Second home - we built and were there daily. Third home - did not move in until it was (almost) finished. 38yrs, 3 main houses. DH says he is done remodeling. Me? If there's another house in our future, there is another remodel too!

*ETA: Cannot read the article. Can you copy/paste?

Full remodel/addition and we will stay here with 4 kids...and I will be sleeping with the contractor! Ha! Luckily husband is a pro and I love change and design...we will get through this with patience and staying in the same team, I hope. My new kitchen is in a different location, so keeping my old one as a functioning one is the key, even if I have to access it through the garage at some point. Current kitchen will become the mudroom/laundry and that will be last on the list. We finished a reno in the bedroom end of the house first, and added a staircase...now we can close it off and make a real mess on the other side. We will do this in stages also, upstairs bedrooms will not be completed until he has had some time to recover...and our money tree has produced more fruit ;) And yes, I will be here daily as he cannot, we are using his subs that he already works with.

Several of my friends have been through remodels, ranging from a kitchen/laundry room to an addition, and all have stayed. They all had mini kitchens set up in either the basement or another part of the house. The only time my friends stayed away temporarily is when wood floors were being refinished.

Not nearly the same thing, but we stayed when we had our basement finished last fall. Questions from the contractors came up often and it was good that one of us was here to clarify.

We did some daily clean up. I had rosin paper going from the front door to the basement door and I replaced that every couple of days. We had a cleaning service come in after all the drywall was completed, before it was painted and the floor installed. They brought in their big vacuums and got a lot more dust up than our household vacuums would have. Our contractor was impressed and told us he's never had anyone do that before but it made things a lot easier on them to finish the floors. When we were getting bids, we had one contractor put in a separate line item for cleaning (including renting a dumpster) and our contractor laughed a bit when we told him what they were charging. Clean up was in our contract but he said we didn't need the dumpster; they took their garbage away.

Obviously we deep cleaned at the end when they were finished, but we're a bit picky and didn't expect them to clean to our standards.

I stayed during a major kitchen remodel. There was a line item in my contract for "cleaning," but it wasn't much. What a joke, though. Even though they marketed to me that they clean up at the end of the day and charged me for it, it was a constant struggle to get them to clean enough so that the dog and I had a clear path to the backdoor. That was for the first 2 months of the project.

I didn't read the WSJ article yet. But I couldn't imagine not being there daily to catch the mistakes. Despite the inconvenience and the mess, I wouldn't move out unless I had no other choice.

With my kitchen and master bath remodel the place was cleaned thoroughly daily. All equipment was put out of the way. I can’t imagine not having the place clean and organized during the process.

-first time, we were in the house(rather small condo, it was), I was young, energetic, one small kid back then. I was very energetic-working full time, studying, in the late afternoons was walking and taking buses around the city to find all the materials (we didn't have a car yet), and sometimes even draggin them with me. I was 45 kilo back then..how I did it? no idea anymore. I found all the subs-started with a cabinetmaker. Subs recommended other subs.Etc.

Of course we stayed put. It was more like installing the kitchen than remodeling though. The place came with a place to put in kitchen..had gas line, water (and sink base cabinet), electricity..

-second time, as it was a whole big gut-the -whole-house- thing, we didn't live in the house, but went to the site all the time. And no, I wasn't energetic anymore. Lol. Was like a full time job too. Unlike the first one-went for many many long months. Kitchen was but a part of.

I just couldn’t see spending the money or effort to find a rental for 8 weeks. It has been hard to live through...makeshift kitchen on the back porch, doing dishes in the laundry sink and making meals on the grill and in the crockpot.
Our crew is meticulous, they clean up better at the end of each day than I clean on a regular basis! Never an upcharge...it’s just part of their work ethic.
I was shocked at how much more this renovation cost. Our last kitchen was in 2012 with the same crew in a different house. We moved a few windows, it was a full gut, but mostly kept the layout. This time another full gut, turned a slider into windows, and took down a wall...it is costing double what the last kitchen did. Hard to swallow, but we are really happy with the nearly finished project and planning to live here another 15-20 years, so we feel like it’s worth the investment.

I’ve project managed for owners on vacation who didn’t want to live in the middle of the mess. 2-3X a week pictures for them, and I solve the issues. Because the design work was all done in advance, issues that need to involve them are exceedingly few, to none. I’m there on the job site for the important times and dates, and performing quality control, with adherence to the agreed upon design standards. And they are off visiting relatives or staying in an extended vacation spot.

Bear in mind that “daily cleaning” means “Broom Clean” as the standard. It’s not your MIL coming for white glove inspection! Broom Clean is chunks swept up. The area under construction should be a no walk through zone, behind plastic, with an air scrubber exhausting out a window set up for any of the messy parts.

That’s an extra line item, as it is an extra hassle and expensive that many contractors don’t do. The return air vents should have filters taped in front of them, and other air vents should be sealed. I insist on it on my jobs. I also insist on a post construction cleaning service. That is not a standard that many contractors operate under. Those that do this will not be the inexpensive guys, as it adds to their overhead. Which is why it’s called out in a contract as an Extra Service level.

Stayed put... it was a total gut job, took out a small non-load bearing wall, moved plumbing, moved gas line, added electrical, moved some major appliances, patched flooring and ceiling... total remodel took about a year, but it was also totally DIY including designing and building the cabinetry. No choice but to stay when you’re doing all of the work. LOL! But clean up not being a regular part of the job??? In my book that’s not safe for the workers on the job site. Even when we’ve hired out jobs we clean up and/or expect clean up to be done! When we were our own contractors for an in-ground pool and hot tub we got positive comments and the workers we hired were very thankful for such a clean job site. Cleaning is very important!

Our builder put up a "zipper door" on one of the passageways between construction and non-construction areas. Two large (7-8') zippers, open from bottom. You unzip to pass through, then zip closed again. It was wonderful during demo week with hundred-year-old plaster dust flying around. Less crucial now, but it's still very helpful.

https://www.zipwall.com/product/zipdoor-standard-door-kit/

We stayed put for a total reno down to the studs in the kitchen. Thankfully both kids were in college at the time and not home. My contractor was phenomenal. He started the Monday after Thanksgiving and pulled out with all except the backsplash done on Dec. 22. Each night before he left, he left us with what he called a "temporary kitchen". Some nights it was a sink with a bucket underneath and a microwave for cooking but it was workable. I set up a coffee maker and toaster in the dining room so we ate breakfast there. Also he even took some of my old upper cabinets and temporarily mounted them in the hallway that was going to eventually have a butlers panty put on it. This gave us a place for some storage of dishes and food. The only thing I wish we had left for was the refinishing of the hardwood floors which came in mid January. Having a dog, that was really tough and if I had to do it over I would've found a place to stay, either a pet friendly hotel or an Airbnb, especially because it's only for a few days.

We’ve stayed. This is the current state of my kitchen. Actually, I lie. Some sheetrock patches have been added since I took these. If you look closely, you can see my pathetic little frozen personal pizza for lunch in the toaster oven. I am a naive fool, but I had no idea that demo was so time-consuming or such hard work. It was complicated by the fact that someone bought our old cabinets and counters, so we had to be careful when removing them. One big pantry to tear out, which will be incredibly complicated due to how it was built (half of it hangs into our garage in a plywood box) and demo will be done. Then it’s on to repairing the walls and ceiling, priming and painting, and being ready for cabinets starting next Monday.

I thought that I was prepared for this, but y’all, I was not prepared. Very much looking forward to being on the other side of this and super grateful for a good contractor who also happens to be a friend. We’d planned on doing all but cabinets and counters ourselves. LOL x infinity.

With careful planning a DIY kitchen renovation can be minimally disruptive. During our reno we've been without the sink for a total of one overnight, and functional countertops for no more than a few hours. We replaced each of the cabinets as they were removed, and stored the old cabs until we took a load to Habitat Restore.

We moved out for about 10 weeks, but ours was a large addition as well as kitchen reno. Back wall of the house was knocked down, new roof, refinished floors, etc. It resulted in some surprises (ummm... that's not the granite I thought I was getting).

We were really lucky that we were able to rent a small house owned by our church that was empty at the time. It was nice writing the check to the church, they were flexible on move in/out dates, and it's steps away from the schools my kids were in at the time. The house we were in is very small and pretty old, and we kept blowing fuses, so when we moved back in to our house it felt huge and luxurious!

When we did the first remodeling of this house in Jan 1985, it was to be a full dormer added on the back upstairs, the unfinished half of the upstairs finished and the other remodeled, and the 2nd floor bath moved around (same fixtures). We also added a 2nd bath upstairs. In the kitchen we moved the kitchen sink, added a bay window where there were two double-hung ones, and added new cabinets and installed new countertops.

I left town and went to London for the worst - with my asthma, I could not have stayed in the house at that time. DH and DD were living there - we moved her to the 1st floor BR and the MBR at that time was also on the 1st flr. DS was in boarding school and during his Feb break, joined me in London.

Of course, I was there for the next several months, but at least I missed the worst!