Tribbletrouble, thanks so much for the info, it's great to know that there's a bit of a black trend happening, as the black accessories... Handles, lights, sink, legs were what we really liked when choosing but now seeing it all together it's taking a while to get used to. Like you said though. I probably just need to get the furniture and laying done. Really appreciate your thoughts, links and suggestions :)

i'm glad you're planning to reroute access to the garage: clumsy traffic pattern change a generous room into a big hallway and can't stop thinking about your kitchen..1. where you have narrow cabinets/shelves in the pantry...it's possible to have built in shelves inside the dividing wall (think about the size of what you want to store: cans, bottles, skinny packets? and put 60cm base cabinets on the other side, next to the freezer 2. i can't see the yellow highlights for stools 3. width of pantry is subject to you wanting to keep the door to the formal living room...if so, measure 150mm past the door opening and that's the minimum width of the pantry but 1500mm allows space to comfortably walk past your freezer and have full size base cabinets with pantry drawers (cleaner than open shelves) 4. space between the b'fast bar and 'fridge should be at least 90cm but if you choose a wide b'fast bar and a big 'fridge a bigger space is preferable (stand a couple of chairs 90cm in front of your current fridge for a few days and see how it feels) direction of fridge door opening is also critical, first for the cooks and then everyone else: if the size of the b'fast bar can be enlarged or reduced with overhanging counter then a change of walkway is not so difficult 5. as suggested by girlguide, the cooktop and rangehood might be better on the outside wall for ventilation 6. there seems to be a lot of small cabinets and drawers in your plan and there could be some better (and cheaper) combinations but when i tried to access IKEA kitchen planner to confirm available sizes it's not responding today 7. i've attached my suggested approximate base cabinet sizes: starting with corners and work outwards, aiming for the biggest standard carcases and then add drawers to suit purpose ..

Hi BC, I thought to throw a few more ideas at you before getting trades in as OK suggested, you might find something in all suggestions that appeal to. I personally don't think it a good idea to have a combined laundry kitchen in a house, it's something that you relate to apartment living, that's why I have previously suggested that you might consider opening the laundry from the bathroom, which then gives you another wall in the kitchen space. The kitchen is small and I was going to suggest the you have a 900 glass cook top that can be used for extra bench top. This new floor plan keeps the laundry where it is with staked washer and dryer and sink which can be used for cleaning large pots. I have drawn a galley kitchen with the cook top/oven on one side with the fridge sink and DW on the other, for prep and cleaning up. I have also added a sideboard.bar/desk facing into the living room, these cupboards backing up to the kitchen cook top on the other side could be used for the load bearing wall. Where I have marked the wall oven would be bench top as you have now mentioned not wanting that, the microwave can be mounted in the wall cupboard next to the cooktop where the wall oven was marked. The wall units could go to the ceiling or have a bulk head above them I have drawn the kitchen as a galley as the distance between bench's is too wide, 1200 is as wide as you need

Thank you @oklouise for your detailed response and proposing a plan! Just a couple of responses and questions regarding what you've mentioned: - Agreed that we need a proper plan in place before doing any big kitchen renos. I've been doing research all day and have better understanding of how complex the process can be. I think a complete DYI kitchen will be out of the question for us, so we will shop around for builders and a cabinet makers to get a better feel of the costs involved - Agree with leaving the 70cm wall, at least on the side where the fridge is. Spoke to my partner and we will amend our plans - You mentioned that you like the stove location but think the kitchen is too shallow to have the stove and kitchen there. Can I ask why? I've seen a couple of examples where stove & island is 1 meter apart, which seemed to work. - We unfortunately won't be able to have the dining table in front of the stove, as we won't have enough space to accommodate quite a large couch & TV in the remaining living space :( I'm still gravitating towards having an island, as I prefer some separation between kitchen & living space Cheers, Xenia