What Does a Commercial Kitchen Fitout Actually Cost in Brisbane?

What Is Included in a Commercial Kitchen Fitout?

A commercial kitchen fitout covers every fixed surface and built-in element that makes a kitchen compliant, functional, and inspectable under Queensland food safety law. For the stainless steel scope, that typically means custom prep benches and sink benches, a commercial exhaust canopy, wall cladding and splashbacks, shelving and racking, and any pass-through or service counters the operation requires.

Each element is quoted separately and as a combined package. The total depends on the configuration of your kitchen, the grades and gauges specified, the length of the cooking line, and the duct run required for the canopy. No two kitchens produce the same figure.

Typical applications that require a full commercial kitchen fitout in Brisbane include:

• New restaurants, cafes, and bars fitting out a raw commercial tenancy
• Existing food businesses refurbishing or expanding a kitchen
• Institutional venues — schools, aged care facilities, hospitals — fitting out or upgrading a kitchen to current compliance standards
• Commercial builders delivering a kitchen scope as part of a larger construction contract

When Is a Commercial Kitchen Fitout Required in Queensland?

Every food business operating in Queensland must comply with the Food Act 2006 and Food Standards Code Standard 3.2.3, which sets requirements for food preparation surfaces, wall finishes, drainage, ventilation, and storage. Local councils enforce these requirements and send environmental health officers to inspect the kitchen before a food business licence is approved.

In practice, this means every commercial kitchen — new build, refurbishment, or change of use — requires a compliant fitout before it can open. EHOs check surface materials, joins, penetration sealing, ventilation extraction, and drainage slope. A fitout that does not meet the standard delays licence approval and pushes back the opening date. The stainless steel elements of a commercial kitchen fitout are the elements EHOs look at most closely, because they are the surfaces that food directly contacts or that food waste directly contaminates.

Choosing the Right Grade: 304 vs 316

Grade selection affects the cost of every element in a commercial kitchen fitout and should be decided before quoting, not after.

304 grade is the standard specification for most Brisbane indoor commercial kitchens. It satisfies the material requirements of AS 4674-2004, tolerates standard commercial detergents and sanitisers, and is the grade most fabricators default to for benching, wall cladding, and canopies. For most Brisbane restaurants, cafes, and institutional kitchens in non-coastal locations, 304 is the correct specification.

316 grade contains molybdenum, which significantly improves resistance to chloride attack. It is required for coastal venues, seafood processing rooms where brine and salt residue contact every surface daily, and any kitchen where chloride-heavy sanitisers are used intensively. 316 carries a material cost premium across every element of the fitout. Some projects split the spec: 316 in the wash-up and seafood prep zones, 304 elsewhere. That decision is made at the specification stage, before quoting begins. For the full breakdown, see our stainless steel grades guide.

What Each Fitout Element Actually Costs in Brisbane

Custom stainless steel benching: Custom fabricated commercial stainless steel benches in Brisbane range from approximately $1,200 to $3,500 per linear metre installed. The low end covers a straightforward flat prep bench in 304 grade with undershelving. The high end covers a complex integrated sink bench in 316 grade with full undershelving, backsplash return, and heavy gauge for equipment loading. The main cost drivers are linear metres, grade, gauge, and configuration. A bench quoted without a site measure is an estimate with a contingency margin. A fixed-price quote requires confirmed dimensions.

Commercial exhaust canopy: Canopy cost is driven by cooking line length, process type, configuration, duct run length, and make-up air requirements under AS 1668.2:2024. Island canopies cost significantly more than wall-mounted units. Duct runs through slabs or multiple walls cost more than a short straight run to the exterior. Make-up air supply, required at 65 to 85 percent of total exhaust flow, is part of the canopy scope and cannot be omitted. Be wary of canopy quotes produced without a confirmed cooking appliance schedule — a canopy sized to a placeholder list and then revised after fabrication is a variation. For more on how canopies are sized, see our commercial exhaust canopies Brisbane page.

Wall cladding and splashbacks: Wall cladding is priced by square metre of coverage. Full wall runs cost more than splash zone only. Apertures — power points, plumbing penetrations, extraction duct collars — are cut at the workshop and each one adds fabrication time. Grade and finish decisions affect material cost throughout.

Shelving and racking: Shelving is regularly underestimated in a fitout budget. Wall-mounted stainless shelving fabricated from the same site measure as the benching keeps costs lower than a separate shelving trade. Freestanding racking is generally more economical for high-volume storage requirements.

How a Commercial Kitchen Fitout Is Measured and Installed in Brisbane

Every commercial kitchen fitout at A1 Custom Stainless & Kitchens starts with a site measure. Plan dimensions are regularly inaccurate by the time construction reaches fit-out stage — walls move, services run differently than drawn, and a bench built to plan dimensions arrives short or long.

The site measure confirms every bench run, wall height, penetration position, cooking appliance position, and duct path. Fabrication drawings are produced from those confirmed dimensions and issued for client approval before anything is cut. Nothing leaves the workshop without a signed-off drawing. Installation is by our own QBCC-licensed team. Lead time from approved drawing to completed installation is typically two to three weeks for a standard commercial kitchen fitout scope.

How the Fitout Scope Works Alongside Your Other Trades

The stainless steel fabrication scope sits alongside the building works, refrigeration, and cooking appliance installation in a commercial kitchen fitout. When bench fabrication, wall cladding, and exhaust canopy installation are all in one scope, a single site measure covers every element. Bench heights, canopy position, and wall cladding coverage are confirmed together, so the installation is consistent throughout.

When elements are split across separate trades, inconsistencies appear: bench heights that do not match wall cladding stop heights, canopy positions that were not coordinated with the bench run, wall panels that arrive after the exhaust duct has been installed in the wrong position. Keeping the stainless steel scope in one place avoids all of that.

Our stainless steel benches Brisbane and commercial exhaust canopies Brisbane pages cover each element in detail. For the full range of what we fabricate, see our custom stainless steel products Brisbane page.

Book a Site Measure for Your Brisbane Commercial Kitchen Fitout

A1 Custom Stainless & Kitchens fabricates and installs complete commercial kitchen fitouts across Brisbane and South East Queensland from our workshop in Burpengary East. We hold a QBCC licence and use our own team for every installation. Book a site measure and we will quote from your actual kitchen, not from plan dimensions. Call 07 3888 7534 or request a quote online.