Share
Hi All.
On everyone's advice, as I go, I'm going to break out my giant post into individual posts - starting with the Kitchen.
I've already received some great advice from everyone and some interesting designs from @redracer01 over here: https://www.workshop.com.au/t5/Whole-of-House/Ideas-tips-and-advice-for-home-reno/td-p/32525/page/2
So, thank you so far 
I'm open to receiving all sorts of ideas, though if we decide to break down the wall between the lounge and kitchen, that area will probably be where our dining room table is. The spot to the left of the kitchen is currently a 1.8m window, which I'm thinking of converting to a sliding door. However, maybe I don't and instead extend the kitchen along that line to the other wall. That would give us a ton more space while not totally losing the windows? But that means access to the future deck area would only be via the laundry (which we will make look nice )
Here are some reference photos of the current kitchen layout and the floor plans:
I'll put what I'm thinking in a separate reply to avoid confusion
Regards
Itai
Yeah ok. I thought Bunnings just paid to advertise on here 
Good to know though, cause I have plenty of questions about non-kitchen bunnings stuff too which I will ask when I get to them!
I totally agree ikea has a lot more sizes. Having had look at your floor plan you deffinitely have the room now that you have taken out that portruding wall near the fridge. The island should fit very well in that space. I saw some online ceiling rangehoods might be worth having a look just to compare prices. I still vote for the separate island as it gives you much better flow in the kitchen. Looking forward to the build and please post updates. We would love to see your kitchen and house renovations from start to finish.
I am a Bunnings team member. Any opinions or recommendations shared here are my own and do not necessarily represent those of Bunnings. Visit the Bunnings website for assistance from the customer service team.
Thanks @redracer01
While Ikea has many sizes, they don't have it all. And vise versa for bunnings. I like the 30cm deep cupboards from bunnings for the island, and also the shorter blind corner (Ikea's is 128). In an ideal world, I could just use both companies together to build the kitchen exactly how I want! Once I get started with the Kitchen, hopefully in Jan, I'll post some pics
Also, thanks for your advice on vacuum laminated being tougher. I had no idea. They do both look great, but everyone raves about 2pac. Though I don't have any special colour choices, so would be happy with vacuum laminated, especially if it's tougher. Interesting what you said about Satin being akin to marks, I would've thought gloss gets marks more easily?
Regards
Itai
Hey All.
We finished the whole house reno, including the kitchen. Thought I'd share all the photos for the kitchen (the rest later). I'm quite proud of myself, I did the whole kitchen myself. The only thing I didn't do was replace the plaster once we tore out the old kitchen (I would've, but we already had a plasterer in the house for the reno, so figured let's save some time). I ended up measuring and choosing cabinets myself, chose the colours with my wife. The bench top was custom made directly by a wood factory based on my dimensions ... and with no margin, it fit perfectly! They even dropped it off and I had them sand and seal it on the spot. What was really cool was I got to go to the wood yard and choose the bits of timber and the order they were laminated in, so I got a benchtop exactly to my spec.
The blue cover panel on the front of the island is custom, made from some 9mm MDF cut-to-size, a spray paint primer and spray paint enamel paint from bunnings. I used spray paint to get the mirror finish!
We were also very concerned about storage, so we went with a variety of internal draws and gadgets to greatly maximise storage space. Every cupboard (except the one on the front of the island) has hidden or smart storage of some sort.
We didn't end up putting the final touches as Vic went into lockdown and I didn't want to buy online, but it's only really some sort of storage for recipe books above the coffee machine. Might make some custom open shelving or something. The wine rack above the fridge I custom made from a cover panel matching the wooden doors.
The hardest part of all of this was getting it square. Even now, it's not perfectly square, but the bubble is within the lines, so should be good. I made sure the sink and oven were square though.
Happy to answer any questions.
Before:
After
During:
That is an amazing transformation you have achieved there. Many kitchens you see these days are fairly generic. You've added some styling here that makes this very unique and you should feel extremely proud of your efforts. I especially like the handles for the cabinetry as I've never seen anything like that before.
I am now even more in favour of bi-fold alfresco doors than I was before.
Congratulations on bringing this all together. I trust our members will be truly inspired by what you have created.
Mitchell
Some lessons learnt along the way:
1. If you sell your old kitchen, then you can actually charge someone to demolish it for you 
2. Levelling cabinets is much harder than I thought, especially when the walls are actually wavy (but you'd never know without a straight edge) and they are definitely not square (approx 2cm difference between top and bottom of tall cabinets at it's worst). Also, the difference changes depending where you are on the wall.
3. You should not paint freshly laid plaster that you intend to tile! I just thought I'd seal it with basecoat for extra protection ... then I googled tiling and saw I should not as it stops the tile adhering correctly to the substrate (the surface you are adhering to). So I spent hours sanding it back and I still find fine dust to this day!
4. Installing an island is much simpler than I thought
5. Make sure you measure the width of the top, bottom AND middle of tall cabinets before permanently fixing the backing on, wood tends to bow over that length
6. Installing an oven and stove is much easier than you'd think, just make sure you have trades for the important bits (electrical / gas)
7. You can cram much more than people say you can cram under the sink ... note the low profile drawer I am using above the bins. It fits a bunch of flat stuff, and tall bottles right on the front. I cut out a small dint on the back of the draw where the sink drain is.
8. If you're beginner, don't use the Dunlop Rubber based tile ready made tile adhesive. You WILL get it everywhere, and it is damn hard to remove once dried. Especially when you're trying to clean up the spaces in between the tiles before grouting. Instead, get yourself a mastic or cement based tile adhesive (make sure it's fit for your purpose). When it dries, it's like drywall compound sort of, and scratch off relatively easily with a scraper.
9. Get funky with your designs, the beauty of flatpacks is if you don't like the doors, or get bored of them, you can swap them out again. The carcass (cabinet without doors and end panels) are irrelevant to the decision. Kaboodle has an amazing range!
10. Cover panels get very expensive very quickly when you deviate from the base colours. Try make your own. MDF wood is great, except near a sink. But also remember, you need to think carefully about what screws you use for MDF so it doesn't just chew up the wood. Alternatively, think about using Marine plywood for a upmarket wood finish if your benchtop is stone / laminate.
11. Installing a kitchen overall is much easier than you think!
We did the entire thing (except for electrical and benchtops) in 3-4 days.
@MitchellMc Thanks mate, appreciate it.
Yeah, I'd love the bi-fold doors ... but my budget is $2.5k supply and installed. And from what I can tell, that's pretty much just the door if I'm lucky. I was quote $6k for supply and install of bi-fold previously 
And I need to stick to budget as we have lots of plans for the outdoor space, including a deck, a DIY pergola of some sort, raised garden beds, new fence all round, water feature / pond, Rain forest style fairy garden, etc.
