Like the white (top picture). Feel like the grey bench clashes. What colour is the skirting for the cupboards? The silver skirting May bring it all together, particularly if you have stainless steel appliances.

I don't feel the grey bench top works either. After checking out your kitchen ideas book I think you would be truer to the images you have selected by going with montytaffy's suggestion of white cabinetry and marble look benchtop. It seems quite popular to then have the same marble-look surface for the splash back. Easy cleaning. If you are 100% happy with your other selections then I would stick with the white bench top in preference to that grey.

agree with scottevie ..either have same marble look bench top and splash back or a white bench top.

Thanks for all of your feedback/thoughts. I have been very torn and undecided going back and forth between different looks. I wondered if maybe these choices could be too much all together so now not really sure what to do...

I would love love love a marble bench top (as many of you mentioned). Unfortunately it's just not an option as it would be thousands extra.

Would also like white cabinets if they were shaker style but unfortunately with our builder we can only get the flat cabinets which we don't love so much in plain white. That's why we were thinking the textured white/grey.

We did also consider white subway tile splashback but as can't afford marble bench top and I did want to incorporate some marble that's why we thought about that for our splash back. Also decided if we could get the one big panel it would look awesome and also eliminate grout which would make it easier to clean.

Hmm might be back to the drawing board. Maybe should change the flooring? I'm not really sure which element to prioritise.

It's hard when you know what you want but can't afford it.

emz3 then back to the drawing board..

work out what is important to you and what you can live with..

would you rather a laminate floor or a real timber floor?

would a laminex bench top do or Caesar? or granite ? timber bench top?

once you've decided where you can cut costs that's when you go hunting for materials

it's all a compromise..

Presumably the flooring extends beyond the kitchen, so I think you really should go with what you absolutely love there and work the kitchen around it. Was there a grey cabinet sample that could link the floor to the marble veining? If you have the names for the products you are looking at it might aid more specific suggestions.

Appreciate all the feedback, thanks everyone!

Yes caesarstone is what our builder includes. Its the statuario nuvo (marble look) caesarstone that I would have loved but after finding out it would be about $4k-$5k more than the 'snow' caesarstone pictured above we realised that wasn't an option for us unfortunately.

We are building so I guess we're a bit limited by the companies our builder uses. The cabinetry is polytec melamine range (riga salt pictured above). They do have shaker style cabinets in their thermo laminated range but were told it would cost quite a lot more. Will have to ask for a more specific quote and see just how much extra it will be.

Ultimately if budget weren't a factor I would do timber look flooring, marble bench tops, marble or white subway splashback, and white shaker style cabinets. So I guess I'll just have to try and get as close as I can to that look with our budget.

I really like the look of the grey bench top, how does it fit in with the rest of your homes style?

I have grey cabinets with white subway splashback and you could do white bench top or marble splashback, I also have the grey flooring you have chosen. It looks beautiful. you can't go wrong with white. It's stressful trying to choose but when its all together it'll look great whatever you decide.