Great topic!! I went through a kitchen remodel a few years ago. My husband was retired and I was able to work from home. I set up a coffee bar and microwave in an upstairs bedroom. I did my dishes in the upstairs bathtub with a plastic dish basin to wash the coffee pot and coffee cups. Other than that we only used paper plates. We ate a lot of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, tuna sandwhiches, readymade salads from the supermarkets, bottled water and chinese take out. I am an obsessive compulsive cleaner, and did kitchen cleaning after each demo day( even though my wonderful carpenter did some great cleanup at the end of his work day). We had a great carpenter and he became like a family member. I kept healthy snacks for him and his helpers: nuts, pretzels, crackers and cheese. He refused to let us supply lunch. All the new appliances I kept wrapped up till they were installed. When I packed up my kitchen items, I marked each box carefully with items inside. I donated items I had not used in years to The Salvation Army. I read lots of Houzz articles on “getting through a kitchen remodel“. A remodel will test the strength of your marriage too. If you have a kitchen designer: get their words of wisdom and advice to get through this exciting and trying time. Take lots “before” pictures too. Best of luck on your journey!

I am currently living this. we had to pull out the existing floor. the new floor was milled amd has been sitting in my dining room for a few weeks.

My old sink is on a temporary structure. We can easily move it if needed. An armoire in my entry serves as a temp pantry. Two large stainless racks (metro, nsf) hold the dishes etc that i use- theyre in the dining room. i have a rolling cart (usually used outside for serving summer drinks) being used for a counter. i have a 2x3 boos butcher block to prep food. i have a 4’ long stainless counter with shelf that holds my toastwr oven and single induction burner. My fridge has been disconnected from water but is still plugged in.

All of these are relatively mobile, so we can move them as needed. They will all shift to our basement once the cabinets are inbound, as we are having our first floor hardwood sanded as part of the project (which means no furniture on the first floor.)

It isn’t fun, really. I can only cook so many things in my air fryer toaster oven, size wise. It is just dh and I, but our adult sons pop into town now and then.

we get takeout about once a week.

it is survivable. You will appreciate your kitchen that much more when it is done.

I had my fridge plugged in in my living room, along with a toaster oven. I used the bath for filling water pitchers and for washing dishes. Use disposables plates for a month (bonus if they're recyclable), so you wash only cooking stuff and cutlery. I did without a stove burner, but had a plug in kettle (I don't drink coffee, but you could have a coffee machine too). I used half my desk as a table counter for kettle and toaster oven, but it's easy to buy (or borrow) a small folding table to use instead.

Get an induction "hot plate". And rotisserie chickens.

I did not like using my bathroom sink or bathtub for dishes, so I set up a "dry" sink. I found a free bathroom vanity on FB marketplace. I put it in our temporary kitchen (for us it was our dining room), and dropped in our old single bowl kitchen sink. I put a big bucket underneath to catch waste water and a big plastic camping jug (the kind with a tap) of fresh water on the counter so it ran into the sink. For hot water, we used our kettle or filled a big jug from the tub tap. It was really nice to have that sink set up right in the temp kitchen rather than having to haul dishes to the bathroom or make a trip every time we needed water or to dump out a half empty cup, etc.

We did a complete kitchen, laundry room and downstairs bath removation last summer with two daughters and their fiances living with us, so six adults. We did have an additional powder room on the first floor that we could use for a sink, although the pedestal sink was not ideal. First, we moved our fridge to the foyer with a console table nearby as a landing area. Next to that, we stacked a microwave amd Breville oven on a side table. We used a couple of six-tier wire shelf units to store our pantry items and dishes, utensils and glassware in our dining room. We borrowed a friend’s instanpot to cook things like rice and pasta. And we grilled—a lot! We do have an outdoor kitchen with a sink so that did make things easier but when it rained, we used the indoor sink. The project lasted three months. It worked fine.

Fridge, microwave, electric kettle and camping cooker in the greenhouse. Freezer in the shed. Washing up in a bowl on the garden table when warm enough or in the bath when not. Food and utensils in crates in the living room. Goodness knows what DD's German exchange student thought of how we lived.

Lived upstairs while the downstairs was being done. Had a mini microwave and a toaster oven (and coffee maker, obviously lol) on a table, along with a fridge in the garage. We did paper plates, cups and forks/spoons etc, a lot of take out, protein bars, easy stuff, a lot of premade stuff from the grocery store etc…I will say I lost a few pounds during those weeks haha. When food is not as accessible (not to mention the stress of the remodel) it is easy to skip meals or eat less. My kids were teenagers and bought school lunch every day. We survived just fine, though if my kids were younger and not able to basically take care of themselves it would have been much much much worse! I didn’t wash anything during those weeks.

Thank you all! You mentioned some things that I was not considering.
Great ideas!

Everybody in my family has special diets so I had to cook through our reno. First thing we did was clear out the laundry room of everything except for the laundry sink. Luckily we were able to run hoses on the other side of the wall into the garage for the washer and dryer. We put a countertop on two hefty rolling carts and they were our storage and our counter.

We also bought a portable dishwasher and the dishwasher did most of the dishes. The extra countertop was very helpful too.

With the use of a toaster electric kettle microwave fridge blender and two induction hobs I cooked all of our meals. Thank goodness we only had to do the kitchen.

We also labeled every box as we packed up our kitchen. I even went so far as to take pictures of some of the boxes contents. When I really needed something I was able to fairly easily find it but didn't find I needed to dig through boxes very much.

Good luck and do what you need to do to maintain your sanity.