Planning a kitchen renovation in Adelaide, including the engineered stone ban

Note whether you cook from scratch or mostly reheat, and whether two cooks, children or an older relative share the space. Each changes the prep bench, walkway and seating you need.

Empty a few cupboards and group what you own by where it is used:

A galley suits the narrow rooms in many older Adelaide homes but gets tight with two cooks. An L-shape opens naturally to a meals area; a U-shape gives generous bench space but needs well-planned corners. An island needs a walkway on every side, so a narrow room may suit a peninsula. A sink or cooktop in an island means running services through the floor or ceiling.

A butler's pantry, or scullery, is a smaller room behind the kitchen with bench space, shelving and often a second sink and dishwasher, keeping mess out of sight of open-plan living areas. It works when the main kitchen keeps enough bench space and the walk between them is short, and a door to the laundry or garage helps with groceries.

Cooking in it needs its own extraction. In a smaller home, a wall of tall cupboards with pocket doors can do a similar job.

A benchtop is fitted to the cabinets beneath it. New doors or a repaint can work around an existing top, but new cabinets usually mean lifting it, which is removal, and drilling a tap hole or enlarging a cut-out is modification. You can't buy new engineered stone to patch an old top.

Tell your builder about the benchtop at the start, and never cut or break it up yourself.

Tiles are versatile, though grout near the cooktop needs more cleaning. Glass, porcelain or natural stone slabs give fewer joints, and stainless steel behind a cooktop wears well. Check the cooktop manufacturer's clearances to splashbacks and rangehoods before the design is finalised.

A rangehood ducted outside removes steam, grease and smells far more effectively than a recirculating model. Plan a short, direct duct route through the roof or an external wall at the design stage. Under a second storey, this takes more thought.

Layer general ceiling lights, task lighting under wall cupboards and over the island so you aren't working in your own shadow, and softer lighting for evenings.

Homes on suspended timber floors, like many villas and bungalows, often let pipes be rerouted through the subfloor. On a concrete slab, moving the sink to an island usually means trenching the slab for the waste pipe. Plumbing, gas and electrical work must be done by appropriately licensed trades.

Older walls may need straightening before cabinets go in, and new flooring mustn't trap the dishwasher under the benchtop.

Most projects run from protection and demolition through structural work, services rough-in and plastering to cabinetry, benchtops, splashback and fit-off. Natural stone, porcelain and sintered benchtops are usually templated once the cabinets are in, so expect a pause before they're fitted.

Set up a temporary kitchen with the fridge, microwave and kettle, use the laundry trough for washing up, and ask which days water, power or gas will be off.

Salt damp — rising damp that carries salts into masonry — is common in older Adelaide stone and brick homes, especially where the original damp-proof course has failed or been bridged by paths, garden beds or render. The right treatment depends on the cause, and work on heritage-listed places may need approval.

Removing old cabinets often exposes it, so deal with the cause before new plaster and cabinetry go in.

If your home was built or renovated before 1990, it is likely to contain asbestos — for example in fibro wall or eave sheeting, older wet-area linings, vinyl floor tiles and their backing, or some roofing and fencing. Asbestos has been banned in Australia since 31 December 2003. Suspect materials should be checked before any demolition, and where the law requires a licensed removalist (any friable asbestos, or more than 10 m² of non-friable asbestos), removal must be done by a SafeWork SA–licensed asbestos removalist.

In kitchens, have layered vinyl flooring and fibro linings checked early.

You can check any South Australian builder's licence, including ours, on the Consumer and Business Services (CBS) 'Find a licence holder' register.

Bright Building & Renovations doesn't design kitchens. We work as the builder alongside your designer or cabinetmaker across metropolitan Adelaide, the Adelaide Hills and the Fleurieu Peninsula, and you can talk through the building side of your plans directly with a director.