Tribbletrouble, thanks so much for the info, it's great to know that there's a bit of a black trend happening, as the black accessories... Handles, lights, sink, legs were what we really liked when choosing but now seeing it all together it's taking a while to get used to. Like you said though. I probably just need to get the furniture and laying done. Really appreciate your thoughts, links and suggestions :)

Xenia, just to be clear, is the builder saying there doesn't need to be a non-combustible material covering the gap between the stone benchtop and the window?? Is that wall made of brick or some other non-combustible material, or is merely plasterboard? If it's plain ole' plasterboard, it is most certainly combustible and can ignite in say, a fat fire. Maybe I'm missing something. Would you please look closely at your plans and clarify? I very much like your table/butcher's block. The one in photo looks like it's higher than a table, so I'm guessing it is at a perfect height for you to work? Yes, that's a lovely, restful colour of glass, and no, I don't think it is overkill. You want to be happy in your own kitchen. Just a thought, but you could choose material with that colour of blue for any chairs or stools you have at the butcher block table. Ties it together.

I think it's going to have to work, a normal dining table is way too big.. 750 width will be fine I'm sure.. a lady at work said this morning that she had 6 people at an ikea trestle table at her apartment on the weekend, it's 750 x 1550 and they fit fine & comfortably enough.. I don't have another dining area apart from outside. Small house syndrome. I can't believe the people prior to us had 4 grown kids in there.. we've ripped out walls and extended a little and it still feels tiny. Even built a massive garage to get stuff out of the house.

for some reason i thought the table top was round? but same principles apply and check out the range of steel available at the hardware stores and IKEA..keeping in mind that if the table top weighs 50kgs and you use 4 legs that each leg only has to hold up about 12.5 kg as long as it's evenly distributed and level...try making a base table with the craftwood and steel legs, paint the craftwood black, make sure the table is level, mount the stone on top of the base...the next question is how tall teh table and the legs should be but something like this leg from Bunnings could work ...leg is 220 tall + height of craftwood and table top?? would make a low coffee table but there are numerous alternative available or check workshop and car suppliers for steel tool storage shelves and boxes