I would consider how you plan to use the island bench, what tasks will be completed at the island bench, what you want to be able to see from the island bench (e.g. the TV in the family room) and what impact the pendant lights will have on the view of your kitchen from the family room. I personally found the height and style of pendant lights in display homes to be annoying. I'm not especially tall, but I had to deliberately avoid them and they often obstructed the view from the island bench. Some, but not all, also seemed to give off extra "heat" which isn't something I want in a kitchen which would already be warm when the oven is on. I did see some with the pendant lights raised higher, but then it looked a little odd to have a pendant light so high. In the end, I ended up not worrying about a pendant light.

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 ..

My island is 3500mm x 950mm. With a 300mm overhang. I also do not have any stools at my island because our eight seater dining table is adjacent to island. I have my double sink with drainer, and plenty of bench space, because of bench length. So works for me. As oklouise has mentioned, measurements of your kitchen will dictate how big your island is. A 1200 deep island would require you to walk completely around it to clean, unless your 6 foot five. You have also said, in one of your initial posts, that you never eat at a dining table, so maybe you need a deeper bench. But, I would like to think that once you finally renovate your home, you will have family meals around an actual table.

Thank you everyone for your valuable feedback! Gary - great ideas, I agree with the stairs, its got that bottom landing that looks good but is it practical? The space in (4) is the master shower. And I love your easy switch with the fridge and pantry as the fridge has extra room to open out to - shouldn't cost much for this change. Will chat to the builder about swapping the pantry around and the costings for the change of stairs. Oklouise - the new upstairs arrangement you have created works so much better! Does the first floor change require a change to the stairs like Gary has suggested? Your upstairs main bathroom placement works better as it sits above the guest bathroom downstairs. I also like your idea about the guest bathroom. RE: Kitchen, I'm concerned with having both cook/sink stations facing away from the pool area. If I keep the sink in the island, would our existing 2.8 sink bench space surrounding be sufficient space to hang around? Kate - You have made invaluable points around the garage and the simple change in the guest vanity without the added cost. Min garage dimensions in NSW is 5.4x5.4. With our 17.4m frontage, this garage dimension is the max we can go to. I'm torn between the house with a more open foyer space, or reducing it to a smaller one to allow for bigger garage... we haven't lived in a house with a double garage, so for us this seems huge. We will also have an outdoor shed to store our lawnmower etc. Thank you again, really appreciate the responses so far!