Island Kitchen Bench Renovation - Sydney

Hi Guys,

Seeking advice as to whom I should contact in order to have an Island Kitchen Bench extended/modified.

Mind you, I've never ever done any physical changes to a property, EVER, so quite vanilla at all this.

We are looking to change the current island bench as follows:

- Remove raised portion of island to make one flat bench and open up area.
- Change benchtops to engineered stone with overhang for breakfast bar.
- Extend benchtop to wall.
- Include additional drawers and/or bin cupboard in island extension.

I've included some pictures as to illustrate the benchtop in question.

We are looking to get a bit more bench space in the kitchen but also trying to maintain as much of the original bench as possible as really there's nothing wrong with the current setup apart from useable space.

Thinking perhaps Mr Benchtops (http://www.benchtops.com) and have also had a look at Bunnings, etc. for a complete replacement.

Should I be contacting bench top specialists or full kitchen companies?

Any idea of how much to budget for this project?

Bunnings had full engineered stone benches, complete and much bigger than ours for about $3k.

Appreciate your guidance/thoughts.
 

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Hi Schmick,

First you'll need to check if you can get the same doors/drawer fronts made to match the existing in your kitchen. If not, you'll need to replace all the kitchen doors/drawer fronts so they all match (or do a few feature contrast doors perhaps).

A new cabinet could easily be installed between the wall and the existing kitchen island, but it would probably need to be custom made (unless it is exactly the same width as an off-the-shelf kitchen base unit). In any case, the kick strip will need to be completely replaced as will the back panel (facing your dining table). The waterfall bench top goes in last of course and could be done independently of the cabinets. This would save you quite a bit of money - organising the stone bench-top installer yourself.

I wouldn't go to a kitchen company as you will find yourself paying almost double what you need to.

I'm all about paying people to do stuff for me and not scrimping and saving but I really believe you will pay a lot more for this small amount of work than you need to (if someone else manages the process for you).

Hope that helps!
 
Hi Schmick,
Jane's advice is pretty much right on...... It all depends what's there now and how much you want to. Change within your budget.

{deleted}

Good luck with the project!
Cheers
 
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Hi Schmick,

First you'll need to check if you can get the same doors/drawer fronts made to match the existing in your kitchen. If not, you'll need to replace all the kitchen doors/drawer fronts so they all match (or do a few feature contrast doors perhaps).

A new cabinet could easily be installed between the wall and the existing kitchen island, but it would probably need to be custom made (unless it is exactly the same width as an off-the-shelf kitchen base unit). In any case, the kick strip will need to be completely replaced as will the back panel (facing your dining table). The waterfall bench top goes in last of course and could be done independently of the cabinets. This would save you quite a bit of money - organising the stone bench-top installer yourself.

I wouldn't go to a kitchen company as you will find yourself paying almost double what you need to.

I'm all about paying people to do stuff for me and not scrimping and saving but I really believe you will pay a lot more for this small amount of work than you need to (if someone else manages the process for you).

Hope that helps!

the doors and panels are a simple bevelled edge top poly painted and it will be hard to match colours even knowing what they were .
 
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Hey Schmick,

I've had some really good experiences with general flatpack kitchen installers - one in particular that a local bunnings store put me onto, turned out he can do everything to do with removing, installing, cutting benchtops etc and is quite affordable. Perhaps looking for a general handyman type kitchen installer might be an affordable solution!
 
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Hi All,

Thanks for all your recommendations and different angles to tackle this project.

Currently investigating a few options so I'll report back as the project moves forward.

Just out of curiosity also, how difficult is it to replace an electric oven?

Cheers.


Victor.
 
Hey All,

So I got a quote back from the original kitchen installers to extend the bench to wall, add a few more cupboards and bin tidy, replace stone with 30mm Ceaser on both Island and Cooktop, price was $5,800 (incl. GST) all inclusive.

Does that sound expensive? I've asked for a breakdown, I suspect most of that is the stone but ~$2,000 for the cabinetry sounds expensive!

I'm not familiar with how Islands are manufactured, are they generally just a heap of base cabinets put together or is it a custom manufacture generally?

We are doing the floors (replacing with Bamboo), so we're thinking about totally removing the island now and installing maybe a new 'feature' island?

Given the colour scheme any suggests as to what would look good?

Also, can somebody point me in the right idea as to what cabinets (Flat Pack) I'd need to buy and/or get manufactured?

Sorry for the noviceness, my first project and as you can tell, I'm not handy at all! =(
 
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