. Its just way too much timber! So the floor should stay, because its harder to change. Start by definitely at least pull out the part of the kitchen with the weird enclosed fridge space. that really cramps the room. Then pull of and replace the cabinet doors and the laminate bench top. pick some amazing tiles and have your husband work his magic! Paint the walls a nice colour to really make the space look more vibrant. Get rid of those horrible blinds completely! We are doing out kitchen up and we don't have much money or skills or access to tradespersons anyway. So we are keeping it to a minimum. Do it little by little. We started with a new stove with really changed the feel of the room. We plan to just paint the cabinets.

Wood and white is timeless. If you don't want to replace the cabinets, just replace the doors. Having said that it looks like the kitchen was originally custom made and replacing the doors would cost a few thousand. Perhaps start by choosing your floor colour and type. Floating floors are incredibly durable and come in fabulous finishes.please avoid shiny faux wood tho, this can really cheapen the look. If you have to keep the tile floor at least regroup it to match in with the style and cover most of it with an island. I rebuilt our kitchen using IKEA flat pack, the quotes ranged from $35k to $30 k. I spent $4,200.00 inc the oven and I now have the option to replace the doors and draw fronts anytime I like. They also use Blum steel draws with soft closing options which are the best quality any kitchen maker can offer, only at a much cheaper price. This room is desperate for an island bench with either seating or outward facing shelves or cupboards. To answer your question you need to decide on what style the rest of the house is or will be first. Is it contemporary ? Traditional etc? Choose your base colours, materials etc there first, then look at your kitchen. This can make the process easier. If there are small children in the home durable doors that are easy to clean is the first thing to consider. IKEA and other companies make a vinyl wrap door in gloss that's easy to clean and takes a lot of "man wear". This again will limit your colour choices. Personally I love charcoal for the lower doors and draw fronts with frosted glass or white for the upper doors, timber floating shelves. Counter tops in faux concrete stone for a contemporary look or white faux stone with a fleck have become the new classic choices. Choose a classic tile or material for your splash back and don't rush this, it can be done at anytime. Take the splash back to the ceiling and loose some of the overheads along the back wall to open the room up. Replace with some floating timber shelves all finished in 2 X pak or resin epoxy, never use just polyurethane in wet areas. Overall first think about your textures that you love and then let that help you choose your colour palette, no more than 3 X colours for your kitchen. If you go with timber finishes, always match your wood colours in the shelves, counter tops and floors. Have fun and remember this is your kitchen, you have to live with it so follow your gut when choosing colours and finishes. I like to ask myself when choosing a material, "will I still like this in 10years time?" If my immediate answer is yes I go with it and use it as a starting point.

In my early twenties I designed kitchens for my mother and two aunts (Uncle built them and they worked), but when it came to designing my own - had to fit a constrained space and no possibility of extension - I chewed my lips for ages - like Nicole, I drew and measured ad infinitum, and used graph book walls, views etc. I did one extra thing - which I think worked - I listed all that I wanted to store, and tried to analyse how I liked working in the kitchen. Some things I had to settle for because of space (such as a smaller dishwasher) but most of it has worked. We have a corner pantry, which I (and the cat, husband a bit larger) can walk into, but have not put small appliances in there - they sit in a large drawer beneath the main working bench, which also works well. It all looks good to me Nicole and thinking carefully about needs and how things work in advance usually results in something you'll be happy with. Good luck!

sounds like you need some urgent legal advice but we had a similar problem and were able to negotiate with the insurance company so that they agreed to replace floor coverings and damage caused by the hole in the roof but not the hole in the roof!! our landlord insurance covered alternative accommodation for the tenant and our argument was that it would better to have the roof fixed to minimize further damage and the tenant back home asap so we had no choice but to fix the roof while we argued with the insurers and the final agreement was that we paid for the hole and they paid for internal damage....thinking about the "heater wasn't installed properly"...how can they prove that one way or the other? can you obtain a copy of installation instructions and written safe weather resistance from the manufacturer of the water heater (talk directly to the companys' Australian manager or public relations officer not the local distributor) include specific details of the weather on the day of the storm and local newspaper reports (and check Weatherzone or Bureau of Meteorology websites) ... this seems a case for who has the most time and energy and will give in first...try writing to the two insurance companies and the builder with the information collected and ask them if they can contribute to any part of the cost of repairs also contact your mortgage provider and explain about the loss of income if you expect to have any problem covering payments ...one consolation could be that all the repairs, legal advice and loss of income are tax deductable, best of luck to you