Packing for a Kitchen Remodel

The plastic is about to come down on the kitchen project! The kitchen and utility room have been contained behind plastic walls since day 1, but the last of the dirty work will be Monday, when they sand the primed cabinets prior to painting, and finish the wall texturing (we had wallpaper removed). After that, I can begin the process of cleaning the dust from the rest of the house. Yippee!

The thing that is making me nuts more than the plastic walls is the plastic on the floors around the project. It's this sticky thin plastic they press onto the carpet, and it has air bubbles in it that pop when you walk on it. You'd think the air bubbles would pop out by about day 3, but no. We also had them tile our foyer, so we get bonus sticky plastic on all the floors around that area!

Before you remodel your kitchen, you should move everything out. Even if you aren't doing anything to the inside of the cabinets (ours are being painted, so it was required), I recommend boxing everything. Dust will get into every crevice of every item, so you'll be cleaning that stuff for weeks if you don't.

Actually, before you pack anything, get rid of all the glassware, obscure barware, weird serving dishes and random appliances you never use. Then packing will be MUCH easier.

Take everything off the walls and pack it.

Remove any toddler locks from the cabinets and drawers. Trash them, if your kid is 22. If you have toddlers, keep them.

Check to see if your new oven comes with a broiler pan. The vast majority of ovens today do not come with one! If yours doesn't, keep your old broiler pan. It can be packed, of course.

Those pull-out trash bins? You may just want to buy new ones. Mine had a melamine bottom, like many do. It was dirty and water damaged beneath the cans. The new ones have metal grates under the cans, so we're going to put Lifeliner plastic liner on the cabinet bottom to catch dirt and spills.

Do NOT pack your junk drawer(s). I dumped all our "junk" into a plastic storage drawer and put it in my makeshift kitchen, and I am so happy I did. You'd be surprised how often you need something out of there.

Leave out your dish towels and rags, because there will be spills and such in your makeshift kitchen, even though you're using paper products.

Use paper and plastic products in your makeshift kitchen. Just go ALL disposable. You don't want to wash anything in your bathroom sink or tub. Bless you if you are cooking in a crock pot or toaster oven during your remodel, but for me, it just ain't worth the cleanup. I froze cooked entrees ahead. The only appliance I kept out was the toaster.

Buy styrofoam cups for hot drinks, if you're a hot beverage drinker. You can't microwave anything in styrofoam, so we kept a 4-cup Pyrex measuring cup out for boiling water. No washing needed!

Keep your bug spray and carpet cleaner and any other cleaning supplies you use regularly.

Most importantly, don't pack the alcohol. You'll need it. ;)