A Brisbane kitchen renovation typically costs $18,000 to $45,000, which covers the great majority of owner-occupier projects. Below that you are refacing rather than renovating; above it you are into custom joinery, stone and appliance packages beyond what most households need.
Brisbane sits below Sydney and Melbourne on labour rates, and its housing stock offers one genuine advantage: a large share of homes sit on stumps with an accessible subfloor, which makes relocating plumbing and electrical dramatically cheaper than in slab-built cities. If you want to move the sink, Brisbane is the best capital in Australia to do it in.
A related guide to consider while planning this work is Bathroom Renovation Costs in Brisbane: Real Prices, Real Timelines.
What You Pay at Each Level
- $15,000 to $24,000 — flat-pack or entry-level custom carcasses, laminate or compact laminate benchtops, mid-tier appliances, layout unchanged. Suitable for rentals and pre-sale refreshes.
- $24,000 to $40,000 — custom cabinetry built to your dimensions, low-silica composite or porcelain benchtops, an island, integrated dishwasher, quality cooktop, and a modest layout change.
- $40,000 to $70,000 — full custom joinery in two-pack or veneer, a butler’s pantry, premium appliances, natural stone or large-format porcelain, and a genuine reconfiguration with relocated services.
- $70,000 to $150,000-plus — designer kitchens with book-matched stone, integrated refrigeration, specialty finishes and bespoke detailing.
Most Brisbane family homes land between $28,000 and $45,000 — the point at which the kitchen is genuinely custom, the finishes will last fifteen years, and nothing has been compromised for a photograph.
The Cost Breakdown
Cabinetry — 35 to 45 per cent
Brisbane cabinetmakers price by linear metre. Current 2026 rates:
- Flat-pack, self-assembled — $450 to $850 per linear metre supply only
- Flat-pack, professionally installed — $1,000 to $1,500 per linear metre
- Custom melamine or laminate finish — $1,450 to $2,150 per linear metre installed
- Custom two-pack polyurethane — $2,150 to $3,100 per linear metre installed
- Custom timber veneer or specialty finish — $2,900 to $4,600 per linear metre installed
A typical Brisbane kitchen contains six to nine linear metres including the island.
Worth paying for inside the cabinet, and more so in this climate: moisture-resistant board throughout, not just in the sink run. Brisbane’s humidity works on standard particle board over a decade in a way that southern capitals do not. Also specify full-extension soft-close runners, 18mm carcasses, and a properly scribed toe-kick.
Benchtops — 10 to 20 per cent
Since the national ban on high-silica engineered stone, the market has moved to low-silica and silica-free composites, porcelain and natural stone. Brisbane rates, supplied and installed:
- Laminate — $270 to $530 per square metre
- Compact laminate — $620 to $980 per square metre
- Low-silica or silica-free composite — $720 to $1,250 per square metre
- Porcelain slab — $900 to $1,750 per square metre
- Natural granite — $820 to $1,450 per square metre
- Marble and specialty stone — $1,250 to $3,100 per square metre
Detailing is where quotes diverge. A 20mm square edge is standard; a 40mm mitred edge adds around 25 per cent; a waterfall end adds $1,000 to $2,700; an undermount sink cut-out with a drainer groove adds $350 to $800.
Appliances — 10 to 25 per cent
A sensible mid-range package — 600mm oven, induction cooktop, integrated dishwasher, ducted rangehood — costs $3,800 to $7,200. Premium European with a pyrolytic oven and 900mm induction runs $10,500 to $18,000. Integrated refrigeration pushes past $35,000.
The honest assessment: the gap between a good $2,000 oven and a $7,000 one is real but modest. The gap between a $400 rangehood and a $1,400 one is enormous, and in Brisbane’s humidity, extraction rate determines whether cooking moisture and grease settle on your new cabinetry.
Trades — 15 to 25 per cent
- Demolition and disposal — $1,000 to $3,000
- Plumbing, existing locations — $1,200 to $2,400
- Plumbing with relocated sink and dishwasher — $1,500 to $4,500 in a timber-floored home; $3,000 to $7,000 over a slab
- Electrical, new circuits and lighting — $2,000 to $5,200
- Gas work and certification — $700 to $1,800
- Plastering and patching — $1,000 to $3,000
- Painting — $1,000 to $2,600
- Flooring, if replaced — $70 to $190 per square metre installed
- Splashback tiling or glass — $750 to $3,000
The Brisbane Variables
The accessible subfloor advantage
This is the genuine Brisbane upside. In a Queenslander or any raised timber-floored home, a plumber can get underneath and reroute waste and supply lines without cutting concrete. Relocating a sink might cost $1,500 here against $4,000 to $8,000 in a slab-on-ground home where core drilling and new falls are required.
The practical implication: in Brisbane, a genuinely better kitchen layout is often affordable. Do not assume you must design around the existing plumbing positions the way owners in slab-built cities must.
Termites and moisture
The kitchen is a common termite entry point in Brisbane homes, because it combines timber framing, water and often a sink cabinet nobody has looked inside for fifteen years. While the kitchen is stripped:
- Inspect the wall frame behind the old cabinetry for termite workings and rot
- Check the subfloor beneath for moisture and damaged bearers
- Confirm the dishwasher and sink waste are properly connected and not discharging into the subfloor
- Ensure any termite management system remains intact where the work penetrates it
Remediation found at this stage costs $2,000 to $15,000. Found five years later, it costs considerably more.
Ventilation
In a subtropical climate, cooking moisture that is not extracted settles on cabinetry, walls and ceilings and encourages mould. Rangehood specification matters more here than in southern cities.
- Duct externally, not recirculating, wherever the building allows
- Size the extraction rate to the room volume and the cooktop
- Duct diameter and run length matter more than fan power — a strong hood on a long convoluted duct performs poorly
- Canopy coverage at least as wide as the cooktop
- Check the noise rating — an inline or external motor is much quieter in an open-plan space
The character overlay
Internal kitchen work is rarely caught by the Traditional Building Character Overlay, which regulates demolition and street-visible change. But if your kitchen renovation involves a new external window, an altered opening, or removing part of a pre-1947 dwelling, a development application may be triggered. Check the overlay before assuming internal work is unconstrained.
Whether a wall comes out
Opening a Brisbane kitchen into a living area and out to a deck is the most requested change in the city. If the wall is non-structural, removal and making good costs $1,700 to $3,800. If it is load-bearing, you need engineering, a steel or LVL beam, temporary propping and new footings or stumps under point loads: $6,500 to $13,000, and it requires building approval.
Layouts That Work in Brisbane Homes
The Queenslander
Original Queenslander kitchens were small, at the rear, and separated from the living areas. The standard successful move is to remove the wall between the kitchen and the adjacent room, creating a single space that opens through wide doors to a deck.
Design priorities specific to this house type: keep the ceiling height, which is one of the building’s best qualities; position the kitchen so it does not block the cross-ventilation path from front to back; and make the connection to the deck as wide and as level as possible, because in Brisbane the deck is where people actually are.
The lowset brick home
Middle-ring Brisbane homes typically have a kitchen at the rear with a separate dining room. The highest-value change is opening the two into one space with an L-shaped kitchen and a parallel island, then opening that to an outdoor room. Keep the island at 900 to 1,000mm from the bench run.
The build-under level
Where a house has been raised, the new lower level frequently contains a second living area and sometimes a kitchenette or full kitchen. Plumbing is straightforward because the services are already running through that space, but check ceiling height carefully — 2.4 metres minimum for habitable rooms — and consider how the space will be ventilated.
Apartments
Brisbane apartments impose slab constraints on waste relocation, and the body corporate controls what you can touch. See our guide to apartment renovation and body corporate approvals in Brisbane.
Storage and the Things People Regret
The most common complaint about a finished kitchen is not the benchtop. It is that there is nowhere to put things.
- Drawers rather than cupboards in base cabinetry — nothing is lost at the back
- Full-height cabinetry rather than a dust-collecting gap above; in a Queenslander with high ceilings, this is a large amount of recovered storage
- An appliance garage for kettle, toaster and coffee machine
- Deep pot drawers beside the cooktop with a spice and oil pull-out in reach
- A butler’s pantry where space allows, particularly where the kitchen is visible from a living area
- Purpose-sized bin storage matched to council bin dimensions
- A dedicated place for the outdoor serving gear near the door to the deck — a small Brisbane-specific point that gets used daily
Before finalising, empty the current kitchen onto the dining table and count what is actually stored. Most households need more drawer volume and fewer overhead cupboards than a standard layout provides.
Lighting
A properly lit kitchen has three layers: task lighting under the overheads illuminating the benchtop directly; ambient lighting positioned over circulation space rather than over the bench, so you are not standing between the light and your work; and feature lighting over an island at 750 to 900mm above the benchtop.
Specify a consistent 2,700K to 3,000K colour temperature and put each layer on its own dimmable switch. This costs almost nothing at rough-in and cannot be added later without opening the ceiling. In a Queenslander with a raked or high ceiling, consider pendants and surface fittings rather than downlights, which are hard to place well and compromise ceiling insulation.
Timelines
- Design and quoting — 2 to 4 weeks
- Building approval where required — 2 to 4 weeks
- Demolition and services rough-in — 1 week
- Joinery manufacture — 4 to 6 weeks after site measure
- Installation, stone template and fit — 2 to 3 weeks, with a 7 to 10 day gap mid-install for stone
- Splashback, painting and fit-off — 1 week
Three to four months from first call to finished kitchen is normal in Brisbane.
Comparing Quotes and Verifying the Builder
Confirm every quote states linear metres of cabinetry and carcass material; the specific benchtop product, thickness and edge detail; whether appliances are supplied or a provisional sum allowed; which trades are included; whether demolition, disposal and making good are in scope; whether painting and flooring are included; the handle allowance; whether building approval is required and who obtains it; and what happens if termite damage or rot is found behind the old cabinetry.
Then verify the licence. In Queensland a QBCC licence is required for building work over $3,300, and Queensland Home Warranty Scheme cover is compulsory above the same threshold — which captures essentially every kitchen renovation. Check the licence on the QBCC register and confirm the warranty premium is being paid. Using an unlicensed contractor can void your access to that cover. See our guide to vetting a Brisbane builder.
Saving Money Without Losing Quality
- Mix cabinetry finishes. Two-pack on doors people touch, melamine inside and in the pantry. Saves 10 to 15 per cent of joinery cost.
- Design to a single stone slab. Crossing into a second slab can add $2,000 for material you barely use.
- Standard-size appliances. Non-standard sizes force custom cabinet dimensions across the whole kitchen.
- Reface where carcasses are sound. $7,000 to $16,000 against $24,000 to $40,000 — but check for moisture swelling first, which in Brisbane is common.
- Book off-peak. Brisbane cabinetmakers are busiest August to November.
The kitchens people remain happy with a decade on are rarely the most expensive. They are the ones where the layout suited how the household cooks, the extraction was strong enough to keep the room clean, and the connection to the outdoor living space was as generous as the budget allowed.
Working Around a Kitchen That Is Not Square
Brisbane’s older timber homes present a joinery challenge that newer housing does not. In a settled Queenslander, walls are commonly out of plumb, corners are not at 90 degrees, and the floor falls across the room. Cabinetry built square and installed into that space shows the discrepancy as a tapering gap.
How good Brisbane cabinetmakers handle it:
- Scribe fillers at the ends of runs and against walls, cut to follow the actual wall line
- Scribed toe-kicks following the floor rather than packed to a level line
- Site measure after demolition, not before — measuring over old linings produces cabinetry that does not fit
- Benchtop templating after installation, so the stone follows the wall
- A shadow line or reveal detail where cabinetry meets a wall, which absorbs discrepancy far better than a butt joint
- Levelling the floor first where the fall exceeds what scribing can absorb
This is the practical reason custom cabinetry outperforms flat-pack in Brisbane’s older stock. Flat-pack assumes square, and the packing required to install it in an out-of-square Queenslander frequently undermines the saving.
Checking What Is Behind the Old Kitchen
The kitchen strip-out is one of the best opportunities you will get to inspect the house, and in Brisbane that opportunity is worth taking seriously.
While the cabinetry is out and before the new linings go on:
- Inspect the wall frame for termite workings and rot, particularly behind the sink and along any external wall
- Check the subfloor beneath for moisture, damaged bearers and blocked vents
- Confirm the dishwasher and sink wastes are properly connected and not discharging into the subfloor — a surprisingly common defect that keeps timber permanently damp
- Verify the termite management system remains intact where any new work penetrates it
- Photograph everything before it is closed up
Remediation found at this stage costs $2,000 to $15,000. Found five years later, after the new kitchen is installed over it, it costs considerably more — and the new joinery comes out to reach it.
The Connection to Outside
The single design decision that most affects how a Brisbane kitchen is used is how it connects to the covered outdoor area.
A related guide to consider while planning this work is How Much Does a Home Renovation Cost in Brisbane? A 2026 Price Guide.
Worth resolving at design stage: a wide opening rather than a standard door; a near-flush threshold with a drainage grate; a servery or bench that works from both sides; storage for outdoor serving gear near that door; and a layout where someone cooking is not cut off from the people outside. In this climate the outdoor room is where the household actually is for much of the year, and a kitchen that turns its back on it is a kitchen that gets used less.