Kerrie, I live in Victoria and my pool in completely internal, that is to say it is part of the house and not an addition to the house. I planned to have an external door with the required regulation lock height and seld closing mechanism. Hubby was dead against this door and so I agreed to have a window instead, not long after, we found out that the laws had changed and you are no longer permitted to access to an indoor pool from the outside, so it was just sheer luck that we changed the door to a window. Further, when we purchased the awning windows (2) with regulation restricted 10cm windouts, our building inspector tried to tell us that the windows weren't allowed and that they would have to remain shut and we were also going to have to concrete "bars" into the brickwork on the outside. I argued that regulation pool fences had the same 10cm restriction and after contacting the Victorian Building Commission, I have confirmation in writing, that the windows are deemed to be adequately safe and the inspector has accepted the finding. My access to our pool now, is only from the inside of the home obviously and if that becomes illegal, then we'll just have to sit and look at the pool longingly through the window, as there won't be any access at all ha-ha I'm not advocating that people argue with regulations but if I hadn't investigated my options further, who knows where I would be, having spent $1,500 on these two windows with laminated glass and how beautiful would my brickwork have looked with prisson bars attached. Cheers, Barbara

Ours is 950 and 2.4m long.I think as far as looks go, it depends how long the island is. If it's a very long island and less than 900, it would look out of proportion. Likewise, if it's a very short one, it would look wrong to have the width any more than 1m wide.

Are these nib walls coming up from the floor or coming out from the wall? Are they merely side panels of the cabinetry, or structural?

There are indeed building code safety requirements that govern the design of balustrades, including the gaps around panels. Sometimes compliant gaps at the maximum opening look a bit off. I find that smaller gaps, 20 - 50 mm often look more pleasing. You say your patio is not covered. In that case there is little potential for any balustrade to trap heat. An uncovered north facing tiled patio will be a heat sink, and a glass (or substantially open) balustrade will allow more sunlight onto the tiles which will increase heat gain. A solid balustrade may reduce that heat gain due to it's shading potential, but I am guessing you want glass for the view, so if heat is a problem, consider adding a roof covering to shade the patio.