my MIL is one one those that won't fetch anything for herself ..she expects you to get up when she gets up 5-6am and fetch her breakfast..and it's no good offering would you like some toast as she'd be like oh no I'm fine.. you need to cook breakfast and plop it in front of her.. she wouldn't let me wash her clothes so showed her how to use the machine..she hand washes them and pop them on the line right on top of my rack of dried clothes..she took my clothes down so she had room to hang hers out..and of course her dripped on mine ..?? and if she dries the dishes she must do it intentionally to annoy me as it takes me ages to find bits and pieces to my rice cooker..?? amongst other things that happened .. my MIL is hated by all of his family..because she's the second wife..his biological mum is the best MIL you can have she's kind and loving not like this one..calculating ..stabs you behind your back and the list goes on.. my husband must takes after his mum..he's kind and caring.. thank goodness she's overseas now..only lose him to get twice a year for 10 days each..

Personally I would never get rid of the lovely wood trims / doors as wood is expensive and in my opinion it never dates. I am sure many other people will give you their opinions on what will match with this and that but I would just like to say - select a colour that you like for the walls - a light colour usually works well (even just an off white). Let your personality come out in your furnishings, art, knick knacks. Try to have some cohesiveness to the colour range for each room but each room can have it's own personality if you so desire. Light fittings are amazing these days and if you go to a local light shop you will be able to see the lights hanging from the ceilings / walls and if you ask you may be able to take a couple home to decide what works best for your room. Look at web sites, look in magazines, look in other peoples homes and chose your style. Don't feel you have to be like everyone else... the rooms must be right for you or you will never feel comfortable and it won't feel like home. Good Luck.

Hmmm, I initially had same idea as bigreader about fridge placement where microwave shelves are, but I doubt there's ample width for a fridge there. Then there's issue with fridge door opening into same area as that door that we are wondering about. What size is your fridge? It sounds like you are considering placing the fridge on the carpeting with the back in the dining/living space. Is that correct? It's generally not a good idea to place a fridge on carpet in case of leakage and subsequent damage to the carpet. Do you own the apartment/unit? If so, this may give you more options. If you were able to remove the bench/cabinet to the right of your stove and the overhead cabinets there, that could be enough space for a fridge. But you would lose food preparation and storage space. As has been suggested, the wall opposite the stove could accomodate more overhead cupboards. It would be helpful to know what that door is for, the size of your fridge, and if you are able to do renovation to the apartment.

Hi Complete Kitchens....Yes, I realise that 20k could get a good standard kitchen (our own one recently done was about 26k including scullery), I'm more talking about the ones that talk about doing kitchen, bathroom, painting and even moving some walls on 20k. What my point was, is its great when people like you actually give an idea of a cost of a project - it's easy to get fired up with inspiration and then get thoroughly dissapointed when reality hits! Things are expensive these days and I think for some who may not have done any renovations to their house for years, they don't really have a lot of idea of the costs involved.