The temporary kitchen (build it before demo day)
Claim a corner far from the work zone, ideally with a sink nearby (basement laundry tubs are gold). The kit: microwave, air fryer or toaster oven, kettle, the fridge (movers put it wherever you want, ask), one bin of essential dishes, paper plates for the weeks you're too tired to care. Plan five slow-cooker meals and accept that some takeout is a renovation line item, not a moral failure.
The week-by-week rhythm (typical 4-8 week job)
- Week 1: demolition and the dust peak; containment walls and floor protection go up first if the contractor is any good
- Weeks 2-3: rough-ins and inspection, structure if walls moved, drywall repair, the "why is nobody here today" gaps that are actually inspection and cure-time waits
- Weeks 3-4: paint, flooring, then cabinets land and morale returns
- Weeks 4-6: counter template, then the counter wait (7 to 10 days is normal, not a stall), backsplash, hookups
- Final week: deficiencies, cleanup, the walkthrough against the written scope
"The families who sail through kitchen renos all did the same three things: they built the temporary kitchen the weekend before demo, they moved the coffee setup FIRST, and they asked me which days would actually be loud so they could plan around the six bad ones instead of dreading all forty."
Mitch Fraser, owner, Ontario Contracting Co.
What your contractor owes your sanity
- Real containment: plastic walls, zippered doors, floor protection to the exit, and ideally negative-air dust control
- Working utilities every evening: water and power come back on before the crew leaves, every day
- A schedule you can see with the loud days flagged, plus a daily heads-up on tomorrow
- Daily tidy-up: job-site mess is a top-four homeowner grievance, and it's entirely preventable
All of that belongs in the contract's site-conduct clause, item ten of the site-conduct clause every contract should carry. The build sequence itself, and why cabinets get ordered before demolition, is on the kitchen service page; budget ranges live in the cost-driver breakdown.