I've noticed a recent trend of the vertical color on the island matching the vertical color on the splashback. Liking that trend. So I would say go with the turquoise glass splash back color. Deepen it a little so the hue is closer to that of the floor. Cant tell from pic whether island cupboards are the same color as cupboards above the splashback. If they are, all the better. That then brings the turquoise/white combo forward into the room and gives some unity.

I have timber on island and laminate on rest and am happy with that. Would need to tonal,y match so it is your choice of timber or stain.

what happened to the old column? i think you need to add a corner cabinet (900 on the stove wall and 1050 on the sink wall) with doors hinged across the corner provides 300 + 450 wide doors and better access to the corner for storage of big appliances and to allow more space for the drawers to open, the 1000 fridge space allows an air gap and two 750 wide drawers next to the 900 wide stove, i've kept the 1200 gap between benches and island and added a cabinet (opening toward the sink allows for a 600 wide 450 deep space for a bin) then two 750 wide drawers and the built in microwave making a longer island and extra drawers next to the dishwasher ...in my experience, if you're having custom made cabinets you only need to specify the size of appliances and sink, the general layout of the room and your preferred arrangements and approximate sizes and the cabinet maker should measure the site and custom make the cabinets to suit the space with minor alteration to allow for any obstacles eg like making the pantry cabinets narrower to allow for architraves around the entry door..and it's more comfortable to walk around if the pantry doesn't overlap the architrave or encroach on the doorway

Hi Kate - my kitchen doesn’t get exist as the renovation starts early in the New Year. The attached link has some pictures of my parent’s kitchen. They used Neolith Statuario in the Silk finish - it is greyer and has a more dramatic vein than the Calacatta (which is also a bit browner and then the Calacatta gold is browner again). https://designerkitchensvictoria.com.au/gallery/item/137-coffey The photos do not do their kitchen justice - it is lovely in real life. There are quite a few different porcelain brands in Australia now - Dekton (as mentioned above) is another option and there are others. The different companies also do various different marble looks. You could have a look and decide what style of marble look that you prefer. They can then provide you with pictures of projects using that style of stone (Neolith has pictures on its website). There are also a lot pf photos on Pinterest and Houzz. Neolith gave me a really generous size chip (about 1/2 the size of an A4 sheet of paper) - that has been really handy for selecting other finish colours (eg paint for the 2 PAC and walls and trims and the Polytec laminate and tiles for the bathroom and laundry - if you do decide on Neolith, I could give you the Haynes paint and polytec colours that I am using if it helps). Porcelain is more expensive than Quartz (both in raw material and in installation costs), but then so is marble. I am using a lot of Neolith in my house, so I shopped around to find a stone cutter who was crafty with maximising the use of each sheet of Neolith (to avoid wastage and minimise the number of sheets needed). It made a huge difference. My house was also designed around the sheet size - Neolith sheets are 3.2 metres long (so you can have a 3.2 metre benchtop or island without needing a join). You need to use 12mm (or thicker) sheets for benchtops. (Splashbacks and showers use 6mm thick porcelain sheets - Neolith does 2 different matching sheets for each marble design, so you can bookmark and pattern match the splashback). Also be aware that the marble pattern is only printed on the top of all of the brands of porcelain. If you want to continue the pattern on the “lips” of your benches, this needs to be a beveled edge (which you also need to do with quartz or marble if you want any thickness of “lip” to your benchtop). So you also have to factor in the stone cuts needed to create the benchtop “lips” when calculating sheet cutting and usage. I am not having edging on my benctops and am instead going for the slim European look of “floating” benchtops. I am not worried that the 1.2 cm edge all the way around the benches will be plain white. On the marble etching and staining - at my brother’s house it is everything that has been a problem - from wooden chopping boards, tea cups, wine glasses, metal cans, citrus, vinegar, tomato, water (yep even water marks marble!), oil, certain plastics, berries, juice, even some metal cans…. I understand what you designer is saying about the beauty of natural marble and how it has been used and loved for hundreds of years in European houses - but frankly the modern day types of stains (where the toddler smeared their blue playdough, the round marks of tins, the outline of wine bottles, coffee and tea cups and tins etc) are just not pretty!