@suancol, You are alone at present but what if that changes and you hook up with a chef for example??.....who will cook your home into oblivian ha-ha In my opinion, if you cook in your kitchen even a little, if you don't have a foolproof extraction system, then all the steam etc... even laden with perhaps minimal fat but cooking particles non the less, will eventually see you plastering the entire open plan living with a serious mess. I'm not having overheads as such either for height reasons, I'm very short and overheads serve no purpose for me personally but I wouldn't dream of not having a rangehood, so I will still have two cupboards, one on either side to simply balance the rangehood, so you can have both without covering your entire uper wall area with wall to wall cupboards. I strongly suggest you search Houzz photo's for rangehoods in kitchens and see if you can find a design and rangehood you might be able to live with, as I certainly wouldn't be paying the sort of price suggested for a Gagenau system nor do I think you will ever be happy with an after market wall fan, I think it will look cheap. Good luck with your search.

I think the fridge is in a great spot - you need it to be near the walkway so people can grab something from the fridge, without invading your space. I totally agree with keeping the services out of the island bench. I would allow 800mm between the stove and sink as you are always jumping between the two when cooking and it will minimise the amount of water getting spilt on the floor. You should make sure the dishwasher is on the far side of the sink to avoid clashing between any one stacking/unpacking dishwasher and someone cooking. If you put the sink in the pantry with all you dishes it can be really inconvenient for a family that is trying to interact with the kids. I like a pantry for storage and running a mixmaster to muffle noise in the living space. If you can place the dishwasher on the bench behind the pantry that will help. Allow 1200 mm between the bench and the opposite bench/cupboard.

I was looking at today's local real estate listings and coincidentally one shows a kitchen with something on the wall above the cooktop and below the window. I've never seen something like that before. Is there such a thing as a through the wall kitchen exhaust fan. Btw from what I've heard other exhaust fans aren't really supposed to be used in kitchens because they are designed only for steam and there's no way to clean any greasy build-up.

We are about to start a renovation in the New Year, which includes the ensuite being altered. Our Architect has just suggested that we install a fan that blows, rather than exhausts for greater efficiency. I'm yet to research it but perhaps this is also something for you to research. Has anyone else got any thoughts on either type of fan?