yep, stunning. I been drawing something similar for a while and it's awesome to see your ab fab results after your OP. I got interested in some ikea solid timber benchtops, not nearly as nice as yours, and thought I'd combo them with black cabinets, white stone and white walls (just a "what if" design). so I totally love your kitchen. it's great how well the tiles look now compared to when you first posted, they really excite me! and the lightshades against the black wall. and what's that dining area I see? that smoked glass table top with timber trestles and black chairs and that black and white rug? where you get those?! I want to see more! congratulations, it's hard not to gush! big ups to Mldesign too.

I will start by saying that a travertine is the perfect compliment to a beach house as far as the easthetic of colour and texture goes, however natural stones are not ideal as work surfaces because of their porosity. You are able to prep and seal them at an expense, although there are alternative to natural stone that can provide similar colour tones, without the need to do so. Composite quartz bench tops, and reconstituted stone Benchtops which are manmade have a 92-98% resin impregnated during their manufacture process and this effectively prevents absorption of moisture, hence stains. Essastone currently has the highest resin composition, making it the most durable. However, the beauty at natural stone evokes is unmatched. Because travertine is not only porous, but pitted, a normal sealant would not prepare the surface for Bench tops as these pits would collect all sorts of muck. A glass coat sealer or a self leveling resin could be applied by your stonemason to fill these pits. You can also purchase filled travertine in the form of tiles, so perhaps speak to a stonemason and ask what finish options are available in slabs. For my suggestion, look into quartz in your sand palette to avoid the cost and effort associated with using the travertine. Good luck.

Ah, so your new bench would come from out from wall like the existing one? How about doing something like this (see pic) but using a normal mirror as the back piece. It would reflect the floors and make the island (or return bench?) appear more open then it actually is. I'm not sure if a smoke mirror has been used here or just a high gloss panel. I would actually allow for more storage anyway, even if you don't envision you'll use it at this point. As they say, "you can never have enough storage".

Hi Amie, have you had a look at the Caesarstone website? They have a visualiser where you can select different bench tops, splash backs, cabinetry, floors and wall colour - it's fabulous for getting a better idea of how your kitchen will look :) I had a play with it for about an hour the other day lol ;) I found it amazing that the small sample colours, look totally different when applied on a large scale like a bench top.... definitely worth navigating around the Visualiser page of their website to see what you think will work best for you :)