Are you planning to cook at all? If so, you'll have those to wash your cooking pans and utensils somewhere. Maybe your GC could hook up a laundry sink for you somewhere so you wouldn't have to worry about the marble.

If you're going to cook, I highly recommend a one burner hot plate (about $15 at WalMart) and a toaster oven. You can manage a lot with these two. An electric teakettle is great for tea or coffee in a french press.

The thing that made me the craziest was not having a DW. I almost cried tears of joy last thursday when they brought in my new one!

Anita

I am having those same thoughts. they are starting mine tomorrow morning.

I bought a large electric frying pan. I was able to do all kinds of meals...even fried chicken! When I needed to clean it, I would paper towel as much of the mess out and them add soap and water, turn it on, heat up the water and then clean it with more paper towels...no need to take it to the bath!

Also the ziplock microwave steam bags were great for veggies!

My Mom is into week 2 and she has a small plastic tub for doing the dishes. She also cooked a lot of individual meals ahead and froze them (her chest freezer is in her laundry area not the kitchen). Her new appliances don't get delivered until November 10th so she still has her old fridge but she borrowed a small countertop one from her sister for milk etc. once the other is gone. Beyond blowing the fuse using her microwave and toaster oven at the same time she says it hasn't been too bad.

Check out the link below...

Here is a link that might be useful: How to Survive a Kitchen Remodel - The Temporary Kitchen

FYI,

Yep, mine is starting tomorrow also.

I'm in a 700 sq ft condo with no laundry.

Great ideas! Thanks.

Only 4 weeks??? Yeah, that's what we thought also. We're now into our third month, but others here have undergone worse hardships....

Our temporary kitchen is set up in our basement, in a seldom used wet-bar. At least we have a modicum of running water, but the sink is smaller than most prep sinks - too small to be very functional or convenient. We also have a full-sized fridge, single burner hotplate, microwave, electric kettle, toaster oven, and crock pot. Unfortunately, all share the same circuit. But I think we've coped quite well. I've done most of the cooking for our family of 4. I'm into oven withdrawl big time (and the kiddoes are really missing a DW).

If my GC doesn't show up here bright and early tomorrow morning, and show a bit of leadership and supervision to his subs, I think I'll scream. With some coordinated effort and a bit of perseverance, this project can be finished this week. Yes, yes, I've been saying that for weeks now.....

4 weeks? Hahahaha I'm going on two years, due to family illnesses and deaths, and financial problems coming and going.
I would say the thing I couldn't do it without though is my dishwasher to wash my dirty dishes. I have it wired into a plug, and the drain tube out the window onto my driveway, and the intake from where my faucet used to be attached. Other than that, you get used to having your dishes, pots and dry goods in rubbermaid tubs in the living room, and getting water for the Brita pitcher from the bathroom.

Hopefully things will calm down enough in my life so that my cabinets will be in before Christmas, really truly this time!

I posted this a little while ago hoping to help someone who was starting to set up a temp kitchen. Couldn't figure ut how to link the thread, so I'll copy it here in case it helps any of you:

"My contractor has built my "dream" temporary kitchen. I read a lot of posts about the horrors of temporary kitchens and even have a few friends who are living those horrors. I hope this helps someone.
My contractor demo'ed my kitchen two months ago. In the demo process, he cut away the cabs on both sides of the dishwasher and sink and left the d/w and sink in place. Same with the cooktop, except he pulled that box out from the wall to provide access for electrical work and extended the connecting hose for the gas. Both of these setups were screwed into the floor to stabilize them. We moved two base cabinets into an adjoining room and set them on cardboard to protect the floor. That's where my dishes are stored and the coffee pot is (thankfully!). The fridge was moved into the dining room. The microwave found a new home on an old cart. Lost my wall oven. All the rough-in work is going on around this set-up and even though I'm spread out amongst 3 rooms, I do have a working kitchen, a sink AND a dishwasher!

For the safety experts amongst us, I wouldn't recommend it for houses with small kids. I do have pets, and tween age children and it's fine. We've had inspectors through on numerous occasions and they all seem fine with the temp setup.

I know it won't work in all situations. I am enlarging the kitchen which helps because the rough-in plumbing for the new sink and d/w is in a different location from the existing one. It also helped that we talked this through with the contractor during contract negotiations so the setup was treated as part of the job, not extra work we were asking for. And as I mentioned, not with small children in the house. Hope this helps even one person out there!"

Sorry for the repeat for any of you who read the original post.

I too was without for about two months. I had no microwave, just a shallow bathroom sink for cleaning, etc. I did get a small electric tea kettle for my tea in the morning--I had no hot plate nor stove for that period of time. Gosh, how did I survive? I am blocking on what I ate....OK it is slowly coming back to me....

We were able to grill outside and I made more than necessary and put that in the fridge for meals. I had a lot of bagged salads. I used cheese, canned tuna, etc. for my protein. Don't forget a can opener.

I did have a toaster oven (which I hadn't used in years) but used it only once. It burned my frozen dinner on the outside and it was still frozen on the inside. I never used it again and gave it to the Salvation Army.

I ate a lot of baked veggies--there is a farmer's market by me and there is a great woman who bakes slices of veggies until they are crip and delicious. No frying. I also ate yogurt and fruit.

I did have a crock pot but couldn't use it. My bathroom sink was way to shallow for me to clean it. My back was hurting me too much to clean it in the tub.

I had no micro so I couldn't reheat frozen food. If you have one, so much the better. You can use the electric kettle to heat up soups, etc. So that is another possibility.

This time will pass. Make sure you have a good cutting knife, the wine opener if you drink, lots of chocolate, hot chocolate packets, etc. This time will pass and you will LOVE your new kitchen!

We already had a countertop height table (from Costco; adjusts to regular table height or counter height), which saved my back. I bought an electric skillet which was quite useful. We also used our microwave (set up on a bookcase moved from the old kitchen, which also housed all the supplies) and a toaster/convection oven. We used paper plates and some disposable flatware and cups but washed coffee cups (couldn't face drinking coffee out of styrofoam) and utensils in the bathroom (we used a small dishpan set in the sink).

We ate some frozen food and ate our or brought food in some but I was able to cook fish in the toaster oven and stir fry a lot of stuff in the electric skillet. It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. It did help that the project stayed mostly on schedule so we were only out of the kitchen for 8 weeks.

Three tips for surviving without a kitchen for 4 weeks--

1. Toaster oven.
2. Mood enhancing drugs.
3. New math.

Okay, here's my experience. With all the electrical stuff, slow cooker, microwave, et cetera . . . cooking is the easy part. We didn't realize how much we'd miss our oven, so we bought a $12 toaster oven, pretty early on. Though cooking is easy, cleanup presents a myriad of problems, such as what to do with grease & food waste. Like you, I wasn't about to wash greasy pots in my bathroom. A big coffee can for disposing of grease & such comes in handy. I also bought Reynolds foil pop-ups and used them to line pans to make clean-up easier. They worked out great to line the toaster oven, for broiling meat.
Secondly, since the frustration level of living with so much dust and disruption, can really cause one to become sort of edgy, I recommend doing whatever you can to maintain your sense of humor.
Third, if you can adjust your concept of numbers, you may be happier. Try to think of one week as being approximately equivalent to 7 days + 3 contractor delays. The equasion for that is something like 7d + 3c = n. ("n" being the variable number that nobody can accurately predict.
My two month remodel is now in its fourth month. I finally have a kitchen sink, and had never fully appreciated the luxury of washing dishes until recently.
I hope that your remodel will be one of the smooth ones and that you will get the kitchen you desire at the end. Good luck!

I was without a kitchen for 12 weeks. Had a toaster oven, microwave, slow cooker, a single burner induction cooktop and fridge set up in the basement laundry room - and of course the BBQ outside. I was very glad to get into my new kitchen 3 weeks ago, but I'm still without running water - waiting for the granite. It was a very long 12 weeks, but well worth it. Good luck.

Eat out a lot:) I'm just moving back upstairs after living 6 months in my semi finished basement with my two cats. It's a little easier for me because I'm single, and I work a two week on, two week off rotation, so I was gone half the time.It was kind of tough on the cats for a while, especially my female, with all of the noise and intrusions, but they adjusted. I washed my dishes in my bathtub, used a Panasonic microwave/convection oven and did eat out a lot, which has taken a bit of a toll on my waistline:)

I was without a kitchen for 12 weeks. Had a toaster oven, microwave, slow cooker, a single burner induction cooktop and fridge set up in the basement laundry room - and of course the BBQ outside. I was very glad to get into my new kitchen 3 weeks ago, but I'm still without running water - waiting for the granite. It was a very long 12 weeks, but well worth it. Good luck.

My electrician put a plug on the wiring for the old wall oven, so that I could run it off the 220v outlet for the dryer: bought a $30 Ikea cabinet to mount it in, and immediately I had a workable oven and broiler. In fact, I've kept it, as a second oven if I ever need one.

Mainly used my rice cooker and a single electric burner I bought on Amazon for $12. The rice cooker is really just an electric pot, with two temperatures: hot and very very low. I made soup; stir-fries; slow-cooked BBQ ribs. Pasta (boil it in the rice cooker) and sauce, or vegetables. For 6 weeks, but we ate as well as we normally do. Ate out only once.

I have a sink in my basement, but if I would always use a plastic dishpan - that's how I grew up: no dishwasher until I came to the US. So cleaning up wasn't difficult. We never use paper plates anyway.

4 weeks? I am going on 4 months, but tomorrow the counter goes in, then the tile and I should be ready to move back in the kitchen real soon. DH is finishing up on the painting. What took so long was that DS and DH did most of the work. Had a contractor come in and install cabinets, trim, crown molding, microwave vent and little odds and ends. We opened a wall from the kitchen to dining room, and that involved painting in the other rooms as well. (also living room) It is all coming together.
I have been lucky because we have another (you know, Italian) kitchen in the basement. That was a life saver, DH set up the microwave, toaster, and toaster oven on top of the bar which I used daily. I also did a great deal of cooking on the BQ, which was easy for clean up. Only thing, I had to hand wash all dishes in the laundry tub. All in all, I'm happy to have that set-up. As soon as I learn how to post pictures, I will.

Going on 11 months without a fully functional kitchen. I have fridge, microwave, toaster oven and slow cooker set up in the dining area and our outdoor grill. Laundry sink was installed about 6 weeks into the project and I had intermittent access to the kitchen sink starting about 4 months ago. Bought an electric griddle about three weeks ago and I'm loving it.
At-home meals are generally some version of grilled protein and a salad in a bag. Costco has great heat and serve meals for variety as does Trader Joe's. At the beginning when the chaos was at its worst we ate out a lot.

Essential kitchen items:
corkscrew
bottle opener
can opener
good knife
cutting board
basic measuring devices
mixing bowl

Toaster oven. We did a lot of wraps. Take a flour tortilla, put cheese, veggies, hummous, deli slices, whatever you want, and warm it up in the toaster.

a hot water urn will serve you well - instant soups, coffee, and tea.

Outdoor grill. So easy.

we didnt use our microwave.

we DID however, keep our old and dying refrigerator on life-support during the remodel, and then junked it as soon as the new one was plugged in. VERY useful. if yours is in the way, just move it across the room to an unused corner. You'll feel like you have food at home, psychologically it's great.

Restaurants. not for the food , so much, as just getting out of your dismantled and dusty space.

post again when you run out of meal ideas - we will help.

We cooked a lot ahead of time and froze single-serving dishes to heat in the microwave. I didn't have much of a temp kitchen--just the fridge and MW and the sink in my laundry room--but we survived just fine for five weeks. It was over the holidays, and I even made microwave pecan brittle to satisfy my Christmas baking needs.

Don't forget the electric frying pan. They do come in handy and don't cost much.

You should put one of these in the garage:

As mentioned one burner hot plate.

Started washing dishes in Bathtub and ended up washing them outside on the deck, much easier on the back and you can splash as much as you want.

Blender for smoothies, quick healthy meal.

Microwave in bedroom.

Cold cereal

Cheese and crackers

Eat out/take out/friends. Even my son got tired of eating out.

Beer/wine/scotch/pot:)- to numb the pain.

I agree with everyone who said they use a crockpot. Our kitchen remodel is diy (evenings and weekends), so the best thing about the crockpot is that I start it in the morning and I don't have to stop working in the evening to fix dinner. We also use the microwave, toaster oven and the outside grill. Last night was buffalo burgers (grill) and french fries (toaster). Tonight is Mexican chicken, corn & bean soup topped with tortilla chips, avocado & sour cream (crockpot). Last week I made a Thai pork tenderloin (crockpot), and served it over Uncle Ben's ready rice (microwave). I'm also using the "steam-fresh" microwave frozen veggies instead of fresh for the duration, and buying pre-washed bagged salad.

It's easier than you'd think! Good luck.