How to prepare cyclohexanone without starting with cyclohexanol?
Do you have access to phenol? If you have, then use that to make cyclohexanol (hydrogenation of phenol using nickel catalyst):



Then treat cyclohexanol with copper(II) and chromium(III) oxides to convert it to corresponding ketone (Dehydrogenation):



Benzene could work as a starting material but the reaction might be costly and hectic as the catalyst is not a household item$\ce{^{[2]}}$. Secondly, it is used as a starting material in the synthesis of nylon and the reaction intermediate is a mixture of cyclohexanol and cyclohexanone(mixed oil)$\ce{^{[3]}}$ which add to your task of separating them. Better convert it to phenol$\ce{^{[4]}}$.

Notes and References


http://www.leck.co.uk/demo/eci3/polymers/polyamides.html (above reaction synthesis source). It is a part of polyamide synthesis
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1023/B:CATL.0000011080.03035.eb
http://www.greener-industry.org.uk/pages/nylon/4nylonpopup.htm
https://www.quora.com/What-is-the-method-to-convert-benzene-to-phenol
https://russianpatents.com/patent/220/2205819.html