Changing the splashback to a lighter colour will definitely brighten up your kitchen. If you decide to stick to the canopy rangehood you can add doors to the open shelving cabinets. Another suggestion is to either change the overhead cabinets to a contrasting colour such as white you can keep the carcasses to be less costly and just change the doors but keep in mind that the side scribes and top scribe will stay dark if you do it this way. Also think about using bright accessories instead of the White you currently have in the open shelves, this will give you an instant change at a low cost

Hi Anna I seen this pic on houzz the other day and saved it. I suppose these handles are something you either love or hate. They are different. I don't mind them. They certainly catch your eye and break up the large area..... very bold I think

you could put a wash (e.g a lime wash)over the top of the doors to lighten them up a little and get rid of the orange tone to a certain degree, that way you dont have to spend too much time stripping them back and prepping them, you will still see the grain as well, unfortunatley the orange will always be visible through a wash, unless you stain them darker. You could go totally left field and stain them more of a walnut brown, that can look quite modern and dress it up with handles, that way you will still see the grain. The inside of the doors wont be flat, been a raise panel, they will more then likely have a 3mm lip and still have the arch on the inside.

Yeah oklouise that opens it up ...I'd Keep pool/poolhouse as is, but flip the kitchen back over so the island doesn't interrupt the vista down the passage to the pool, powder room could be worked in somewhere b/w MPR & Laundry. The adjusted stair however of course will change the upper level layout. Just a thought/question considering such a tight site, arguably a lot of unused side area that I understand is there to maintain rear access via garage, but as I see ripe for the design picking/opportunity should you concede rear access happens through the house. Considering your coming through the garage anyway you could possibly set the laundry up so that it runs lengthways down with the block and you essentially take over the external area with the flow of the laundry and when need be you access the external through the garage, into the laundry and then out - better use of the land IMO but as siriuskey said previously ultimately your home and your decisions/priorities :)