Have you been to visit some kitchen showrooms? You can customise the photo search here on Houzz quite a bit. For example, you can simply select [dark wood[(https://www.houzz.com.au/photos/kitchen-design-ideas-with-dark-wood-cabinets-phbr1-bp~t_10444~a_17-103) cabinet finish in the filter options. Then add more filters like floor colour, kitchen layout, cabinet style, wall colour etc if you wish. Leave the benchtop and splashback options open and see what results you get. You can then save any photos that appeal to your ideabook.

Well, no, they were both new builds. But I like to go from the general to the particular, so I guess I chose the paint first (general) for the general "feel" of what I wanted, and the benchtops (particular) last for the detailed finishing touches. With the painting done and the cabinets in, we grabbed about 8 samples of benchtop material, and it was very easy to pick the one that worked best - one just stood out from the others. I can't actually imagine going through a thousand iterations of either paint or benchtops, though. Life is too short to sweat the small stuff.

Thanks annb1997. I'm looking into the swag/rope style pendant lights! The splashback tiles are acually a shade of brown, the wall paint brown, the floors and cabinets cream and grey ( I hate this combo) which extend unfortunately into the living area as well (but not into the rest of the house). I have thoughts to re-laminate the cabinets in white, leave the bench top black, change the splashback to something (they are actually cheapo bathroom tiles and not actual splashback) and figure out placement - the tiles currently don't blend in well and extend past the cabinet and like a step down to the cabinet bench. I'd love to replace the grey and cream floor tiles with wood floorboards or wood-look tiles. Not sure how expensive this would be or if this should be done first or at a later date. I should also note the door you see in the first photo is a big walk-in-pantry.

Hi Emma, Lots of great ideas, love the idea of a larger fridge to fill that large space, build in s/s microwave, shelf or shelves either side of range hood , timber but I think stainless steel would add a bit of glamour, fill with beautiful items, then stand back and decide if you want to update cupboard doors, if so plain would look great, some great stools ... gorgeous