stackers open up wider but glass doors are quite heavy so suggest more narrow panels rather than less wider heavier sliders...if planned in advance the bottom tracks can be recessed into a suitable floor to reduce trip hazards..we have three stacking panels with an extra matched height section with an awning window for ventilation when we don't want to open the door and/or in bad weather..the doors and window are connected into one tall wide section of 4 equal sized panels..Given the ideal situation i would also have window sections across the top for extra height and include electric openers that we have used elsewhere and find are very useful for opening high windows without having to climb up something to reach

Most off-the-plan apartment contracts allow the builder a little bit of variation in room sizes in case any building issues arise during the construction process. The dimensions on your drawings aren't room dimensions but the structural set-out dimensions and don't include plasterboard thickness to stud work, or render thickness to brickwork. I would postpone buying a console table for such a narrow entryway until the walls are lined and you can physically measure it up. You will actually have less width than the 1.22m on the plans, so possibly 1.2m. While a console table of 35cm width may be fine for normal use, it will seem narrow when carrying a large suitcase, or moving a fridge, or bringing a pram through. Best of luck, Dr Retro of Dr Retro House Calls

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.

I hope you don't feel offended or that you wasted precious time and energy, siriuskey? I really do wish we'd reached the point of seeing your concept earlier. But I am happy with the design we settled on. Perfection isn't achievable. There will be things that we wish we'd done differently for sure, but overall I think we will end up with a home we can enjoy living in and be very happy with. This will be the 28th house we've lived in, and definitely the last (Said that four time before, but we really are getting too old to be moving! And this move is only happening because of a family crisis. We had renovated this house to be forever.). You do get a feel for the things that work best for your lifestyle after living in that many different homes. Things like the sewing nook in the laundry, for example, I wouldn't have considered years ago, but having had to run from one end of the house to the other to press a seam open, it's a biggy! And laundries today are not like they once were. They are clean, streamlined and pleasant to be in. My sewing bench will be under a north-facing window with a pleasant outlook and the washing area will be at the other end of the room. The kitchen will be very close so I can keep an eye on any cooking in progress while sewing or ironing. I have also decided that for me, the cooktop should be on the same bench as the sink - not opposite as is usual. So we have settled on an L-shaped island with the sink tucked behind a raised section so it's largely out of sight (as was suggested here), and the cooktop in the leg of the L. Hubby cooks a lot so the kitchen design ended up being important to him and he hated the main sink being far away from the cooktop. For some reason, the small sink on the island didn't work for him. Little things - but little things can be really annoying sometimes. I loved the idea of the sink near the servery window but it didn't appeal to him at all. In the end, we compromised on having the pantry sink under a servery window to the terrace, since the outdoor room won't be used a lot for dining and when it is, there will be a team to carry things out from the kitchen, whereas we will dine on the terrace frequently, especially when we have just one or two guests, and the servery there will be useful. So, final draft this weekend and on to working drawings, shed plans and council applications.