Melbourne Renovation Planning Guide
Open-Plan Kitchen & Living Renovations Melbourne
Opening the kitchen into dining and living areas can transform how a home works — but it is usually much more than taking out a wall and installing new cabinetry.
Start With the Whole Space
Do Not Design the Kitchen in Isolation
When a kitchen opens into dining and living areas, every decision starts affecting the next room. Island position changes circulation. Wall removal changes structure. Flooring needs to run through old room boundaries. Lighting, heating and cooling need to work across a larger zone.
Brownlow treats this type of project as a coordinated home renovation rather than a cabinetry replacement.
What an Open-Plan Kitchen Renovation Actually Involves
The visible result might look simple: one larger room, a new kitchen and better flow. The work behind it can touch structure, services and finishes across a substantial part of the ground floor.
Structural Openings
Removing or widening walls can require engineering, temporary support, beams, posts, footing checks and careful integration with the existing building.
Layout & Circulation
The kitchen, dining and living zones need to work together once walls disappear. Island size, walkways, furniture, doors and access to outside all matter.
Floors & Ceilings
Old walls leave gaps, level changes and finish transitions behind. Flooring, plaster, cornices, bulkheads and ceilings often need broader work than homeowners first expect.
Lighting & Electrical
Once rooms merge, the lighting plan and power layout should be reconsidered across the whole space, not just around the kitchen cabinetry.
Ventilation & Services
Rangehood ducting, heating and cooling, plumbing, gas and electrical services may need to move or be upgraded as the layout changes.
Connection to the Home
Open-plan work should improve how the home functions overall, including daylight, storage, outdoor connection and the relationship with laundries, hallways and adjoining rooms.
The Structural Question
“Can We Just Take That Wall Out?”
Sometimes. But first we need to understand what the wall is doing. Load-bearing walls can support upper floors, roof structure or other parts of the home. Removing them can introduce beams, posts, new load paths, footing work and temporary propping.
Victorian consumer guidance states that structural building work requires an appropriately registered practitioner and a building permit. The project-specific solution should be developed with the structural engineer and building surveyor rather than decided on site after demolition starts.
Victorian guidance for extensions and renovationsInternal Reconfiguration
If the home already has enough floor area, opening and rearranging existing rooms can create a much better result without adding new building footprint.
Kitchen + Living Extension
If the existing footprint cannot deliver the room size, storage or outdoor connection you need, an extension may be the better solution.
The Details That Make or Break the Finished Space
Island position and walkways
A large island can look impressive on a plan but become frustrating if it pinches circulation, clashes with appliance doors or dominates the living zone.
Kitchen noise and visual clutter
Open-plan living puts the kitchen on display. Pantry storage, appliance placement and where everyday mess lands should be considered early.
Rangehood and ventilation
The extraction path matters more when cooking opens directly into the living space. Duct routing needs to be resolved with cabinetry, ceilings and the external envelope.
Lighting layers
Kitchen task lighting, dining lighting and living-room ambience need to operate as one plan rather than three unrelated rooms.
Floor continuity
Removing walls can expose missing flooring or level differences. The best result may require broader replacement or refinishing rather than a visible patch where the old wall sat.
Heating and cooling
Changing wall layouts and room volume can alter how the existing system performs. The mechanical strategy should be checked against the new configuration.
Furniture and television locations
The renovation should be designed around how the living room will actually be furnished, not just around the kitchen elevation.
Outdoor connection
If the rear of the home is being opened up, doors, glazing, thresholds and covered outdoor areas should be considered with the internal layout.
Older Melbourne Homes: Investigate Before Demolition
Opening up an older home can uncover more than structure. Existing electrical work, old plumbing, moisture damage, previous alterations and asbestos-containing materials may all affect the scope.
Where refurbishment or demolition may disturb asbestos-containing material, WorkSafe Victoria recommends identifying the material and managing removal appropriately before it is disturbed.
WorkSafe Victoria asbestos informationPlanning, Building Permits & Approvals
Structural work and open-plan reconfiguration should be assessed before construction starts. A building permit is required for structural work, while planning approval is a separate issue that depends on the property, proposed works, zoning and any applicable overlays.
Victorian planning schemes use zones and overlays to apply property-specific controls. Not every internal renovation needs planning approval, but an extension, heritage property or other site-specific control can change the pathway.
Brownlow's Design + Build Approach
Brownlow starts by understanding what the homeowner is actually trying to achieve — more space, better flow, more storage, stronger outdoor connection, or all of the above. From there, the existing home and likely structural implications are reviewed before detailed selections get too far ahead.
Understand how the current kitchen and living areas fail, what needs to improve and the budget territory the client is comfortable exploring.
Review layout, structure, access, levels, visible existing conditions and likely service implications.
Set an early budget direction before detailed design and cabinetry selections progress too far.
Develop the layout, engineering, consultant input, selections, trade pricing and approval pathway needed to define the project.
Coordinate structural work, services, kitchen installation and adjoining renovation work as one construction sequence.
Open-Plan Kitchen Renovation FAQs
Can I remove a wall between my kitchen and living room?
Often yes, but the wall first needs to be assessed. If it is structural or the opening changes the way loads are supported, engineering and a building permit will be required. The final solution depends on the existing construction.
Do I need a building permit for an open-plan kitchen renovation in Victoria?
If the project includes structural work, Victorian consumer guidance says a building permit is required. Non-structural work can be different, so the actual scope should be checked with the appointed building surveyor. Planning approval is a separate question and depends on the property and planning controls.
Is an open-plan kitchen renovation the same as a kitchen replacement?
No. A replacement kitchen may keep the existing room and services largely intact. An open-plan renovation can involve walls, beams, floors, ceilings, lighting, services, windows, doors and adjoining living areas, so the construction scope is broader.
Should I extend the house or reconfigure the existing floor plan?
That depends on whether the existing footprint can deliver the space and circulation you need. Internal reconfiguration can be very effective when the floor area is already there. If the home genuinely needs more area, a rear or side extension may be the better design path.
How do I budget for an open-plan kitchen and living renovation?
Start by separating the kitchen cost from the structural and adjoining renovation work. Brownlow uses an early budget direction first, then develops the design, structural requirements, selections and scope before preparing a detailed construction quotation.
Thinking About Opening Up Your Kitchen & Living Areas?
Talk to Brownlow Building about the existing layout, the walls you want to change, your kitchen plans and whether the project is an internal reconfiguration or part of a larger renovation or extension.