Aside from how you want your kitchen to function, you need to consider what depths and hues can do for a space. Basically if you have high ceilings, darker cabinetry for your overheads can really draw the eye upward and highlight the feature but if your ceilings are standard it can feel heavy and encroach the negative space. Lighter overheads will reflect the light so the negative space will feel larger. Dark colours are also used to create depth in a room, to draw it back further visually. In my opinion darker lowers would work if you like the two tone look, it will break up the light flooring. Keep in mind you don't have to use colours that are contrasting, try pulling samples together that are a few shades deeper in harmonious hues, much like your picture provided. When it comes to the splash back you can opt for a texture in similar colour family to create interest without adding too many colours. Perhaps a penny round, hexagon, hand made subway or the same stone you choose for the benches. Don't stress about paint colours right now as there are thousands that you can choose to complement your kitchen. Hope this helps!

Just to confirm I have taken the great ideas presented here as advice only and have no intention to do some dodgy diy reno's. With the exception of a couple of quirky exposed timbers as you can see in my pictures there are no other exposed beams. As you can also see from the pictures there is a large roof space on the right (east) side of the house but the ceilings themselves are flat with a slight dip on the north wall. Based on my own personal experiences I would have to agree with Two's Company that there is a tendency towards rendered brick in WA (although there are still many exposed brick houses in my suburb) while double enclosed double garages are also highly desirable. I would also agree that toilets within the main bathroom and non traditional laundries may be considered unusual by many (but not all). Ensuites with toilets however are still very common. Also due to the nature of our work we would prefer the laundry separated from food/kitchen area. For a 4x2 house it is only around 155m2 excluding carport/alfresco which makes the rooms feel quite cramped, hence the desire to open up the family room. However, as Two's Company suggests we will need to first get a builder/eng in to check load bearing walls etc as this will undoubtedly affect what we can achieve within our budget. Having said that I still excited by many of your ideas and with luck hopefully can work some of them into the budget. Cheers all :)

my suggestions are based on zoning the areas for multiple cooks and helpers and has a bar open to the living area from both ends with an optional privacy door between bar and pantry and no door between kitchen and pantry, the island should be much narrower for quick meals and the arrangement of drawers and supporting post under the island allow for cook's stool spacebtw, unless you prefer to iron in the laundry the laundry and mudroom seem a little generous at the expense of the small study that could also be a useful downstairs emergency sick room

I think some sort of extraction fan is essential to eliminate cooking smells and prevent build up of grease in your room. Especially in an open plan area. Unless you live in a climate that Is warm all year around you are unlikely to want to open the window every to you cook. Have you thought about a down draft extraction fan? They pop up from the bench, usually behind your cooktop. Different brands make them. Generally high end and more expensive than a canopy type rangehood but could solve your dilemma.