I highly recommend Annie Sloan chalk paint. We bought a daggy pine kitchen hutch off ebay fairly cheaply, and repainted it with a vintage/off white Annie Sloan colour, looks so much better. The great thing is you only need to wipe the surface down, not give it a full sand. I was skeptical about how well it would stick, but we've moved house twice since and it is still in great condition. The paint is slightly textured so if you want something that is perfect and smooth with no brush strokes it isn't for you. Two coats and a coating of wax and it looks great. Here's a before and after pic, we still hadn't put the handles back on in the after pic. Not cheap paint, but when you consider you don't need a separate primer or to sand it, it pays off. http://www.anniesloan.com/acatalog/Australasia_Stockists.html

Hi Kruti. Those new pieces are lovely. There’s a houzz article in Stories about how to decorate a console table. If you select Stories, then Interior Design, then Decorating, and then type ‘how to decorate a console table,’ in the window, the article should pop up. I think you will find it very helpful.

Don't go with white. While it is easy to replace door fronts and drawer fronts you won't be able to replace the tall vertical panels adjacent to the fridge recess and the microwave recess without pulling out half of your cabinetwork. If you went with a white you wouldn't be able to match the same white as these vertical panels, and the new white would look off next to the old white or vice versa! I'm afraid there is no easy solution that will make the new doors blend in with the old vertical panels, so I would go with a bold contrast colour block that looks good with the white vertical panels, as well as the black granite. Perhaps consider a Piet Mondrian inspired kitchen facelift, by introducing some black edging to the vertical cabinets and a careful composition of blocks of primary colours? Best of luck, Dr Retro of Dr Retro House Calls/Dr Retro Virtual Visits

Thanks Melt, sorry I misread your post. We actually intend to do something similar to your Narrabundah friend in that we are knocking out the pantry and laundry to double the size of the room and get some light in. So it's good to know that keeping the stove will work in a bigger space.  We have also been wondering what to do with the gap when we remove the upright stove, so a structure with plants and cookbooks sounds sounds  sounds perfect. Thanks, its  good to hear a success story about keeping the old Canberra stove. We've seen a modern renovation that left the stove in a corner of a walk through area where it just looked odd, so integrating it into a country style kitchen is our goal too.