Fitouts

 

As the old adage goes reduce, reuse, recycle. When building and filling your new home, recycled fit-outs not only help reduce the costs of a new home but are also a good green option. New cupboards and fixtures, bench tops, tiles, sinks and appliances all consume materials and energy in their production, transportation and disposal.

One option is to buy a recycled kitchen or bathroom. As homeowners update their homes, a market springs up for pre-loved kitchens and bathrooms, many of them in excellent condition and style, and a fraction of the price of a new kitchen. Pre-loved fit-outs are worth considering if you are building a new home and can design the room around your new pre-loved kitchen. Carpenters can resize cupboards, bench tops - almost everything - and you can on-sell any parts you can't use.

Unsurprisingly, online auction site eBay is a great resource for pre-loved fit-outs. You can search for 'complete kitchens' or 'secondhand kitchens' to see the hundreds of options, and you can sort by 'Distance: nearest first' to find kitchens closest to your home. Other options like Gumtree and AdPost  are worth investigating too.

A handful of companies in Australia specialise in pre-loved kitchens. Secondhand Kitchens list pre-loved kitchens for sale Australia-wide. Homeowners with a kitchen to sell can list them as a classified ad, upload images, dimensions and even YouTube walk-throughs to give you a feel of the kitchen.

Remember to count in the cost of transportation and installation of the kitchen into your final costs.