Killara · Ku-ring-gai
Kitchen renovations in Killara.
Killara is 55% houses and 43% apartments, and a lot of our work here is people moving between the two. Fitting a house-sized kitchen into an apartment is mostly a storage problem, and it is solvable.
NSW contractor licence 397801C · Ku-ring-gai Council area · About 17 minutes from our Hornsby showroom
Apartments — 42.6% of Killara
Moving from the house to the unit.
The 2021 Census counted 1,575 flats against 2,020 houses in Killara — the narrowest gap in Ku-ring-gai. A large share of our apartment work here is people who have just left a house in the same suburb.
Count what you actually cook with
Most of a large kitchen is things used twice a year. The honest audit comes before the joinery drawing, not after.
Deep drawers beat cupboards
You can see and reach everything in a drawer. In a smaller kitchen that is the difference between usable and crammed.
Full height, right to the ceiling
Apartment ceilings are lower, so the overhead run has to go all the way up. A bulkhead gap is wasted storage.
Renovate before you move in
An empty unit halves the disruption and lets trades overlap. It is much the easier sequence if you can manage it.
Killara by the numbers
3,700
occupied private dwellings in Killara
42.6%
flats or apartments
39.4%
owned outright
43.8%
of homes have four or more bedrooms
Houses — 54.7% of Killara
And the freestanding half.
2,020 separate houses. With 39.4% of Killara homes owned outright these are mostly long-hold properties, so the sensible brief is a kitchen that still works in twenty years rather than one that photographs well now.
The plumbing can move
With subfloor access the sink and dishwasher can go where the layout wants them, not where they happen to be.
Ducted extraction, properly
An external wall means a real rangehood rather than a carbon filter. It is a meaningfully better room to cook in.
Build in for later now
A wall oven at chest height and drawers rather than base cupboards. Cheap at design stage, expensive afterwards.
How it runs
The inventory comes first.
On a downsize the question is not what fits the room — it is what fits your life, and then designing to it.
01
Inventory, then design
On a downsizing job we start from what you are keeping. The cabinet schedule follows the contents, not a template.
02
Scope to the committee
In a unit, lodged before settlement where possible so approval and handover line up.
03
Joinery made to the millimetre
Apartment kitchens have no forgiveness in them. Everything is measured on site, not assumed from a plan.
04
Services and install
Plumbing and electrical, then cabinets, working around the building's access hours and lift bookings.
05
Template and return
Benchtop measured off the fitted carcasses and installed on a second visit, as with any kitchen.
Credentials
Licensed for houses and for strata.
NSW contractor licence
397801C
Renova Holdings Pty Ltd
Builder
99764S
Alireza Kamalzadeh
Accessible work
NDIS and aged care
We build from OT recommendations
HBCF eligibility
To 15 Oct 2028
icare NSW
Dwelling, tenure and bedroom figures from the ABS 2021 Census QuickStats for Killara, NSW (SAL12137). Renovation by-laws and lot boundaries in strata are matters for your owners corporation — general guidance from NSW Fair Trading. Verify licences on the NSW Government public register.
Killara questions
Downsizing, and staying put.
How do we fit a house kitchen into an apartment?
By being honest about what you use. Most large kitchens hold a great deal that gets touched once or twice a year, and carrying all of it into a smaller room is what makes the smaller room feel impossible. We start from an inventory of what you are keeping and design the cabinetry to it, rather than fitting standard modules and hoping.
Drawers or cupboards?
Drawers, in almost every case, and particularly in a smaller kitchen. You can see and reach the whole contents without kneeling, which is both a usability and a long-term accessibility argument. They cost more per linear metre and it is the upgrade people are consistently glad they made.
Should we renovate before moving in?
If the timing allows, yes. An empty apartment lets trades overlap, removes all the daily protection work and means you are not living in a building site. The obstacle is that owners corporation approval usually cannot be lodged until you own the lot, so the window is tight. We prepare the scope so it can go in immediately.
Can we move the sink in a Killara unit?
Usually only a short distance along the same wall. The waste has to fall to an existing point and there is limited depth in a suspended slab. On the house side of Killara the answer is completely different — with subfloor access the plumbing can generally go wherever the layout needs it.
What should we build in for the long term?
A wall oven at chest height rather than under the bench, drawers instead of base cupboards, lever tapware and good task lighting on the bench. All are ordinary design choices that cost little now, none of them look like accessibility features, and every one of them matters more each decade.
Moving, or staying?
The two briefs are completely different. Tell us which and we'll design to it.
