@ sally wastie....Would have loved those pine kitchen cupboards....before they were painted. Had I a strong yen for :a bit of colour"...(and I do love colour), I would have had a new glossy multi coloured counter top, probably something very striking and then oiled the pine cupboard doors There were no work benches in the kitchen of my 1920s all pine cottage ( always say that the kitchen was an afterthought since it is positioned just of a hallway and consisted only of a sink and a wood burning stove.) I built a small bench/table using VJ pine slats I'd removed from elsewhere and then put a thick pine top that curved out from the small straight bench to form a little round kitchen table..Then came the fun, I painted the benchtop and table a datk teale colour, gave it a flecked faux marble finish and a couple of coats of high gloss waterproof varnish. Nothing terribly amazing but it did give the old...'kitchen space' a bit of a lift. Had a larger round kitchen table with a formica top and timber legs...so gave the table-top the same teale treatment as the bench and it now lives on the veranda that came a few years later. Yes! Teale of any shade always looks good with timber. The only pity was that the kitchen walls and ceiling here were terribly smoke stained and had been painted a really horrible pre WWII green. Begrudgingly, I repainted the walls but used a bright orange/yellow to complement the dark teale colour ( this particular yellow is a good colour to keep the flies out) and, in keeping with the era of the house, I installed a built in dark timber kitchen hutch found at the dump shop. The kitchen is the only room to have been painted and repainted....but still have the dark timber parquetry floors. If you get tired of all timber a few splashes of bright colour in well-thought-out places do not go astray. If you have vertical timber panelled walls and you are feeling hemmed in... a good trick is to stain a small section of panels a darker wood colour or with a coloured stain to shift the focus from all the timber. or you can bleach the timber panels lighter. This idea can create interest extending ceilngward from behind a furniture piece...say low display cabinet...or just in a section of wall. You enhance the all timber 'look' with an eye -catching timber panel of another timber hue...like having a mahogany panel set in a light timber wall... Just a few ideas for those feeling a bit claustrphobic in an all timber house....understandable, not all of us aspire to live in a log cabin...but if carefully accented, an all timber interior can be extremely impressive and will not date. This is a pre-digital shot of the glass panels I had installed in the wall around my bed head...its really faded PIC but you can get the idea. Looks better today since the glass has been decoratively frosted with patterns. The sunroom behind the bedroomThis is also a pre-digital PIC showing the little timber kitchen bench with the teale table top. The end and other side of the bench is stained timber. This little table seats 3 or 4. Pity you can't see the old parquetry floor here. Old formica table given a lift with a Teale coloured painted top...there's no room for it in the ' kitchen space'. Amazing what a little lick of the right colour can do in an all timber house.

Thanks Maddyshack. This is the link from from the manufacturer. The colour is s bit better than my pic. http://www.perfecto.cz/en/dlazba-arkistar-pearl-light-750x750-mat?shop_loc=wall-tiles-floor-tiles-stuccos/wall-tiles-and-floor-tiles/by-the-basic-colour/grey/stranka1 Not easy to find a concrete look that isn't too patchy. My guess is many of them would give a checkerboard effect with the amount of variation some styles have. These were also at a great price point for an Italian (does that even make a difference) tile in Sydney.

You can't go wrong with Dulux Natural White, it's the perfect neutral white, (like a milk white?) not warm, not cool, and no dated creamy undertones, looks perfect everytime I've seen it. I like Antique White USA for older homes (it looked great in our old Victorian home), but I sometimes find it too creamy. But consider your flooring too. If you have warm coloured timber floorboards for example a Natural White or warmer would work and would make Lexicon for example look too crisp.

I would probably avoid a timber benchtop with a spotted gum floor. Often timber benchtops don't age gracefully, especially around sinks, over time, and need more love and maintenance. I would let the floor be the feature and go with a plainer, more neutral benchtop, perhaps in a reconstituted stone, such as Ceaserstone, that will work with your cabinetwork. If you must have a timber benchtop then consider it on an island bench (without a sink or stovetop), and use a reconstituted stone benchtop for the sink and stove area. Best of luck, Dr Retro of Dr Retro House Calls