Hi Rach163

So the splashback is along the wall behind the stove? And is full height to the ceiling? No overhead cabinets there? Certainly for an all-white kitchen, and a very small wood-element on the table, I'd suggest a feature colour splashback. There's a few ways you could make it pop - a colour such as a rich red, or a striking (but not bright) green, or even a blue would work well. We used colour-backed glass for our splashback in our all-white (but dark benchtop) kitchen, which is low maintenance and looks very "rich". It's a red (burgundy?) feature "wall" below overhead cabinets on two sides of our mostly L-shaped kitchen, and we also put it under the island bench/table, to tie the two together.

The other idea that struck me is that you have a view to the outside (albeit a covered courtyard dining area now?). That made me think of a mirror to reflect the view, or at least the light - so something like a polished stainless steel. Perhaps in sections or strips with brushed steel, to reduce maintenance :-)

For the lighting, we used an led strip under our overhead cabinets, either side of the range-hood, and around the corner to where our sink is. You could do something similar with a narrow aluminium channel either at the ceiling (probably too high) or at range-hood level with an led strip (a waterproof one!) inside it. It's nearly invisible when not on, just a crisp brushed/polished metal line, but gives a really bright uniform light across the whole bench area, and no shading issues with the main room lights behind you. If you wanted real wow, get a multi-colour led strip that can be colour changed (and be dimmed) to suit your needs and moods. And if you wanted to freak people out, you can get a multi-colour programmable led strip that can also do things like active lightwaves, pulsing and respond to music and a bunch of other things :-) All of the strips are dirt cheap, unless you buy them through most Australian lighting stores :-/

We also put a dimmer led strip underneath our island benchtop, to pick up the splashback/underbench colour, and as a nice 'night-light' of an evening. Works really nicely. I've seen some people do it at the kickboard level (i.e. 140mm above the floor), to make it look like everything is floating, but I've found that only works for some kitchens.

One of the benefits of controllable coloured led lighting can be that the splashback can also be white or silver, and it's the lighting that determines the perceived colour.

Leds are quite directional though, great for benches but less for wider room lighting, unless you have them in a diffuser. We use led lightbulbs in four high ceiling fixtures, and one long-drop over-dining-bench light, since they are lovely and bright and warm (if chosen that way), and as the ambient light source. You can also get colour/controllable led lightbulbs but $$$.

You want to think about where you want feature lighting (up or down), work lighting and ambient lighting. Think about where you will stand to work, and which lights you will be shading, which will be shining in your face, and which will actually help. We pushed around our lighting points on the design, and even over-catered on the number of fixtures, just in case we missed something. You can always disconnect a light and cover it trivially, but putting one in later or shifting one is a bit messy.

Anyway, my two bits. :-)

Cheers,

Markus

Good on you for thinking about bold lighting! Why don't you put a chandelier in there and have under cupboard lighting. I have that andlove it as, even though it's quite a light kitchen, it's good to use that for the benches when you'e cooking. Love bling though - so find something you love as the main thing - or even 2 of them, as that would suit that room as it looks quite large with the new layout.

Hi Rach,

Firstly the cabinetry colour: you have three distinct cabinetry areas in your plan and so perhaps consider colour blocking an area and tying that in to another - for example; the 'fridge' wall of cabinetry could be in the same colour or finish as the built-in table.

Re lighting; either side of the range-hood is going to be dark, so LED down-lights in the ceiling over the bench will help there. the island is a great opportunity for feature pendants but keep in mind that most of these do not offer much 'task' lighting and so you may need a few LED down-lights there too.

In keeping with the expansive and open style of the new kitchen a splash-back taking up that whole wall (bench to under cornice on range-hood wall) would be very impressive. You can consider using stone or composite, stainless steel, glass or tiles. This will depend a bit on budget, colour required and if a bit more detail in the finish (ie tiles) is required to round out the kitchens styling.

Do keep us posted and show pics of the completed room. I'm very jealous as it will be a fabulous kitchen to work in.

Cheers,

Michelle

We installed a new kitchen last year. All white benches and cabinets. As it was a dark room as it faces west we put a dark grey mirrored splashback which reflects the light and makes it seem spacious. We also installed strips of LED lights under the cabinets in 3 different areas (including walk in pantry). They are operated by the wave of the hand and also reflect off the mirror splashback.

Forgot to put also that we used large LED downlights (8) but have 3 large silver pendants hanging over the main bench.

For quality one off personalised splash back have a look at this New Zealand site: vandertouwdesign.co.nz