Temporary Kitchen Setup

Cooking Somewhere Else for Two Months

For six to twelve weeks of a typical remodel, the kitchen is a construction site. People who plan to eat takeout the whole time usually give up by week two, and people who work from home give up faster, because lunch and coffee are now a trip out of the house in the middle of the workday. A temporary kitchen is how you avoid that. It is not glamorous, but a good one makes the remodel feel like an inconvenience rather than an ordeal.

We build the stand in kitchen before demolition starts, and we ask you to use it for a day while your old kitchen still works. That trial day is the cheapest way to find out the kettle and the toaster trip the same breaker, or that the prep counter is too low to chop on comfortably.

Choosing the Room

The right room depends on the house.

• Dining room. Often the closest to the kitchen and the easiest to reach with power. The downside is that in many Bellevue ramblers it shares an open wall with the kitchen, so it needs the containment wall on its far side.
• Laundry room. The best choice when it has a utility sink, because running water is the hardest thing to provide. Laundry rooms in split level homes in Newport Hills and Eastgate are often on the lower floor, well away from the dust.
• Garage. Plenty of room and easy to keep clean, but cold during a Pacific Northwest winter and rarely wired for more than a couple of small appliances at once.
• A bedroom or den. Sometimes the only practical choice in a condo. We protect the floor and keep appliances off carpet.

In a downtown Bellevue condo there may be no spare room at all. In that case the setup is compact: a counter height cart, an induction plate, a microwave and a fridge moved into the living area, with dishes washed in a bathroom sink using a dish bin.

What Goes In It

A useful stand in kitchen has a short list of parts, and each one earns its place.

The refrigerator

Your existing fridge is usually moved rather than replaced. It needs a dedicated outlet or at least one not shared with a cooking appliance. If it has an ice maker, the water line is capped for the duration.

Somewhere to wash up

This is what makes or breaks the setup. Where a laundry sink exists, we add a sprayer faucet and a drying rack. Where there is no drain nearby, washing up happens in a bathroom tub or sink with a dish bin, and we set the room up for it. Running a new drain for a temporary sink is possible but rarely worth the cost unless the remodel is long.

Cooking

A portable induction plate, a countertop oven or air fryer, a microwave and an electric kettle cover most meals. Induction is also a good way to find out whether you like it before committing to an induction range, which a lot of Bellevue households are considering. What cannot run safely is several high draw appliances on one ordinary circuit. We map which outlets are on which breakers and label them so the coffee maker and the plate do not share.

A prep counter

A folding table is too low and too wobbly. We set a counter at a comfortable working height, often using an old base cabinet from the demolition with a scrap top on it. It is one of the few parts of the old kitchen worth saving for a few weeks.

Ventilation and Moisture

Cooking in a closed up room during a wet Bellevue autumn puts steam and odor into the house, and there is no hood. We place the cooking station near a window that opens or add a portable fan pulling air out, and we steer you toward simple one pot cooking rather than searing. It is temporary, and it is still worth doing right.

When It Comes Out

The stand in kitchen stays until the new sink drains, the range works and the permit has final approval. Nothing gets packed away on the strength of a promise that the counters arrive next week.

Setup typically runs $1,200 to $4,000 depending on how much electrical and plumbing it needs. Call (425) 549-5836 and we will look at which room makes sense in your house.