Kitchen Renovations

Plan on several weeks, and understand that most of it is waiting rather than working. Cabinetry is made to order and has a lead time before anything arrives on site. Stone benchtops add their own gap, because the template is taken after the cabinets are installed and the stone is then cut and returned. That sequence cannot be compressed by having more people on site. A temporary setup with a sink, a fridge and a microwave somewhere else in the house makes the difference between an inconvenience and a genuinely difficult month.

Yes, though it is the decision that moves the budget most. Waste and water have to run to the new position at the right fall, and on a slab that means cutting and making good rather than working under the floor. Gas and electrical connections are licensed work and have to be done by the relevant trade, with the paperwork that comes with it. Rangehood ducting is the piece people forget. Moving a cooktop to an island usually means finding a new route for the exhaust.

A like-for-like replacement in the same footprint generally does not need a building permit, though the plumbing and electrical work still has to be done by licensed trades and certified. It changes once the work does. Removing a wall, altering the structure, or cutting into a slab shifts it into different territory. Apartments add another layer, since owners corporation approval and any conditions on the title can apply regardless of what the building surveyor says.

Often, but whether the wall is load-bearing is a question to answer properly rather than by looking at it. A wall running perpendicular to the ceiling joists is a candidate, though that alone is not proof, and older homes have been altered enough that assumptions are unreliable. Where it is structural, an engineer designs the beam and the supports under each end, and those supports need something solid to land on. The other issue is what is inside the wall. Plumbing, wiring and ducting all need somewhere else to go.