Kitchen Renovation and Consents

davonz

We're planning to renovate our 70s kitchen. The kitchen renovation of cupboards, benches etc I would imagine not require any Council consents. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

However, we will be replacing 2 wooden windows with aluminium ones and the exterior of one wall will have the weatherboards replaced due to rot. Will these require consents?

sportz

davonz, Schedule One of the Building Act outlines what you can do yourself. The kitchen work should be fine as long as you use a plumber where required. Replacing the windows yourself should be ok unless you are doing structural changes to the lintels and there is more in schedule one about acceptable quality.

Replacing the weatherboards due to rot should also be ok. All building work has to comply with the buiilding code (except a repair, presumably, where you may be replacing like for like). The easiest resource for understanding current building requirements and methods is the Branz Acceptable Solutions for a Simple House.

davonz

sportz Thanks for the info. I'll have a look at the Schedule but I may be back with more questions.

Cheers.

pr0

Hello @davonz

Depending on your answers to these questions, I may be able to offer you some advice on kitchen design:

Are you employing a qualified kitchen designer and or installer? Are you intending to maintain the existing unit’s footprint? Are the major components such as sink, cooker, dishwasher and refrigerator being retained in the same positions and are there any new additions? Are you changing energy type – say gas for electric? Are you raising the floor level with ceramic tiles?

Decisions in order of importance are generally: Choose your door / drawer material first as it is the most restrictive – Your Bench material linking to your doors next – Your floor material linking both the above next – Your glass / tiled splash-backs next - And your wall surfacing last as there you have the most choice.

Specifications such as soft-close drawers vs metal sided drawers on runners, Granite vs Laminated plastic benches Etc are determined by your budget and this should be determined by the value of your finished property – I have found that most Owners start with a budget that does not equate to their desires and here is where a professional designer assists in helping set your priorities.

Regards

davonz

pr0 Thanks for your reply. To answer your questions;

Are you employing a qualified kitchen designer and or installer? Looking to design ourselves using kitsets and experienced builder will be installing.

Are you intending to maintain the existing unit’s footprint? Yes.

Are the major components such as sink, cooker, dishwasher and refrigerator being retained in the same positions and are there any new additions? Only the refrigerator will be relocated and no new additions.

Are you changing energy type – say gas for electric? Remote possibility of changing to gas cooking for which supply is already in place for water heating.

Are you raising the floor level with ceramic tiles? No, probably staying with vinyl flooring.

Our budget is about $15k and I will be helping the builder for part of the work. I will also be doing the painting.

Thanks again for your advice.

Guess-what

Hey @davonz , may I know what's your budget for your kitchen renovation? Just day-before-yesterday my friend shared an article "Total Kitchen Renovation for 5k Makeover" with me. The way the family have designed their kitchen to new standards in $5k, its really encouraging for DIY lovers. Additionally, for other kitchen accessories & other house decor accessories I think the lovely products at zopalo.com I found are ideal to give a modern look to your house. Please let me know if you are interested in reading that article. I'll share it here.

davonz

Guess-what Hi Mason. Our budget is about $15k but I certainly would be interested in reading the article you have referred to.

GreenKeeper

That's right! We should also consider the budget in working things out in our home. This is also to happen to be the most expensive part of the house to remodel. Good luck! 🙂

lionsong

It could be great idea. Well, renovating kitchen of your type takes planning and thought. But, it has a higher penalty for a work without consent and a requirement that consumers need.

Talker

There is lots of information about Exempt Work (Schedule 1 of the Building Act 2004).
This is a use MBIE document