A nice invasive running bamboo would be the ticket to isolation. Where are you worried about it invading - your neighbor? When it invades your gravel areas, you cut out the running root, big deal. If you built a wall, you would have to maintain that, would you not? I am renting a house that is less than ten feet(3 m) from the highway right-of-way, but about another 20'(about 6 m) from the actual roadway, which is about 5' (150cm) above my first floor. As the road curves, it passes both first and second floor bathroom fulll-size windows, yeh. Bamboo to the rescue! We are saved by the lovely self-sustaining bamboo. No fertilizing, no watering, just an occasional clipping of its toenails, each spring. It doesn't soften the sound of the Harley's though. To keep the bamboo from crawling out of its crib, install a galvanized or aluminum edging that goes down 6-12'(15-30 cm) to contain these babies from escape. And let the neighbor go back to Dungeons & Dragons or Sesame Street for their entertainment.

Loving your space and flooring. We recently bought a white unit 2400 long. I had planned to have a cabinet built in at a later stage taking up the whole wall but have now decided that I like the option of having space at the ends for decorative pieces eg: the plant and accent chair. Also there is plenty of storage with the existing unit. I went for white to blend in with the walls to make the floor is more of a feature and I could then add colour accents in the room without it all being too much.

I so agree with Alphen Construction - on first glance, it is definitely the handles that are drawing the eye to changes in height. I would definitely try Alphen Constructions' suggestion re 'blocking out the handles with tape' to see how you like the effect. Take a photo when you do it, you can then compare. I think I would remove the handle from the cupboard over the fridge and the cupboard over the stove. I wonder if a steel extractor fan that would take that cupboard to the same level as the other cupboards might be an effective trick, it would also tie in the steel of the fridge, oven and appliances. Under cabinet lighting is needed in my opinion. I do hope you will be able to enjoy your kitchen because it is lovely. I wish you all the best.

ask the builder if there's any legal, technical or safety reason for his refusal, offer to pay for the extra few cms of pipe and then have the shower installed to suit your man...i'm surrounded by giant family members and had no difficulty having the showers roses installed well over 2500 which i'm told is so much better when my tall ones want to raise their arms when washing and the extra height make no problem for shorter people and children as long as the taps are installed at suitable height for everyone