If I had 2 toddlers and was planning on gutting a kitchen I'd definitely do it before moving in. It just depends on how extensive the work will be and how long you'll be without a functional kitchen.
If you live near the newly purchased home, I'd suggest spending a few nights or weekends there to determine if you're happy with the changes you have planned.
Do NOT expect remodeling to be completed by a certain date. I've remodeled 3 homes and never saw anything finished on time. Just a warning, if you're planning around the date the lease ends, be prepared to move into the home while it's still being worked on.

I've 'been there and done that' and can say it's doable but you need to have a certain mindset and be willing to cook out of a microwave, toaster oven and electric skillet, and then clean the dishes in the bathroom.

This post was edited by annz on Thu, Mar 7, 13 at 1:12

If you know what you want, it makes absolute good sense to remodel before moving in.

The reason many people recommend living in a house before remodeling is based on their belief/experience a person does not really know what they want until they experience the situation.

We bought a foreclosure for two reasons. One, it got us a better house for the money(I did most of the work with help) and two, we had the fortunate situation to be able to complete all the work before moving in.

That is a HUGE advantage. You don't have to move or live in the mess. That is doubly important with young children.

Now, the probability that you will find things that you will want to change are always there. But, having the big ticket(and hassle) items out of the way is really important.

After we moved in, we found, over time, several smaller conditions needing repair/remodeling/replacement. Heck, we once designed and built a brand new house and a year later had changes we wanted to make.

At least do the major dirty noisy work before you move in. You will be glad you did.

IF, and it's a big IF, you have a good design sense or have a profesional involved who understands the workflow of a kitchen and other sections of a home, then remodeling before you move in can work. But where most people err is that they only look at the cosmetics of the situation and then lock themselves in with putting pretty new stuff into a dysfunctional layout that can't be compensated for with the pretty and new.

We remodeled a kitchen and 2 baths before we moved in. Would we have done a few things differently if we lived in the house first? Maybe or maybe not, but I am so happy not to have lived in the house through the reno that I do not regret my decision. I considered being able to get the work done beforehand a real luxury. It is possible to get an excellent, functional layout without living in the house-- especially if you connect with good professionals to help you. There are plenty of dysfunctional layouts, many even posted here on GW, created by people who have lived in their houses for years. What I would recommend is not rushing into the reno before you are satisfied that you have a good layout and design.

This post was edited by sas95 on Thu, Mar 7, 13 at 17:44

Move your family three times in less than 2 years!

That's the worst advice I've ever heard!

DO NOT move into a house with anything less than 100% of a kitchen. You will hate life and your stupid house after about 3 days.

Please do it before you move in. I've lived through two big remodels while I lived in my homes. It's noisy, dirty, messy and disrupting, and that's just for me and the dog, as my husband was at work during the day.

You can, and should, visit the remodeling site through the week to see the progress and catch any oops or things you want to change before it's too late.

It's one of those widespread myths to say you need to live in a home before you know what you want to do to it.

We lived in our house for 1 yr before remodeling and are glad we waited. No, the things we wanted in a kitchen did not change, but because we had a chance to live with the flow of the house, we located and laid out the kitchen floor plan very differently from our original thoughts. We added windows that we otherwise wouldn't have. We added closets we otherwise wouldn't have.

Yes, it's a major royal hassle pain in the backside to live through a remodel. However, we are so glad we took that advice and waited.

Living through a remodeling with two toddlers? Won't it be dangerous in addition to disruption and inconvenience?

As one poster said, find professionals to work on layout and details.

Why do you need to live in a house first to have a good remodeling? many people build a house with new kitchen and bathrooms on an empty lot.

And if you're NOT planning on gutting and remodelling the house, how does anyone ever buy the right home?

The same advice would go: "Lease a home for at least one year before buying... It's a costly and foolish mistake to buy a house without living in it for a year first."

You can really go either way.

My wife perfected making Lasagna on our bbq grill! It was awesome.

If you are going to seriously gut the kitchen, and you can take a month off work to do so, I'd probly knock that out, then move in. If this is nights-and-weekends instead, then I'd probly move in first or you'll be making too many trips w/o focused time to get it done quickly.

Also sharing the experience will be meaningful to your kids... they'll see how a kitchen is built. My toddlers love to help clean and try to copy everything I do when I work. My family likes that kind of work tho... if yours does too then great. Do you think of living w/o a kitchen as an adventure or a hassle? This is such a personal decision about what works for you guys.

I would not have children in a house being remodeled - the fine dust, the odd nails and staples, the fumes from paint and other materials. It's hazardous. You can bring your children to visit the remodel without living there.

I'll submit my vote for getting it done before you move in. I'll echo other posters about the stressfulness of living in a house under renovation, and about the possibility of exposing kids to hazards like lead and asbestos.

But on a practical note, some jobs are just harder to do once the house is filled with your stuff. I wish I had refinished my floors before moving in. They really need it now, but I cannot face the ordeal of trying to transfer our possessions from room to room in order to give the refinishes access.