Kitchen : How to Live Without a Sink

I've alluded a few times to the fact that during the kitchen renovation we were living without a sink.

But until you actually do it, I am not sure anyone quite grasps what that means.  We sure didn't.

I mentioned that our countertops took way longer than we originally thought which was the major player in this unfortunate way of living for awhile.  Regardless, it was not super fun but it was an adventure.

It definitely takes some adjusting. 

You know when you're cooking and you drop a crumb or crack and egg and go to toss it in the sink  Yeah nope, can't do that.

You know when you're cooking with raw meat and need to wash your hands quickly

Yeah none of that either.  

You know when its easier to just throw everything in the dishwasher.

Nope not that either.

Alas, we survived and I will share our knowledge with you!

(sweet, sweet sink and faucet)

I would also like to pat ourselves on the backs because sans being out of town, we only ate out twice the entire time.  

1.  Become friends with your neighbors

Thankfully we are besties with our neighbors and they graciously offered up their sink and dishwasher MANY times to us.  We are forever indebted.  I gave Alexis a gift basket at the end of our adventure full of hand soap, dishwasher detergent and all the goodies we had used up at their house.

2.  Grill

We grilled A LOT.   We love grilling so it wasn't a huge deal but it was definitely more frequently than we usually do.  Let's just say we ate a lot of turkey burgers.

3.  Get a dishpan

We had a dishpan of dirty dishes in constant rotation to be washed down the street or in the tub.  It was nice to have somewhere to corral all of our dirty dishes. 

4.  Crockpot

Along with grilling, we crock potted a lot.  I did my best to find recipes that did not require a lot of ingredients or prep work.  Not only was it easier, it lessened the nights I needed to cook.  

5.  Paper and plastic

Generally I really hate paper plates.  I think they are so wasteful and fall apart.  But during all of this I had to give in.  We (regretfully) used quite a few (that I then recycled), plastic silverware and plastic plates that could be later washed and reused.  The plastic plates and bowls were easier than banging our good dishes around.  

I am still not quite sure how we survived but we did but I will be happy to not do that again.

I am obsessed with our new sink so the wait was almost worth it.  

I am planning on a post soon with all the specific details of each item but for now our sink is from here if you're in the market.