@courton, I've been in a quandry since purchasing a sample pot of Lexicon as it was visibly blue although not so much in the quarter strength, but I too want a warm colour and not a cool colour. I have a sample of Dulux Light Rice quarter possibly for the walls and Dulux Natural White for the roof but I'm still not sure. I wanted to stick to brown tones as that is what seems to catch my eye and Light Rice is the lightest colour in the dulux colour wall in the browns and the Natural White simply tones in with it and no other reason. Will still have to wait till I can paint up a sample but I previously tried Stucco and Harbour Stone and both were a bit too caramely for me and too coloured if that makes sense, even though I have seen Stucco in a bedroom and kitchen and it looked great but just isn't working for me now that I've tried it myself. Interesting how you can see a colour in someone else's home and it looks great but when you try it yourself, you hate it!!! I have allot of windows and door ways and very little wall area and I don't want a jigsaw effect of colour running around these areas and be jumping out at me when I walk into the home, instead I want to have to look for the walls and barely see colour.

I do like the idea of the hob in the island so you can be connected to the living area while cooking, but splatter can be a problem. Have you thought of connecting the island to the bench under the window, and putting the hob at that end of it? That way you could have a low splashback in front of the hob. It looks like you've got plenty of space to be creative with the shape of the bench here if, as I suspect, there are doors adjacent to this area. When I lived in Italy, I saw an apartment kitchen where the space was very limited, and they had a door to the balcony from the kitchen, so they had to very creative with the layout. The bench was a lovely sinuous shape, which tapered from the bar/eating area to a narrower end in front of the door. It was absolute genius. The sink and dishwasher could also move to this area if you have the budget to move the plumbing, keeping your cooking and clean-up area together, and the splashback would provide a bit of cover for dirty dishes. I like the idea of moving the cooking and cleaning zone away from the thoroughfare of the stairs. Alternatively, you could move the pantry into the alcove and put the sink where the pantry is currently. You could make the alcove area galley style, which would make that area feel more spacious. Am I right in thinking that outside the kitchen window is an outdoor dining/living area? Are you planning on changing the window so that it opens up more? A bar either inside or outside the window would provide a nice connection from the kitchen to the outside, especially if you move the hob to this area. You have so much space here that your options are pretty much endless. I suggest having a good play with cutouts of your appliances on a floor plan to see how you could make the space really sing.

I understand where you are coming from. Had the same dilemma when we built our house. We ended up asking the tradies for the whitest of whites with all of our finishes as we felt that it would make it easier when choosing soft furnishings. Our builder used Wattyl products, so I am guessing that the Dulux equivalent would be the 'white on white'.

My home is antique white and I do love it, as it lifts the space which also does not have big windows, plus has dark trim and floors. This story looks tailor made... [Shady Business: How to Choose the Right White Paint[(https://www.houzz.com.au/magazine/shady-business-how-to-choose-the-right-white-paint-stsetivw-vs~30629697) This [discussion[(https://www.houzz.com.au/discussions/dulux-casper-white-quarter-vivid-white-dsvw-vd~4832461) may also help.