Talking from both sides...in our old house we had Gloss cupboards our new house now we have Matt cupboars... Gloss: to clean all we needed to do was just do one quick wipe over with window shine and a cloth, they always looked beautiful and shinny...they even added money on when we sold our house!! Absolutly LOVED them...would fully recommend them Matt: to clean...there is now three stages...hot water and sugar soap to get rid of the finger marks and oils, then a wet cloth after that then you have to dry it or it looks terrible!!! i hate our cupboards now...so much effort to keep them looking nice and they are very dull but it just depends what look you are aiming for!! Good Luck...and let us know what you end up choosing!!

Thanks for your comments, my concern was more about scratches, than wipe off splashes etc. Actually if anything the kitchen will get too much light as it forms part of an extension in our reno which will see high rise windows go above normal wall height windows. Resulting in a 3.400m or 11' 15'' high ceiling! It's an open plan area which will have an adjoining dinning area. The colour of our cabinets is a taupe - a bit on the mauve side, called Kashmir, we have increased the tone because of the increase amount of light hitting the cabinets, so looking at a sample in our current low ceiling area is rather tricky. Prior to the colour and texture change we were looking at a Platine grey - neutral and pale, and a texture matt - actually velvety, rather nice. Below are the colours we are considering, Kashmir left, Platine right. A splash back and the island bench top of Quantum Quartz, Statuario Quartz, the dark colour to the far left is Anthracite to be used minimally on some tall cabinets and under the island bench, the ruler represent the aluminium kick board. The cement look grey floor tile our new floor through out the open plan area including entrance. We have also changed from having a white coloured bench top, in a virtual horse shoe shape around the island to it being a darker mushroom brown/dark taupe. (sorry no sample) So guess I am still questioning these 3 new changes: gloss finish for the main cabinet colour (anthracite cupds will remain the velvety texture, these will have most of the light hitting them), the colour of the main cupds Kashmir vs Platine, and the introduction of the darker bench top, which will have a tone of light hitting it - to the point I think sunglasses on certain days will be compulsory). We are use to having grey tones in our kitchen - its from the early 90's. you can see here behind the swatches the grey cabinetry work we have been used too and the mid-dark grey marble floor we have had too. We will offset theses grey tones with a wood ceiling, vic ash either left as natural as possible, varnished clear matt or possibly even limed a touch. (pet hate is timber where tone is beautiful and then goes darker or worse goes to a yellow tone), this wood will go out under our eaves and be repeated under an out door eating area. Plus we will have a lot of decking. Will definitely introduce some wood in floating shelves, chopping boards, some copper or brass. Possibly glassy/coppery pendants in kitchen and dinning area. Any thoughts on my second guessing? Thanks so much.

I assume the cabinets are laminate though -- it would be difficult to repaint them , PLUS a decent amount of colour will take the focus off them . The walls seem to have a blue tinge to them -- to me ,that adds to the colder , austere look . If I was going to repaint anything , I'd actually opt to do the walls in a warmer English Cream , or even a slight Apricot tinge would be more my taste . And then , the right hand wall in your 'new'pic 1 ( I think it heads to the rest of the house ? Theres a door there ) I would wallpaper in a textured paper , again with apricot tones ,maybe something like relatively simple apricot and cream diagonals 12-15mm wide on a woven textured paper ? ) . And 'double down'with the splashback tiles on the 'front' of the island . So that whole room would be English Cream or maybe a slight apricot tinge , instead of the slight steel blue tinge , with the warmer brown tiles , the pretty neutral floor , the slight coffee cabinets -- and then orange appliances and stools and pendent lights possibly . Obviously , you'd then need to go warmer tones for your dining furniture -- wooden frames , or black gloss and dark glass table , and creams , apricots , orange upholstery ? Mind you , once your present furniture is added , that may be enough ? It looks coldish and too neutral now IMO , but nice furniture will divert most of that attention .

Hi, paint cabinets white, off white, deep navy blue, greige or moderately dark grey. two tone would also look ok - light/white on top, darker on bottom. Maybe choose paint based on other colours used in house. Please do not paint sage!!!! replace the cabinet handles with modern chrome T handles or similar. Replace curtain with white venetian. paint/cover brick. get rid of brick next to stove and replace with a panel. tile paint tiles white and extend to behind stove. or get creative and add a nice geometric feature tile that compliments the colours behine stove and exhaust fan. put down some cheap water proof wood look laminate click flooring. consider adding same geometric print to breakfast bar and add a couple of cute high stools from kmart or ebay. Change fan to chrome or spray paint silver. replace beam light with pendant light, maybe glass to be safe or something that is modern, meracrtor is good brand, or even just a modern round oyster type light. Cheers goodluck