Hello, Sorry in advance to bring up an old thread/subject, However looking for any additional advice/direction i can get on comment from midesign0401 below... mldesign0401 In Victoria a range hood is a requirement in new kitchens. No longer is it acceptable for a simple exhaust unit, rather it must now be ducted to external air. So your range hood must be flued either through your roof space or via a horizontal duct to an external wall. It must be installed and signed off, and your house insurance will require your sign off document if your house insurance is to cover damage due to fire, or you will find yourself in a predicament. The provision for installing a range hood above a gas cooktop is a minimum placement of 650mm above your cooktop, and 605 for an electric hob. Including induction. Hope this helps. Our new home got handed over to us by builder just before Christmas (21/12/2018), We are still waiting for under mount rangehood to be installed into our kitchen, The house was delivered with no rangehood as the hole they provided was to close to accommodate rangehood selection, After a couple of visits we have been told that cupboards are to be removed and replaced, Which we are still waiting for as the 'cabinetmaker is very busy', My inquiry is to see whether there is a building code reference/link I can forward on to them to hurry the process up, Also concerned that insurance would not cover our new house if there happened to be a fire Thanks in advance, We look forward o nay help, Regards, Ken and Nadia Buxton

Changing the splashback to a lighter colour will definitely brighten up your kitchen. If you decide to stick to the canopy rangehood you can add doors to the open shelving cabinets. Another suggestion is to either change the overhead cabinets to a contrasting colour such as white you can keep the carcasses to be less costly and just change the doors but keep in mind that the side scribes and top scribe will stay dark if you do it this way. Also think about using bright accessories instead of the White you currently have in the open shelves, this will give you an instant change at a low cost

Hi everyone, I'd like to thank you all for your input. Have been a busy spring and summer, but now I'm back and able to focus on the living room. Couple of things have been done/removed since lately: 1. Leather lounge set: I've (luckily) sold the leather lounge set - absolutely great piece with great quality, but not my taste at all. It made a world difference to the living room and even dear hubby, who liked the set, did acknowledge that the difference of less furnitures is great. 2. The rug 3. The white cabinet 4. New curtains with pelmet I love the pelmet although it's old style and yes, the curtains are too short! Will amend this at later stage :) These changes have made a huge impact on the room. Also, I'm also open to change the dining table with chairs for another nice option in an attempt to make this more interesting/cozy/inviting. So, these are the only things that I won't be able to change (we may (note on may) also move house by the end of this year/early next year) # Blinds # Colour of trims and built-in bookcase # Camel back sofa - I'm happy to reupholster it though and change the fabric. This will cost $2000 but I think it's worth it since they are really comfortable and are of good quality. I'd like to integrate the white frame with the gold poster in the design - an idea is to place 3x posters on the biggest wall of the air conditioner. I'm aware that a brown frame may suit the gold poster better, but I'm so tired of the colour brown at this moment. --------- So, I now feel I'm able to adjust as per your suggestions and recommendations much easier now. Appreciate every response and idea (And sorry for the mess of papers on the desk and floor! We're busy professionals and sometimes I have to let my husband have his creative space despite my OCD when it comes to decluttering and keeping it tidy)

with a lot of helpers crowding around to help i suggest that the new kitchen needs to be zoned for tasks and be open plan without a separate pantry...this rough idea has a central island about 2m x 3m surrounding the column and walkways approx 1.5 m between counters, subject to available space with the column the island has mostly underbench drawers for pantry food storage, crockery and cutlery and the counter is for food preparation, serving, sorting and distributing clean and dirty cookware and bags of groceries etc and has a small extra sink but no more than a couple of stools to keep the workers moving!!..Subject to suitable access the central space under the big island (would be about 60cms wide, 90cm tall and almost 3m long!) would be ideal to store folding tables and chairs and "christmas" supplie in wheeled storage crates or pull out kitchen island trolley..There's a full size fridge and freezer as well as an underbench drawer fridge next to the tea, coffee & toast area,with cup glasses and breakfast supplies in the overhead cabinets..twin dishwashers with double sinks, hot cold water dispensers, pull out garbage bins and a modern insinkerator or compost disposal in the sink area..the cooktop and food prep area is on both sides of the corner with big appliances underneath, and serving plates and casserole dishes etc overhead..The base cabinets should be deeper than normal for more generous counters and giant cooking equipment and appliances stored underneath and to have shallow splashback shelves for herbs,oils, sauces etc and there's a stacked wall oven and microwave and a stacked wall oven with warming drawer and vertical shelves above the ovens to stand up trays, racks, cake and pizza trays and drawers below the ovens for saucepans and baking dishes...decorative finishes and fine details need to be determined by the resident cook for personal taste and everyday comfort