Okay, so as expected the matt suede surface is more expensive, not sure how much yet but when the builder says price on application, I can imagine it will be a fair bit more. Anyway, we'll see but something to take into consideration I guess... In the meantime, I was going through my idea books and found the photo below, which I kind of forgot about but is one of my absolute favourite kitchens... the point is just like the photo, we too will have a wall cabinet in matt black, the back of the island in matt black and oak floor boards in a natural/textured matt finish... so now I'm thinking maybe too many matt surfaces, interestingly they have gone with a polished stone top which I think is reflecting the light nicely... Our floors...

We have black pearl granite. Been in around 10 years and looks as good as the day it was installed. Easy to clean and doesn't seem to mark or stain. I would however not use black again as I think white would of looked much better. Granite being a natural product can't be matched up as easily down the track if you decide to add more benches and the like. Each batch can potentially be different.

White-matte cabinets (flat panel, not shaker) and white bench (or maybe epoxy sealed marine ply??...siriuskey can tell you about that), mirror splash. Love the ceilings. I personally would go for a modern, stream-line, no handles, integrated appliances look. This space has real potential to be very cool, even with the slate. It doesn't need any more more texture or darkness. This is a nice kitchen, you should be able to sell it on ebay.

I found this article when I was looking at benchtop material for a family member Porcelain sheets are the way forward, non staining and of no danger to the craftsman/maker Porcelain is more expensive than Quartz (both in raw material and in installation costs), but then so is marble. I am using a lot of Neolith in my house, so I shopped around to find a stone cutter who was crafty with maximising the use of each sheet of Neolith (to avoid wastage and minimise the number of sheets needed). It made a huge difference. My house was also designed around the sheet size - Neolith sheets are 3.2 metres long (so you can have a 3.2 metre benchtop or island without needing a join). You need to use 12mm (or thicker) sheets for benchtops. (Splashbacks and showers use 6mm thick porcelain sheets - Neolith does 2 different matching sheets for each marble design, so you can bookmark and pattern match the splashback). Also be aware that the marble pattern is only printed on the top of all of the brands of porcelain. If you want to continue the pattern on the “lips” of your benches, this needs to be a beveled edge (which you also need to do with quartz or marble if you want any thickness of “lip” to your benchtop). So you also have to factor in the stone cuts needed to create the benchtop “lips” when calculating sheet cutting and usage. I am not having edging on my benchtops and am instead going for the slim European look of “floating” benchtops. I am not worried that the 1.2 cm edge all the way around the benches will be plain white.