16 months and counting. We were completely without a kitchen for 11 month and have only been fully back in the kitchen with nearly all of the boxes unpacked since the week before thanksgiving.

Mine was 3 months. Part of it was an unforeseen delay on the part of the cabinet maker; part was cushion on my part, since I was acting as my own GC; and there was a 3-week period between templating and countertop installation. I can't see that it could have happened in less than 2 months, even if I had scheduled everything as close as possible.

We did ours in the summer, and used the grill a lot. We also have wonderful neighbors, who let us use their oven once in a while. Mostly we used the microwave, rice cooker, and crock pot for cooking. We did dishes in the bathroom sink, and used a lot of paper plates. We kept eating out to a minimum, but did eat out more that we usually do.

We had our fridge in the living room, and a card table set up in the dining room for micro and toaster. When we tore out the cabinets, there was a small 4-drawer stack that we kept in the dining room, for silverware, bags and wraps, and towels. I set up set of metal shelves in the dining room to use as a pantry.

At the time, it seemed to take forever, but looking back now (3 months later), it really wasn't bad at all. Having too much time between trades was a bit annoying; if I had run into problems along the way and there wasn't enough time - that would have been far more stressful.

Good luck with your project - you'll get through it, and it will be worth it!

A month before demo start making and freezing meals that can be cooked/reheated in a crockpot, microwave, or toaster oven. That is assuming you will at least have a refrigerator and freezer. Stock up on disposable plates and utensils. We washed items in the basement laundry tub.

We put on refrigerator and oven in the dining room and set up a make shift kitchen there.

You're lucky to have a realistic contractor. Ours took a bit over 3 months until we had a working kitchen again, although we were told a month. Fortunately, I didn't believe him :) Lots of takeout, and picnics on the floor of my son's room. I was nervous about a reno with a two-year-old, but I think he was much less bothered than we were.

6 weeks before I had a functioning kitchen again. Now if I could just get him to come back and do the backsplash.

My kitchen is small though.

We had a small temporary kitchen in the garage and I don't know how we would have lived through our kitchen renovation without it. Our temporary kitchen included a small utility sink, fridge, single electric burner, microwave, and 42" of base cabinet.

We're supposed to be without a kitchen for four to six months - we're a week and a half in - and it's going to be rough. There are only two of us and we're making do with a mini-fridge, toaster oven and microwave, with random dishes stored in library cabinets and my pantry items in a plastic Container Store bin. I'm shopping daily for the day's meals and we're depending on takeout and delivery a LOT. We're using paper plates and I'm washing dishes in the tub with two large dishpans in rotation.

Have your contractor give you a timeline and you'll see where those 2-3 months go. Lots is just scheduling - nothing can't start until demo is complete, cabs can't go in until appliances are on site - and a good contractor will build in time safeguards so the job isn't depending upon split-second timing.

It's also good to look at the schedule to make sure that you won't go over two to three months. The first timeline we received from our GC estimated our job at 12 weeks from start to punchlist. We reminded him that the lead time on our cabinets was 11 weeks, and they couldn't be ordered until demo was done, the roughing for the new walls was up and the KD made a site visit to confirm measurements. Needless to say, we got a new schedule. ;)

" I was nervous about a reno with a two-year-old, but I think he was much less bothered than we were."

That's funny right there.

If my wife and her company can remove concrete, place new, and get a front-end alignment machine up and running in a GM plant during a Christmas shutdown, it sure as hell seems to me a competent contractor could get a kitchen done in a month.

Mine was 6 weeks, it was supposed to be 4 but we ran into unexpected plumbing and joist issues.

I moved my fridge into the DR along with a microwave and toaster oven and a supply of paper plates, cups, cutlery. I didn't have kids to feed so that does make it more challenging. Mentioned previously, a crockpot is a great idea as well.

I guess the timeline depends on the extent of the reno. We took our kitchen and adjacent laundry room down to the studs, but did not move or tear down walls and kept the same basic layout.

4 weeks from demo to "functional". However, we're another couple of weeks in, and still waiting for hood insert, UCL, trim, painting, Backsplash, etc. (although many of those items are my responsibility.)

We are nearing the finish line of an extensive reno (gutted 5 rooms, took down all interior walls, put in a steel beam as well as 2 additional flitch plate beams). We demo'ed the first week of June and I just got water back in my kitchen last week. So 6 months for us. It definitely is tough, although I have found the last 3 weeks the hardest as we are finally closing in on the end. Now I am finally impatient. Backsplash was finished today. Cabinets still going in. Plumbing will be done tomorrow. Electrical 80% done as of tomorrow. Painting 95% done. Oh so closeâ¦

Good luck with your reno. My advice would be to not hold onto a specific date for being finished but instead be flexible, prepared for delays. This will help you keep your sanity as you won't spend all your time frustrated. :) My contractors have all commented that they appreciate my ability to roll with punches and not get upset. In this day and age it is unusual, which really is sad. I want each of them to be happy to walk in my door, not dread it, expecting me to bite their heads off. I have found that nearly every contractor has gone out of their way to be helpful, courteous, accept changes or questions without getting frustrated. This has made the reno much easier--for all of us!

Four and one half years--no kitchen at all.

We started the gut remodel of our kitchen August 6 of this year (2013). We are finally wrapping up the project, but not sure we will be totally done by Christmas. So its taken about 4+ months.

There were un-forseen problems that arose during the remodel (out of our control, electrical and plumbing). (our house is from 1925) Our budget took a hit with this development. We also had some on going problems with our cabinet painter....still resolving them at this time.

For a temp kitchen, I got myself a table top electric coil burner and used the microwave and toaster oven a lot. We also got takeout frequently. My fridge was in the dining room.

In the early days, my contractor and plumber set up my old sink every night so I had a working sink, that alone was a lifesaver! They just cut the old sink cabinet with the sink attached and just moved it in every night and screwed the cabinet to the subfloor with a couple of screws and hooked up the P trap and water.

We had packed boxes with the items we used every day readily available and used paper plates too.

You kinda get into a groove of functioning in this altered state and after a little bit it becomes more bearable.

Try to remember to step back, take deep breaths and focus on how it will be when it will be all done and how beautiful and functional it will be.

Hang in there and don't forget to pamper yourself once in a while and do something special with your family every now and then. Take lots of pictures so you can revisit the project once it is all done and know you all survived it! :)

I've attached a pic of the temped in sink in the gutted kitchen. Looks like some old barn!! :)

palimpsest--4 1/2 years? Wow. Not sure how you are doing it, but completely admire you for making it through.

Oh that was last house. This time we are installing the old appliances in the basement before we fully gut the existing kitchen.

It's a long, convoluted story, but it was not fun.

Having a utility sink in the kitchen was major life saver for me. Using bathroom sink was rather tedious and hauling a few dish pans down to basement to use laundry sink got old fast. It was worth it to purchase an inexpensive plastic sink for a kitchen hookup. When I had to give that up, we moved it onto the patio and relied on water from the hose for the sink. Wasn't half bad, of course this was still the summer. Took us about three solid months of living in dining room until kitchen was done. Good suggestion from someone on kitchen web was to empty a linen closet and store dishes and breakable so there so you need not wrap them. That is a time saver for sure. We moved our old pantry cabs into dining room with us and that provided a little bit of order.

Ours has been going on (still going) for 2 1/2 yrs but it's the whole house. Anyway, I've learned how to make a full meal in a frying pan. I even used it to boil 10 # of thanksgiving potatoes... I just set my big spaghetti pot right in the pan and it worked like a hot plate.
Stock up on cheap paper plates, too.