Once again, thanks everyone for your thoughts. The idea of a skylight is definitely on the cards - the glass doors are something that we just like on all the other doors, with the toilet just being the question. Also, a skylight might be a bit beyond our DIY (sky-tube maybe less so?) and trade work down here takes time (I'm not just in Snowy Mountains rural, but then down a country road 25km, plus another 2km of uphill dirt driveway, and the trades don't always show willing) - things we can't do ourselves take time and frustration. What Maguire Architects says about heat loss is important to us though (thus the double-glazing, storage heaters, etc.), so I've particularly taken that on-board. As for IKEA (jajlynn, Belinda)... jajlynn, that kitchen looks fantastic. I love those overhead lights - they really suit the style. Brisbane IKEA did delivery to Sunshine Coast, but the cost was pretty exorbitant, and they wanted to charge that each time more of the ordered stock came in. It got so frustrating having an incomplete kitchen, waiting for stock, we eventually brow-beat them into sending the stuff from a Sydney store (something they were very unwilling to do, even transfers between stores). They sent whole cupboards by Australia Post, slathered in standard stamps - it was weird. But it got done, and it got put together. Before and afters below Belinda, I'll be honest with you: as much as the IKEA kitchen is better than the Mitre10 kitchen, instruction-wise, you're gonna swear. You're gonna have to paint over the blue when you're done. ;) Just remember, when you're swearing, and probably at each other (assuming there's an other here - otherwise, at yourself and everything else), but it's just a kitchen - you'll get it done, it'll look great, you'll be justly proud and you'll want to do your next one (maybe not straight away though ;) ). That's why we're doing stuff here straight away in the new house - it gave us confidence to do it or learn trying. Now if you'll all excuse me I've got to get back to swearing at pantry wall cabinets, at my partner, at Mitre10, at the government, at that thing over there whatever it is, and at cursed fate that placed these suddenly-discovered slightly-wonky walls between me and happiness. ;)

Most door companies stock what you are looking for.

Forget dust, what about all the other things that designers or buyers forget: fingerprints on shiny new surfaces... result: things stop looking new. Grime build-up in the nooks and crannies of classic profiles ... result: not so classy looking. Those funky new colours that are so "on trend" but nothing else matches and in a few years they look completely off-color. As for dusting, well people, it is a fact of life and every house no matter how sleek, cluttered or empty will gather dust. Couple of things you can do about it: Hydronic heating has really cut down dust for me because you don't have warm air being blown through the house through ducts. (It's also way cosier). Secondly, remember that every time you have your windows open, more dust comes in. So when ventilating after a hot spell, avoid having them open for long periods when its very windy. Thirdly, has anyone tried Grabit dusters? They *really* make dusting a quick, simple and efficient job. They pick up and hold rather than redistribute the dust. Also they are so light that you can confidently flick them around even fragile items without knocking them over - so this all saves time.

I can't help you with the bench top supplier, sorry! But I think your current cupboards will come up amazingly well with paint! The shape looks pretty dated in timber, but that shape painted white, will look fresh, even those dinky little window doors... almost a bit Hamptons! ; D You may not need to as they're timber, so with a light sand and primer/enamel paint they should come up well. But I recently painted my kitchen cupboards. The lower cupboards were laminate so I used the White Knight Primer & Laminate Paint (in a dark blue-grey!) and the upper were painted timber so I just used enamel paint. But the White Knight paint just came up so much better and was so much easier to paint with, the finish is incredibly smooth, they look like brand new cupboards, I've even suggest using that as it's so strong too. But having seen what a transformation a simple paint job made to mine, I'm sure yours will come up really well. Just put the effort into preparing the surfaces of course, the actual painting was the much easier part! Also, try for a light stone, it'll make the space look bigger and your sink etc will blend better, making it seem larger.