Liz, You have beautiful cupboards. I love your integrated dishwasher, and the designed space for the microwave. It should fit your new oven perfectly. But here's the thing: the thing that makes your cupboards beautiful is the timber doors. As wood mellows, it would be hard to match in new "door" elements - you could tell the old/new. If you are basically happy with the layout, then refreshing the benchtops and a new stovetop doesn't need a kitchen company. You need to work out your new stovetop, as you need to know your cutout. Then get some graph paper from the newsagents, and measure up. You can go directly to a local stonemason for a quote, or use a refurbishment company to overlay your existing top (e.g Granite transformations). (A new sink is relatively cheap and works wonders to update the kitchen!) A good handyman (or even better, a builder who just wants a bit of work on the weekend) can rip out the existing cupboards, mount a new range rangehood, and would probably be willing to take a hammer to break your connection to your dining room. Most plumbers (if its gas) or electricians are willing to connect in a new stovetop and sink for a reasonable price. It sounds to me that the only really "new" add -in is your new pantry area. You might need to be a bit clever to make that blend, even if you can't get a 100% match. If it's a full length pantry, one option might be to consider an off the shelf "door door" or even bifold, with a similar profile, so that it's sympathetic . You could then stain, or paint, or varnish to either blend in or make a contrast. Best of luck!

Lyn Huppatz raises a very valid point with moving, particularly for those moving from the city to the country. It is very difficult to feel you are really living or belong in a place if you are not accepted and these barriers can be very difficult to cross. I've just traded city life for what I hope is some peaceful country living to see out my days and this aspect did cross my mind with thoughts of how to try to cope with it. Fortunately, I've chosen a wonderful place where everyone seems to be a newcomer, basically all escaping the city hustle and bustle so the welcome I've had is amazing with invites to join many local groups and clubs, I doubt I will have time for them all. Maybe instead of wondering about ourselves so much, we should also focus on how welcoming we make our own particular areas for newcomers - how much would we like others to say they have lived rather than just stayed.

Amar, can you measure the rooms again in Meters , marking doors and windows You could sell your old kitchen and appliances which would also be removed at no cost to you. Would you reconsider using the existing free standing cooker and Range hood this would save a lot of money, the cooker could be replaced at a later date? Once you have the measurements you could take them to a Bunnings for them to quote and do a floor plan at no cost to you, once you have this you can ask others to quote. Keep in mind that drawers cost more than a simply cabinet, and your choice of door profile/style will effect the price.

Thanks Kate. In the first photo at top of this thread is our existing house, with the load bearing walls being the solid lines on outside. We now have a tweaked plan version 3 below- but still not convinced yet... We were keen to make bedroom 2 and 3 a bit bigger as the kids will use their room more than we will lol! What we are looking to do would be to add on one end (the lounge and master) and widen Bed 2 a bit as it is quite narrow. We would like to improve the kitchen and dining and entrance but getting a bit stuck here. We are trying use the space we have got without changing too much to save in cost but this area is important to us and would be used probably more than the lounge, which is quite big in comparison. The alfresco would be a bonus. It is more so that we want to include a back door leading outside as otherwise people would need to go back out the front entry or use the laundry door which is pokey and small. If we could revamp the kitchen and dining in a creative way, so the dining doesn't look so small compared to the lounge that would be good. The idea would be to see how big/far we can go, then ask a builder to quote and if too expensive, scale it right back...We have ruled out going up as we thought this too expensive?