Hi Nickers77 My daughter installed an ikea kitchen about 5years ago, it was a shaker style and looked great in her little cottage, the bench tops were really good too, my only advice would be to make sure that you install it properly and be very diligent on having everything level, maybe paying extra to have it installed by a flat pack specialist..she also looked into the Kaboodle kitchen, we both liked the ikea ones better. I would post a photo but the house is a rental now, and she hasn’t had any problems.

It's many years since we've had an eat-in kitchen, but my current renovation incorporates an eating area in the kitchen because, frankly, I'm tired of the extra work to carry things to and from the dining room and the extra cleaning created by always using the dining room even for casual meals for just two of us. We have had bar stools at the kitchen island, and the grandkids use them, but my husband hates them and refuses to eat at bar height or even at a lowered 'ledge'; on the side of the island. So my kitchen reno will include a table on one end of the island, at regular table height and large enough to seat 5 if necessary. There is a large sliding door to the veranda close to where that table will be positioned, so it should be a pleasant place for casual meals and I expect we'll eat most meals there. I'm so confident of that, I'm converting the dining room to more living space and putting our big timber dining table in the alfresco area, which will be semi-enclosed, with open parts security fly-screened. The dining area we use when we have guests will be super-casual, with a BBQ in one corner and swim spa in the other. I just don't see a purpose for formal dining anymore, especially living in a sub-tropical climate.

i'm sorry to say that i don't believe that there is a stress free renovation but with careful planning there could be a successful renovation and if there's no asbestos to remove demolition can be exhausting, dirty, good fun but, even when everything works perfectly, you can potentially be without a kitchen and laundry for several weeks or longer ... it's not especially difficult to sub contract a kitchen renovation there's just so much to organise and with the current health crisis i'm told that there're a big demand for home renovations and we can expect super long delays for any cabinetry or trades work ...eg you will need an electrician and plumber to disconnect and reconnect services several times and if one of them doesn't arrive when needed everything else has to wait.. but, anything you can do to save time and labour could make big savings and even if a kitchen company does all the work you will still have to choose all the appliances, taps, sink, tiles, counters, doors, styles, paint, lightfittings, floorcovering etc and make sure that everything is ready on site when needed and you could be living in a mess, cooking on a barbq and washing clothes elsewhere regardless of who does the demolition so why not ask the kitchen companies for an itemised lists of charges including costs for any appliances, taps and sink so you know the potential savings and their timetable

Hey mate yes you need to decide the stone bench top finish height first , and at frame stage the window needs to be installed in such a way so that the bottom frame of the window is is set to that exact height. As you wont be able to move the window up or down at later stage.