Congrats! Hope all goes smoothly for you, but remember not to pack the wine.

It's better this way. It doesn't give you extra time to stress. You'll be too busy packing. I took out my penensula, too. Best decision of the whole remodel. Removing that and moving the fridge over those few inches might make that unusable corner more attractive. Can your microwave go there? It's a small space?

You might be tempted to weed stuff out as you pack. Don't. Just pack it up and get the boxes out of there. It takes longer than you think. When you put stuff back in your new kitchen you will find a few things that had been "lost" and you will want to use them again because you'll love your new kitchen so much you will spend more time there.

Good luck! Definitely better this way, just dive in.

And from someone who just had popcorn ceilings (and walls!) removed in her reno - good call!

Congratulations on getting started.

Great!! Better to start a few days early just in case. We should finally have good weather this week (after today's rain), so go for it. You're ready--you've done your due diligence, you've done your research and you've been reading how it can get grueling so you're mentally ready!

Start dreaming of your new kitchen and embrace your toaster, your George Foreman grill, your blender, your Crockpot and your microwave. And don't forget that there's always cheap food at Ikea Cafe....and stock up on the essentials: wine and chocolate!

Hooray for starting early rather than late!!! That doesn't happen very often!

One thing I wish I'd done -- insist they cover the openings/doorways to the rest of the house before demo starts. Our guys, who are great otherwise, didn't put up any sheeting until the day the wood floors got sanded, and then I'm not sure it would have been done if I hadn't asked if I needed to do it or if they would. We ate dust for a week before that, as they did all the demo. Not that the covering keeps all the dust out, but it should help!

One bit of advice, is if you have cats, keep them contained at all times. Our contractor (he's wonderful & from the East Bay) demolished last week and we didn't see that there was a way that the cat could crawl in the wall. She was in there for over 18 hours. We almost had to stop construction.
We also put a large board over our claw foot tub and that has made for a good place for dishes, like a large counter. Putting dishes in a clear plastic container allowed us to find things quickly. I'm not sure how a crock pot would work - they have had to turn our electricity off a lot! Trader Joe's has some great frozen oatmeal that is very good in the micro and of course there's lots of other frozen meals.
I agree with others to get rid of stuff as you pack. Also, covering everything up. The dust gets everywhere and our crew has been excellent about covering everything up, putting plastic, cardboard, etc. down and vacuuming everyday and it's still dusty! Good Luck!!

I read your story, Belasea! Sadly, our kitties have all passed on, so I don't have to worry about a hiding kitty.

I suspect that my little terrier will be very vocal about the invasion of her space... but we'll confine her upstairs.