Hi Tanya. I only just came across your post. Another option is to have an electric hot water heat exchange unit (installed outside) and induction cooktop. Do you currently have solar panels on your roof? If you did, then you could utilise the solar power generated to heat your water, during daylight hours of course, for showers, dishwasher and washing machine. I'm uncertain how much electricity it takes to run induction cooktop though. Probably for short periods it wouldn't be too bad. A great feature about induction is that it boils water and heats pans very quickly. If you don't already have solar panels and you aren't considering it, then possibly the solar hot water unit suits your needs better. I would caution you to find out in advance how much it will cost to hire a crane and crane operator and whether it's by the hour, half day or full day. Usually they also charge a transport fee. I think if you were to repost your query in Design Dilemna you would get a whole lot more people offering advice. I hope this helps.

All comes down to how much you want to spend. All good to go the options as many others have suggested but this while being overwhelmingly a great sustainable option the costs are significant! Unaffordable for many when all they just want is cheap hot water. Gas Instantaneous is still a very cost effective option, easy to install, cheap to run ( at this stage anyway) but locate it as close as possible the preferred hot water tap. Heat Pump HWS are again very efficient but currently are still rather expensive. My electrician friend swears by his Heat Pump... The old school electric HWS is slowly being phased (no pun intended) out as they use a lot of electricity, etc. but many owners will just replace the old one with a new one. Sometimes its the cheapest option although not as sustainable nor as cheap to run. Your budget is the key (to everything) and is just as important as anything else. Get the best that you can afford thats within your budget!

ours is recessed into the wall and you can't see the pipes or the sides and we've been told that it's OK to paint it to match the wall but you should consult the manufacturer to double check safety issues before doing anything as the heater has very specific conditions for safe installation...given the choice i would remove that section of cladding and ask the plumber and electrician to recess the heater and power points and reline the wall and paint the heater for a much neater and safe finish

Ditch the gas and go with a heat pump or solar hot water, especially if you live in qld. Gas prices are only going up and you can’t use rooftop solar to power gas appliances. A heat pump hot water system converts heat from the air to create energy to heat water, so in a Queensland climate it’ll work very efficiently. Depending upon your system it’ll use 1-2 kWh per day. If you have solar panels it will cost you nothing to run. If you don’t, it’ll cost between 20 and 60 cents a day. Solar hot water will also work well in a warm climate. A resistive electric hot water service uses much more energy than a heat pump or solar hot water service but they are cheaper to buy and can be economical to run if you have rooftop solar. If you don’t have gas heating and you have an induction cooktop you can ditch gas completely and save $300 a year or more on gas daily charges alone. This is a worthwhile read on the subject. https://renew.org.au/renew-magazine/buyers-guides/hot-water-buyers-guide/ Best of luck