I think it's a matter of personal choice. I doubt there are any hard and fast rules (and if there are, rules are meant to be broken).

Our last house had a bit of variety in the kitchens and bathrooms and no one ever leapt up and said, well, but the blue in the ensuite (we had a blue master bedroom) is inconsistent with the cream in your kitchen and powder room.

In our new house, our kitchen, bathrooms and laundry all have the same floor tile, cabinetry and caesarstone bench tops. The bathrooms and laundry have the same tile on the walls (kitchen has a glass splashback). And of course, the same paint. I like the continuity the similar finishes give, particularly in a fairly open-space kind of house. But then, I tend to regard walls and floors and cabinets as background rather than as statements in themselves - I make my statements, such as they are, with the rugs, wall art, and generally quirky stuff I have scattered around.

I see your images of preferred kitchens, and I see a lot of elements - benches, flooring, white cabinets, tiling- that could move into bathrooms and laundry. Not so sure about the wood-look cabinets for bathrooms (depends on how big teh bathrooms are) but you could pick some of the elements for each without making them identical.

No, they should relate to any rooms from which they are visible.

You obviously love a timber and white mix, so I think it stands to reason that you will be drawn to the same look in other rooms.

It will no doubt do your head in if you think you should do something different in each room and in my opinion, it might look a little "bitty" as a friend of mine likes to call it.

Done correctly, you can add the very same elements as your favourite kitchen into all the wet areas of the home except that in the bathroom for example, you may want to use real timber like teak which is very tough and naturally water resistant so will be long lived.

Laundries don't really get wet, more so dirty at times, depending on the type of work clothes that find their way in there and also if the laundry doubles as a type of mud room but synthetic benches should work fine in there.

Make your build simple and stick to a type of look and feel you like and you will enjoy the process far more!!!

I know how your feeling! Building as well with the same thoughts. I was very confused and was not enjoying the experience. I thought I should have everything the same - the kitchen, laundry and bathroom but decided not to have the same but use the colour scheme throughout the three rooms so there is a sense of flow throughout the house. Good luck it will get better!!!

Thank you for all of your comments and input. I will be taking your advice into my colour selections appointment. As some of you have mentioned, I think I will probably choose more WOW finishes for the kitchen whilst keeping similar elements through the bathroom and laundry.

@jmm1837,

My appologies firstly to the author for being off topic.

One house I lived in didn't have plaster anywhere, just pressboard for walls, the stuff notice boards are made from, so we wall papered as paint soaked in by the bucket load. then lived in a caravan and now a little relocatable cottage, a glorified caravan without wheels I say but now hubby and I are building our dream home, I have no decor or design education and have simply done my best with the plan and now the build.

Great advice about making the home, warm, comfortable etc...and I'm doing what I want and not following trends BUT unfortunately at times I am truly paralized by indicision, too many choices of everything from interior colours to simple door handles and when I put my head down to sleep, my mind goes into overdrive, sleeping at times only a few hours a night ha-ha

Still enjoying the process but it isn't that simple to follow your suggestions!!!

I'm sure as the home progresses, with less decisions to make, it will become easier.

I know what you're saying - but ultimately, a door handle is a door handle, it's there to open doors - if it works and you like it and it's the right price, buy it. It's not a thing to stress over. No one will judge you or your house by your door handles. That's all I'm saying - don't lose sleep over the shape of a door handle. Even if you pick the wrong one, the door will still open.

@jmm1837,

I think you might have some formal education in psychology, your words are very wise!!

All jokes aside, I totally agree with you but I didn't actually strees over the door handle decision, that choice was easy, function first, it's actually the kitchen layout and house colours but having had the kitchen finally drawn up and narrowed down the house colour to a single choice, I just may finally be able to get some shuteye ha-ha!!

On the other hand...

if you are planning to age in place, have arthritis or other relevant disability, get lever door handles, and D cupboard handles. Just sayin'.

Tribble - my handles all are levers, actually, but even if they weren't, door handles can be changed. So can paint. One thing I've learned is that, with designing/decorating a house, you never get it quite right the first time - so you spend the next few years tweaking things to make them right - and that's part of the fun of the whole process.

And that's kind of my point. It's important to get the basic structures right - like the kitchen layout - but other things - door handles, paint colours, drapes, coffee tables - can all be sorted out over time if you make a mistake. I just think some of the people who post dilemmas here are very unforgiving of themselves when it comes to their homes.

No, they don't have to be the same colour, cut if they are you can put things with different accent colours and or themes.

Here is an idea.

Keep the most expensive and difficult to change elements fairly neutral - in colours you like - and for other things, eg handles, even splash backs, accessories to be whatever you fancy at present - change them when you get sick of them. I tend to think of background as fairly long term and the rest more short term. Incidentally my new kitchen is in similar tones to yours and I added accents (including fabric pelmets that velcro on) in light turquoise, but I can change them when I want. I'm planning something similar with the main bathroom.

Nice to have an underlying theme around which you make variations. Could be a common material used in each room or a unifying colour scheme. If the unifying feature is something you particularly like it will be easier for you to build around it and the combination of rooms will be more identifiable as your home. All the best Michael

I totally agree with Michael. I've done just what he reccomends