I like Mary Margaret's apartment in Once upon a time. That kind of space would work great for our family. I'd like somewhere more open to the garden though. I also love the house in Nanny McPhee. Especially the way each room is a different colour. I think that's a great idea for a big old house. I'd paint the hallway all white, walls, floor everything. And each room a different colour.

Thanks Guys for your lovely comments. This project was an amazing transformation by opening up the space. We also love the warm colour scheme with the marble look stonetop. Cheers

I have a Meile heat pump condenser dryer, it is really efficient to run and I have no moisture in the air and only a very small amount of heat. I chose one with a drainage tube so I never need to empty the liquid out. This is great. I wish they had self cleaning filters though. There are 3 to clean. 2 after each use and 1 about once a month. I use my dryer every day.

If there isn't a duct leading somewhere it's not ducted. Venting into the cavity doesn't sound right? Perhaps it was permissible when originally built? Our first house had a simple exhaust fan, of the type also used in bathrooms, above the stove and it went straight into the ceiling. That wasn't unusual in cheaper homes in those days. But these days kitchen exhausts should be recirculating or ducted externally to avoid build-up of potentially dangerous residues. In your situation recirculating sounds the most straightforward option. Alternatively you might be able to run the ducting out a side wall but the longer the ducting the less efficiently it works. Is it possible your rangehood has been installed incorrectly? We installed a rangehood in the 90's which could be configured as recirculating or as ducted and It took a few attempts to get the thing working properly.