I'm in the very fortunate situation of installing a new kitchen in my home, with the aim of using it to make my little cake business bigger and better! I've spoken with local council (I'm just outside of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia) about making sure everything is council-compliant.

I have a few big decisions to make on appliances and materials. Thoughts or advice would be greatly appreciated!...

Oven - I definitely want a 90 cm wide oven, at least! Currently we have electric access only, but installing gas is an option. I've mostly used gas until this house and don't have a strong prefernce either way. Thoughts?

Dishwasher - needs to reach 80 degrees celsius for 2 minutes to be classed as my sanitisation area. This saves me from needing multiple sinks in one domestic kitchen. Any experience with brands that aren't crazy expensive that would reach high temps?

Stone benchtop vs laminate or other - I've always dreamed of having stone benchtops, but am now questioning this as they don't seem to be as resilliant as I'd expected, from what I've read. - Chips and scratches etc and then difficult and expensive to repair. Also, the obvious price difference.

That's just a start of the decisions to make - but I have to start somewhere! Thanks :)

If I was given the option I'd do a gas stove for controlling the heat on the cooktop and sugar work, but I'm also afraid of gas so I'd be conflicted! Whatever you do, don't let anyone talk you into the smooth glass cooktops on an electric stove, they're bad for sugar work and hard to control the heat. I hate mine.

Good to know... thank you! :)

I have dual fuel so gas on top and electric for the oven - my husband wanted the gas stove top as he is an ex-chef but I find it a real pain in the backside  to clean the stove top (funnily enough he never wants to clean it)  there are these big heavy (cast iron?) black frame things and then there are the burners themselves with a  top piece, metal ring part and then the stainless steel base underneath ugh. We don't have gas to our house so we have a big gas bottle outside - places pick up and deliver them (we are in a regional area of NSW) but the upside is the gas is pretty cheap the bottles last for ages (years for us as we only use it for stove top).  Definitely go for the 90cm you can fit 2 trays of cupcakes (12 hole) side by side on each shelf and really large cake tins the size is definitely the best thing about it.

Sorry I can't comment on the dishwasher or benchtops. Good luck with your new kitchen

Very helpful! Thanks so much :)

Granite countertop (bench top)won't scratch or stain. Marble scratches easy. 

I have had granite countertops in other house. Now I have plastic(laminated) countertop. My opinion, it's not worth it to install granite counter top in separate kitchen for cake business.

Plastic counter top cost me $700.00

Granite (quoted) $4,000.00

All I want to add is...I'm so jealous!  Lucky!  Someday...  Good luck and post pics when you're done and let us know what you end up doing,  That way I can live vicariously through you.

All I want to add is...I'm so jealous!  Lucky!  Someday...  Good luck and post pics when you're done and let us know what you end up doing,  That way I can live vicariously through you.

Advice appreciated! Thanks to all.

next step...making sure it's all council approved so I can get my food safety certification. This could be quite a process! Stay tuned...:-)

Congrats on the new kitchen! That's very exciting! When I did mine I was conflicted about the countertops so did a lot of research. I looked at laminate, stainless steel, granite and quartz. Ended up going with quartz. It has similar properties to granite (beautiful look, stays cool, etc.), but because it's a composite material, it's easier to do repairs if necessary, it doesn't require annual sealing like granite. It doesn't stain or scratch easily. And the biggest selling point for me... it has antimicrobial properties. It's expensive, but so worth it.

You are so lucky. I also prefer gas stove top. However, we will be going solar and I will go for electric, so If everything in your home is electric hookup I would just stick to electric and do a lot of research on electric stoves. It will be great if you can share pictures of your finished kitchen