I have miles of decking at two houses. All timber when put in the Australian sun will suffer. When building our beach house we decided to go for Spotted Gum and let it grey. Why fight it? We applied Cutek, and will on a regular basis. At our main house we have lots of Merabu or Quilla. Will not grey the same, and leaches lots of red stain. Cheap, but would not use again. What ever you use, use a good quality oil that seeps deep into the wood not a traditional stain/or top finishing product.

yvonne.. re sanding cupboards I had mine professionally sanded because they were looking worn. timber is American Oak and it really didn't lighten very much by sanding. so depending on your timber you might not achieve much. i would change a few upper cabinets with glass doors, white perspex or remove a few doors, paint the back of shelving and hang wine glasses or whetever and break the load that way. I replaced my range hood with a pull out chrome one and that in itself made a difference nt tying in with the chrome handles. see pictures. maybe you could paint the legs or reupholster the stools to white...all part of the kitchen.

Thanks for ur comments. In portstephens. Not acre but bush views. I like the thinner windows too. But they are off the main bedroom so i think i need to have the bottom half filled in for privacy. If not shaker or traditonal (i agree) what else. Im not sold on slats. I wondered about one solid pice of timber?

siriuskey thanks for your input. I think I will keep as you suggest. However in the hallway I will do a transition so the boards run the length of the hallway, I don't think I can live with them on the diagonal there as it will make the hallway seem smaller. Also the door to the hallway is closed majority of the time. Thanks Kate for the photos, I can better visualize the boards now as per the drawings. Appreciate everyone's advice, I think sometimes (perhaps all the time) I just overthink things. This renovation is not a small undertaking in cost and I want it right. This is our forever home and I have been dreaming of this kitchen for years. Due to COVID lockdowns and long lead times on things at the moment I have had to rely a lot on buying online. This has been the hardest part as I am a touch and feel type of person. Thankfully I have had these floors before in our previous house so that was one less stress.