I would go matt stainless steel, it will match any other silver or chrome in the kitchen (cupboard handles;tap; toaster etc). I've been looking at double bowl stainless undermount sinks and thought the Blanco essential U2 model was pretty nice (and about 788mm). good luck!

Hi iggs85 as it is an older kitchen I would not spend a huge amount of money on a revamp. It is definitely possible to paint laminate but good preparation is vital to ensure the paint 'sticks'. However a quality painter is going to charge you about the same as your resurfacing quote. Using either a painter or a resurfacing company does let you choose any colour though. The biggest disadvantage of the current benchtop is the bullnose which is very dated. From your photo, the colour and pattern look OK but you could get a stone 'overlay' put on it. They square off the bullnose so it looks more contemporary. An acrylic feature panel on the return is another alternative to vinyl planks. It looks like glass, comes in a good range of colours and is relatively inexpensive compared to glass. See http://zenolite.com/range as an example. You can buy acrylic sheets from Bunnings. You could also use pressed metal panels as a feature eg. http://www.wunderlite.com.au/catalogue/details/1/79/pressed-metal-crystal?start=25 Add some new handles on doors and drawers too.

Thanks everyone so far. Only hesitation with glass (or a white-grey tinted glass) is that it might be a bit glarey with the spotlights above, but will definitely consider it! Cheers Annb, my father built the whole room including the cabinet :). The cd shelves are from IKEA. The metal strips you see are just over-door clothes hooks you can pick up for around $10ea. They just slide on top of any old door and are not bolted on in any way. We are going to install a rail inside to convert this to more of a wardrobe. The room dimensions are actually 3.8 x 3.7, but the width of the wall pictured is more around 2.7 because of the cabinet & bricks. Behind the curtain is a double sliding door with windows and optional external access. Same on opposite wall (which is more important to access.. and has nice views, hence the current, slightly awkward bed placement..) The pocket door is to what will be an ensuite. Main internal access is opposite, or external through the sliding door (marked with arrows in the second pic). The mezzanine is 1.4 wide, with sloping ceiling overhead. Could technically fit that king single up there, just, but the bed will probably be upgraded to a double bed soon enough. It's just storage on the mezzanine for now, but brainstorming... thought it could be used as a reading retreat or put that bed up there for guests once the double bed (thinking IKEA's Malm with the under-bed storage drawers). Just one young adult (20s) using the room. Between the wardrobe, drawers, sideboard and mezzanine there is plenty enough storage space. Drawers and sideboard will stay as is, but we are hoping to use this side of the room more wisely! A bit of a quirky space to get right! Thanks for your help everyone :) :).

Before choosing any surface, do the finger test, unless you are house clean slave. The finger test is see what marks show with a slightly greasy(hand lotion) fingers. Most blacks show finger marks big time. Same with counter tops. Best test is scatter with bread crumbs, if that disturbs you forget it, otherwise you will be kitchen cleaning all day. The same goes for concealed handles, they quickly get full of crusted much and chip easy. A working kitchen needs to be practical, easy to clean and totally family proof.