The go-to professional for advice on whether you can sub-divide, is a Land surveyor who specialises in title solutions. However, in order to establish what is the possible and most worthwhile for you, you will need to have some start-up development funds. You will need a recent survey of the land so that you know just how many square meters you have. You will need to establish what are Council rules applying to your block of land. Are there mandated set backs from boundaries? are their minimum lot sizes for houses/units? What is the allowable height? Where is the height measured from? You need to read, very carefully, all of the planning documents relating to your property e.g. the Local Environment Plan, Councils policies for your area, the rules pertaining to materials preferred by Council's policies and many, many other matters. Best to spend some money on a Town Planner to give you a report on the constraints on your site and what could be possible. Once you have ascertained what may be possible if you comply with all of the rules, an Architect should be consulted and commissioned to prepare just sketch plans for several options for development. An architect can give you an idea of building costs per sq. m. This usually ranges from $ 1,700 to 3 to 4 and even $5,000 per sq. m. Add to this a contingency of at least 20% plus , amounts for Council D/A fees, professional fees e.g. architect (who can often save money for you ) quantity surveyor, engineer, land surveyor, and maybe for a traffic engineer. You can see why you need a start-up kitty. Once you have a ballpark figure of what the optimum development may cost (do not forget to include the interest payments for borrowed funds ), it is time to seek advice from several local agents as to the likely sale prices. Then, and only then, are you able to judge whether any development will give a return. Residential development is a complicate matter requiring skill and judgement. My advice is carefully investigate all of the above before making up your mind. I suggest that you look at lots of episodes of "Grand Designs" and count up the people who have overreached and overspent, many to their detriment.

You are required a set down area of a minimum of 200mm either side of a cook top (I'd recommend more though as I don't like to feel like my pots are hanging over the edge of the bench). Your 3m width will leave enough for a small sink (400mm width?) so a quick calculation 600mm settle down + 900mm cooktop + 400mm sink = 1.9m... plenty leftover space in the 3m Good luck! Sophie

I put a lot of thought into what kind of sink to install ino my new kitchen: single vs double, stainless steel vs other materials, dish drainer or not, and finally undermount vs top mount. I went safe and chose industrial grade steinless steel, double sink without a drainer but with aditional part with multi purpose. I was very indecisive about the last thing: undermount vs top mount sink and finally decided after reading this - I will go top mount.

I only specify an overmount sink for clients if the benchtop surface warrants one. The last time I did was because the client wanted a timber benchtop. I managed to find a beautiful black quartz composite sink that worked well and looked like a feature in the kitchen because it matched the colour of the cabinets. My usual go to sink is definitely undermount because of its aesthetic and practical advantages. Small chips can always be smoothed out if need be but really, there is no substitute for being careful!