Do you have a powder room near your living room? I did a total gut last year and took over my powder next to my family room as the kitchen. You need a water source nearby, in fact, it was during my remodel when I had to use my tiny powder sink that I realized how important the sink is in a kitchen. I changed my plans and upgraded to the Kohler Stages 45. Best kitchen decision I made aside from my faucet.

Trudging water or constantly carrying food across the house is difficult and gets old fast. I would advise moving your setup as close to a water source as possible.

is there a way you can change the faucet on the master sink plumbing, attach a hose and run it down to the basement? If there's still water on in the house, there has to be a way of rigging up something. Not sure how you get the water out of the basement, though.

Laundry sink/tub if you have one, otherwise bathtub will work as well

I got 3 plastic "dish pans" for holding clean and dirty dishes on their way to and from the utility sink that was on another floor. (I would not have wanted a huge bin for that. . . Too messy and heavy to carry.) With several in rotation, there was always one available for collecting dirty dishes while the other one or two were in the utility room where I washed. I'd always take 2 to do the washing . . . Wash one pan first, dry it, line it with a clean dish towel, and then as I washed all the dishes, I could stash them back in the clean dish pan . . . When they were all clean, they got carried back down in the now-clean dish pans. Rinse, repeat, over and over. Let me tell you, the installation of our kitchen sink and dishwasher was a banner day!

I used an old dresser and bookcase to store kitchen ware. And an old conference table for the working part of the kitchen (i.e., counters, cooktop, etc.) We bought tons and tons of disposable dishes, cups, and flatware at Sam's Club and used disposable things for everything possible. Do not underestimate the value of using disposable things. I rarely used a real cutting board or serving dish of any sort -- paper plates were my friends. The longer the kitchen was out of use, the less I cared about my carbon foot print. There was a bathroom near our temporary kitchen (both were in the basement), so we used that sink to wash vegetables, hands, etc. We prepared very little raw meat, but when we did, those dishes went straight into a dirty dish pan, while hands were washed in the bathroom sink.

Honestly, we thought we'd be in our temporary kitchen for a month or two, but were in it for closer to 6-8 months. I couldn't have survived having no water in the temporary kitchen. Can you move your temporary kitchen near any bathroom? Or consider adding a bathroom to your basement before the major remodel begins?

It's not a big job to set up temporary supply and drain lines and a sink in your living room. I could do it faster than you could make three trips up and down those stairs, I'm sure.

Add the temp plumbing as Joseph said with an inexpensive utility tub and you'll be set. Did you move your old fridge to the LR? We kept ours in the kitchen during the entire process, just kept moving it.

Ditto what "beanpiele" said. I used as much disposable as possible. I love Wegmans and you can buy pre washed/cut everything! I always use plastic liners for the crockpot. You can make any pasta in a crock pot. I always add a little water.

A note to future remodelers. Put some money in your budget for the "no kitchen" time. You will be spending more money on eating out, buying prepared foods, and disposable items. I stocked up on the disposable items ahead of time. Also, premake freezer meals. Meals you can just heat in the microwave or dump in a crock pot.

When we gutted our kitchen we cut the counter on both sides of the sink and left the sink and base there as long as possible. Pulled it out when we dry walled and then put it back until just before the cabinet installation. It worked fine for us, I was only out of a sink for a few days.

Thanks everyone! Really appreciate the ideas.

Unfortunately we don't have a powder room on our first floor; the only bathrooms are an en suite in the master and the upstairs hallway, so no go there. We can't leave the current sink standing since the first work that needs to happen is the main drain line for the entire house getting re-routed and replaced (it's a long, sad plumbing discovery story) and it's up against a structural wall that's getting removed

We did move our old fridge to the LR, along with everything else. I've got a pretty good setup for cooking (portable induction hob, countertop convection oven, crockpots, sous vide, freestanding IKEA countertop, etc.) because we really can't do a lot of take out or prepared foods because of food allergies that go beyond the standard stuff. I didn't consider temporary supply lines. What's involved in getting our GC to do those? What would that run, roughly? That sounds FANTASTIC. :)

It shouldn't be too much for the lines and fittings but you should contact your GC to ask what time and material would cost. It will be well worth it. They are starting with plumbing anyway. You should be able to get a laundry tub for less than $50. Lowe's online has one for $25. You might run to Lowe's and HD to see what's available. Or your GC may have a supplier. This would especially be useful if you need a laundry tub. Or can they move your current sink, faucet and cabinet to the LR? This would effect how they demo to enable you to reuse them. I would not wait until Monday, because they will aggressively demo. It's amazing how fast that goes.

We also used as much disposable as possible for the weeks we had to live without a sink near our kitchen. We had a stove (no hood) in the kitchen (and no fridge for awhile either), so our meals were simple when we didn't get take out. Our one and only sink was in our laundry room on another floor. So we used paper plates and cups b/c they are compostable!! and cooked easy things to clean, like pasta and pre-cut veggies so we didn't have to wash them, the cutting board or the knife. Make your life as easy as possible and send stuff in your kids lunches in plastic bags. Depending on what you send they are easy to re-use several times.

We set up a temporary kitchen with dishwasher, sink and plywood counters covered with contact paper and shelves below. I lived with that for several months. It took DH (who was a contractor) very little time to run the lines using flexible tubing - the whole thing was set up in less than a day. As others have mentioned, we didn't use our temp kitchen the same way we usually cook either, so a lot fewer dishes and less cooking from scratch.

We decided against having the GC run water to out temporary kitchen (really not enough room for a sink in the space), so we set up a sink on the porch next to the temp kitchen, supplied with water by the hose. I boiled water to do dishes. We didn't like to drink that water, because it tasted of hose if it had been sitting in it for a while. But it wouldn't have killed us if we had.

I'm following this thread with interest because we are about a month away from being in the same position. Our hall bath is part of the remodel so our only interior water source will be the master bathroom. Ugh.

I have been thinking about getting a water dispenser for drinking and "cooking" water.

Or maybe even having water delivered though I hate to do that.

For dish washing I guess it will be the bathtub in the master bathroom, though I have also seen the suggestion to use a cooler with a drainage spout.

As a general contractor, I'm going to want to take as much pressure off myself as possible in advance in case of delays beyond my control. A woman with a temporary sink is a much less sympathetic character than one doing dishes in an upstairs bathtub.

I suggest you buy the cheapest water cooler (with a hot water spigot) that you can find and plug it in close to where you are keeping your coffee / tea pot. I couldn't live without that cooler during our kitchen remodel and then our friends borrowed it for their remodel.

I never would have thought of the water cooler with hot spigot--what a great suggestion.

My husband casually mentioned at dinner tonight that he has a solution. He's going to move the laundry room sink to our front porch, and he's come up with some hack to create a water heater out of a coil and something else (I forget what, some piece of equipment he uses for home brewing) so we'll have hot and cold running water from the outside faucet, through his frankenheater, to the sink, and it'll drain into a large plastic tub/cooler on wheels that we can dump. I married a genius, plus he normally does most of the clean up after dinner (so Joseph, sometimes it's a man doing the dishes and being less sympathetic :) Thank you all for your fabulous suggestions! Jerzeegirl, that's brilliant. We'll probably do that too!

Fantastic!

Well you have got a great solution (and a great DH). I was just going to add that we used one of those big glass water jugs with a spigot (but getting one of those water coolers is a far better idea IMO) and also used plastic basins for schlepping the dishes down to the laundry tub for washing. I kept a plastic large zip-lock handy with a no-rinse soap & wet washcloth for times when I needed to wipe my hands while prepping -- but my house is small, so it wasn't a huge deal to either go to the basement or up to the bathroom to use a sink. I had another zip-lock for a dishcloth for wiping spills.

We did use more disposables than I really wanted to. Overall, though, I did prepare most of the meals at home, just kept them simple -- meats/fish on the George Foreman grill (easy to wipe clean), veggies in the microwave or toaster oven, and crockpot cooking.

DH did one better - he found this: http://www.ebay.com/itm/271615585618?_trksid=p2060353.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT so as soon as it shows up, we're in business! In the meantime, we're using the main bathtub and a giant plastic bin. Tomorrow is Day 2. We're officially in the midst!

You married a genius! I now have a temporary "summer kitchen" in a former garage stall with a utility sink in it. Luckily, I still have access to the hot water heater. If this set up becomes a "fall kitchen"......let's say heads will roll! But I trust my hubby will get the kitchen done in no time -- he doesn't cook, and the nearest fast food is 15 miles away! I can do wonders with an induction hob, a microwave and a fridge.

we set up a temporary sink in the doorway between our kitchen and dining room. temp water lines were run up through the subfloor in the kitchen and then through a piece of solid insulation board that was creating a barrier between the two rooms. they attached to a nice deep utility sink and we were in business. we did lose the sink once the floors were laid and finished, but then once the floors were cured he re-hooked up the temp sink in the kitchen

has worked great...until today when we finally lost it for good b/c now the basement sheetrock is going up and we had to cut the temp water lines. but if the kitchen cabinets had been delivered on schedule, we would have not hit a point where we were without that temp sink except for the days during floor finishing.

Cheesestansalone, after a week how are you doing with no kitchen?

I wish I had read this thread a week ago. We are doing a total reno of our kitchen & powder room. I have a griddle, crock pot & the grill too but we are eating a lot of pizza and using much more disposable items than I like too.

We are set up up in our finished basement that has a bar and a sink in it (very, very small sink). I am finding myself so out of sorts & out of place In my own house I don't even even want to cook. I hate it. So looking forward to getting my kitchen back and I have 2 more weeks - I hope!!

Ps . I am trying not to complain because after all this was my idea!

We're doing...okay. :) The water heater should get here Thursday or Friday, and DH will get the laundry sink hooked up hot and cold. Once that happens life will get much, much easier. I've also ordered a 2nd portable induction hob which is also on the way. For plumbing, for now, I'm using the garden sprayer on our front porch for quick rinsing (the "don't let stuff dry and get crusty before I actually wash it" rinsing) and for actual dishwashing, we're using the bathtub in the main bathroom on the second floor. Hauling a big plastic tub with all the dishes up and down is...sub-optimal. (I'm snorting). As I sit and type my back is on freakin' FIRE.

I wish, wish, wish we could do pizza or subs or whatever...but half our house is basically wheat, corn, and soy free...and I'm on a 3-mth protocol that doesn't allow for a bunch of other stuff that makes it extremely difficult to find anything "legal" that's not from scratch. It sucks under normal conditions. With the demo in full swing, it's making me tear my hair out. I'm hoping hoping hoping that we'll gain efficiencies as we go along and figure more stuff out. For example, I was prepping some ribs today for smoking (had to work from home with a sick kid) and realized I had a box of food prep gloves from a previous life that would be MUCH easier than washing my hands every 5 minutes while working with raw pork. AH HA!

So the good news, by the end of this coming weekend, we should be as set up as we can get for the next two months. The bad news is that unless our reno is the extreme outlier that gets done earlier than scheduled (I'm snorting again) we're looking at 7 more weeks MINIMUM until our new kitchen is ready for prime-time. I keep thinking about how amazingly awesome it really will be, and how easy everything will seem with this behind us. It's just about time to pick some slabs and tile...2nd most fun thing ever after appliance shopping. :)

I am on week 4 of my reno. No kitchen no powder room. Living in the basement. Should have counters tomorrow and a sink and running water by Wednesday. Then the bs but mostly I will have my kitchen back. So 4 weeks and they said 3. Not too bad. Honestly at the beginning I didn't think I would last 3 weeks but we made it. Lots of grilling and more take out than normal. Just wondering how your reno was going now that you are a few weeks into it?

Congratulations! We're on week 3 and not even at the halfway point. They just started framing in the new stuff on Friday. We may be done by the end of May...not holding my breath. Fortunately the weather isn't too bad so doing dishes on the front porch isn't quite as bad as it could be!