Build a cmu block wall on two sides, face it with stone and do a concrete counter top acid stained and sealed and cantilevered 12" so you can pull bar stools up to it

Thanks James for your feedback. As for bench tops, there won't be much other than the island as the sink and corner stove will take up most of the area and we will only have to do around them. Thinking of granite for this but always open to suggestions. Splashback I'm not sure on yet, maybe glass. We have decided to go with the first suggestion and have an opening between the island on the living side, this will be as minimal as can be. Now with having two islands, we will use the one on the right for prep and breakfast bar. The left will have a two tier top - one so I can hide my coffee station area behind and two as we seem to do a lot family talking in the kitchen while I'm cooking, we will use this as a taller bar type seating. And the bench top will also be used for prep.

Hi Pazz, I really like your idea of seagrass wallpaper behind the bed, it would add texture and warmth plus make more of a feature of the window on that wall (compared with the other windows). If the wallpaper is dark enough, the concrete pendants would look great (but the cord will definately have to be jigged because you'll ruin the clean black rectangle of your window if the cord cuts it). I'm personally a fan of the Tom Dixon Beat pendant shape, and curved or rounded pendant would also soften the room which has lots of angular edges, plus it will throw wider light if the mouth is large enough! It's a lovely room, would love to see pic when you make your final selection! :-)

i'm glad you're planning to reroute access to the garage: clumsy traffic pattern change a generous room into a big hallway and can't stop thinking about your kitchen..1. where you have narrow cabinets/shelves in the pantry...it's possible to have built in shelves inside the dividing wall (think about the size of what you want to store: cans, bottles, skinny packets? and put 60cm base cabinets on the other side, next to the freezer 2. i can't see the yellow highlights for stools 3. width of pantry is subject to you wanting to keep the door to the formal living room...if so, measure 150mm past the door opening and that's the minimum width of the pantry but 1500mm allows space to comfortably walk past your freezer and have full size base cabinets with pantry drawers (cleaner than open shelves) 4. space between the b'fast bar and 'fridge should be at least 90cm but if you choose a wide b'fast bar and a big 'fridge a bigger space is preferable (stand a couple of chairs 90cm in front of your current fridge for a few days and see how it feels) direction of fridge door opening is also critical, first for the cooks and then everyone else: if the size of the b'fast bar can be enlarged or reduced with overhanging counter then a change of walkway is not so difficult 5. as suggested by girlguide, the cooktop and rangehood might be better on the outside wall for ventilation 6. there seems to be a lot of small cabinets and drawers in your plan and there could be some better (and cheaper) combinations but when i tried to access IKEA kitchen planner to confirm available sizes it's not responding today 7. i've attached my suggested approximate base cabinet sizes: starting with corners and work outwards, aiming for the biggest standard carcases and then add drawers to suit purpose ..