. Its just way too much timber! So the floor should stay, because its harder to change. Start by definitely at least pull out the part of the kitchen with the weird enclosed fridge space. that really cramps the room. Then pull of and replace the cabinet doors and the laminate bench top. pick some amazing tiles and have your husband work his magic! Paint the walls a nice colour to really make the space look more vibrant. Get rid of those horrible blinds completely! We are doing out kitchen up and we don't have much money or skills or access to tradespersons anyway. So we are keeping it to a minimum. Do it little by little. We started with a new stove with really changed the feel of the room. We plan to just paint the cabinets.

Thanks everyone for your suggestions. I am amazed at the response! I think we will go ahead and change the benchtops, replace the cooktop with stainless steel, a new rangehood, splashbacks and new door and drawer handles and possibly a new sink and taps. We will consider painting the beam and post and add a modern blind to the window. Then if we are still not happy, maybe we can rethink the painting of the cupboards? Actually, I like the timber, so if these changes work I will be more than happy to leave them as they are. Our floor tiles are relatively new and are throughout the entire downstairs area. Also, the wall paint we know is not the right tone (for the floor tiles) but is in good nick and will be remaining until we are ready to repaint. Rome wasn't built in a day but I will add photos when we start the process and you can follow our progress. Thanks again

Unless you particularly like to lounge in a bath you could do what we are doing: ( In construction now ) -shower for grown ups of all ages stays where it is -next to it under the window we have a 1205 bath so we can bathe the little ones. (without causing a drought) -A slide cavity door leaves much more space. -the vanity could have been 1200 but we have decided to keep to 900 which we think will be ample enough. This leaves a space between the vanity and the bath. bathroom size 2150x 2150.

Hi Leah, I had a pressed metal splash back in my kitchen. It was powder coated and never scratched. I lived with it for 6 years before moving and it was fine. Its a bit tricky cleaning (all the little nooks and crannies) but not overly hard,, not harder than dealing with grout. I didn't have a very big kitchen though and didn't require any joins. There would be metal trims that are used in floor applications (for example where carpet meets vinyl or timber) that might work on the join, you might just need to do the investigating on behalf of your cabinet maker. They are often referred to as C-channels and you could get them powder coated in the same colour so they don't stand out. If you contact Schotts they can put you onto a specialist pressed metal installer who might recommend a solution. Don't give up on the pressed metal yet, its just so beautiful!