Kitchen Remodel: 10 survival tips to get you through the process

Here's the deep dark secret that the kitchen-remodeling websites and magazines don't want you to know: Between the before and after photos, you live in a house with no kitchen. For weeks, more likely months.

And that's not a pretty picture.

My own kitchen remodel involved time on a ladder scraping away popcorn, doing my own painting and cabinet assembly and literally herding cats, not to mention all the major and minute decisions I had to make.

(Photo-illustration by Jeff Neumann, The Denver Post; photos: Thinkstock by Getty Images)

Here are the 10 survival tips I learned along the way.

1. Undergo triage

When you pack up, sort your kitchen gear into three categories: storage; temporary kitchen; and toss/donate/recycle. This task can be done over time, with the final items leaving the kitchen the night before demolition begins.

Give the boxes going to storage detailed labels so you can locate things you discover you need later because in a remodeling process, you never know when "later" might be. Put them somewhere safe, but not the garage (see Tip 8).

2. Set up a temporary kitchen

My fridge moved into the dining room, where it was joined by the toaster oven, electric kettle and countertop microwave. Your small appliances may include an electric grill, skillet or slow cooker.

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Kitchen Remodel: 10 survival tips to get you through the process