Planning a kitchen renovation around the holidays

Every fall we hear the same question: can the new kitchen be ready for December? Sometimes the honest answer is yes, and sometimes it’s that January would be a better start. Both are good plans. The one that causes trouble is starting demolition in November with half the selections still undecided, because then the holidays arrive with a gutted room, a sink in the laundry tub and a counter that hasn’t been measured yet.

A pre-holiday finish works when the layout is settled, the appliances are picked, the cabinets are ordered and the supplier has given you a delivery date you trust. A new-year start works when you’d rather use November and December to design, compare and order without pressure, then begin demolition with everything already on its way.

A few things tip the decision. Are you hosting, or travelling? Will guests be staying with you? Do school breaks or a home office make a noisy house harder to live with in December? And how would you feel if the backsplash or a door panel ended up waiting until after New Year’s? There’s no wrong answer, but it’s much better to decide now than to discover the answer in the middle of the project. When we meet, we’ll tell you plainly which of the two plans your selections and timing support.

Pick the date first, then walk backwards through the stages. If the dates don’t fit, it’s better to move the start than to squeeze the finish.

1. Name the date that matters

   Is it the first family dinner, a visitor’s arrival or simply getting the house back before the busiest weeks? Write it down and tell us at the first visit, because it changes the order we plan the work in.

2. Lock the layout and the appliance models

   Cabinet sizes depend on the exact fridge, range, hood and dishwasher you choose, so appliance model numbers are needed before the cabinet order can be finalized. We ask for the model numbers early for that reason: changing an appliance later can mean re-ordering a cabinet.

3. Order the cabinets and get the date in writing

   Lead times vary by supplier, style and season, so ask for the delivery estimate in writing when you sign the order rather than relying on a typical figure. Ask too whether the supplier or the factory closes over the holidays.

4. Start demolition only when delivery is confirmed

   Taking the old kitchen out is quick. Waiting for new cabinets in an empty room is not. We book demolition against a confirmed delivery, not an expected one, so the room is empty for as short a time as possible.

5. Install cabinets, then measure for counters

   Stone and quartz fabricators template the installed, levelled cabinets, then cut the slab. Ask your fabricator how long that takes in December, since the kitchen has no sink until the counter is set.

6. Reconnect, then finish

   Once the counter is in, the sink, faucet, dishwasher and cooktop are connected and the kitchen works again. Backsplash tile, trim, touch-ups and the last cabinet adjustments follow, and we walk through the list with you before calling the job done.

These are the choices that hold up a kitchen schedule most often. Settling them before the first day of work is what makes a holiday deadline possible.

• Cabinet door style, colour and interior fittings such as drawers, pull-outs and a pantry unit
• Hardware, so the holes can be drilled when the doors go on
• Countertop material, edge profile and where the seams will fall
• Sink and faucet models, which the fabricator needs before cutting
• Every appliance model number, including the hood and its duct route
• Lighting positions under the upper cabinets and over an island
• Backsplash tile, ordered early with a little extra for cuts
• Whether the flooring stays, is patched or runs through to other rooms

It helps to separate a working kitchen from a finished one. A working kitchen has its cabinets, counters, sink, appliances and lights in and running. A finished kitchen also has its backsplash, trim, filler pieces, touch-up paint and that last door adjustment done. For many families, a working kitchen by the third week of December is the real goal, and the finishing can happen in early January without anyone noticing at dinner.

We’d rather agree on that line with you in October than discover it in December. If the timing is tight, decide together which items can wait and which can’t. A missing backsplash is easy to live with for a few weeks. A missing counter is not. Writing the short list of after-the-holidays items down at the start avoids the feeling that something has gone wrong when it hasn’t.

It’s also worth thinking about who will be in the house. Trades working on the last details during a week when relatives are visiting can feel intrusive, so if you’re hosting, pick a pause in the work and stick to it.

A summer kitchen renovation leans on the barbecue and the backyard hose. In November and December you lose most of that, so the temporary kitchen indoors has to work harder. Set it up close to a sink you can use for dishes, such as a laundry tub or a basement bar sink, and keep it away from the dust wall.

Power is the thing people forget. A kettle, a portable induction plate, a microwave and a space heater can easily overload one circuit when they run at the same time, so spread them across outlets on different circuits and keep the heater well clear of anything flammable. A slow cooker or an electric pressure cooker can do a lot of the cooking with very little supervision. Before demolition, we can help you pick the spot and check which outlets are on separate circuits.

Plan meals around what the temporary set-up does well: soups, stews, sheet-pan dinners in a countertop oven and food from the freezer. Paper plates for the messiest week, a dish rack and a big bin for recycling make the arrangement far less tiring. If you have a garage fridge, it can hold drinks and extra groceries while the main fridge is unplugged or moved.

In winter the windows stay closed and the furnace runs most of the day, which changes how a renovation feels. Cooking in a temporary kitchen without a range hood fills the house with steam and smells, and Health Canada notes that boiling and cooking add moisture and pollutants to indoor air. Keep the temporary cooking simple, run the nearest bathroom fan while you cook and avoid frying or searing until the new hood is working.

When it is working, use it properly. Health Canada advises cooking on the back burners with the range hood running, preferably on its high setting, and says the higher speed can cut particles and gases by more than 80 per cent compared with the slow settings. That habit matters most in the winter months, when the house isn’t being aired out.

Dust travels through a running furnace. We cover the returns near the kitchen while demolition and drywall sanding happen and keep the dust wall closed. It’s worth changing the furnace filter after the dusty stages and again when the job is done. Health Canada’s guidance also suggests keeping indoor humidity between 30 and 50 per cent, which is worth watching once new wood cabinets are in a dry, heated room.

A kitchen arrives in a lot of boxes, and in winter every one of them comes in through snow and slush. Clear and salt the path from the driveway to the door before delivery day, lay floor protection from the entrance to the kitchen and give the cabinets a dry, heated room to wait in. A cold, damp garage isn’t a good place to store new cabinet boxes or doors.

The waste bin needs a plan too. In Toronto, a disposal bin placed on the roadway or in a public lane needs a Street Occupation Permit from the City; a bin on your own driveway doesn’t need that permit. Other GTA cities set their own rules for bins on the street, so check with yours if the driveway won’t work. A bin on the road also has to coexist with snow ploughs and street parking, which is another reason the driveway is usually the better spot.

Countertop installation day deserves its own check. Slabs are heavy and are carried in by hand, so the installers need a clear, safe route with no ice on the steps and room to turn at the door. We’ll remind you the day before so the shovelling gets done in time.

Our kitchen renovation page covers layouts, cabinets, counters, ventilation, permits and pricing in detail. These pages help with the decisions around it.