The five weeks without a sink, and how to make them survivable
The number nobody quotes you
A full kitchen remodel runs 9 to 13 weeks on site. Inside that, the part that actually hurts is about five weeks with no sink and no dishwasher, from the day the old counters come out to the day the new stone is installed and plumbed.
Knowing that number in advance is the difference between an inconvenience and a crisis. We put it in writing at contract, with dates.
What we set up on day one
Before demolition starts, we build a temporary kitchen wherever the household will actually use it, normally the laundry, the garage or a dining room corner.
- Your existing refrigerator relocated and plugged into a circuit we have checked.
- A folding counter at 36 in with a microwave, a kettle and an induction hob plate.
- Two labelled bins: one for dishes to wash in the laundry sink, one for recycling.
- A box of the twenty items you use daily, packed by you, not by us.
Dust, which is the real complaint
Kitchens generate fine dust that travels through a whole house on the air handling system. We run a negative-air machine with HEPA filtration in the work area, seal the opening with a zip wall, tape the return vents in adjacent rooms and wipe down the path to the truck at the end of every working day.
It is not perfect. Nothing is. It is the difference between finding dust in the next room and finding it in a wardrobe upstairs.
Plan the reveal, not just the build
Book your first dinner in the new kitchen for two weeks after the contract date, not the day after. The punch list is normally closed within 10 business days of substantial completion, and you want the room finished, not nearly finished, the first time you use it properly.
Written by the Lumen studio. Figures follow common North American kitchen practice and are guidance for planning, not a code citation.
