What sort of floors do you have? What shape is your kitchen and where is the fridge? I think an all black kitchen is most suited to a large space with a lot of natural light. If you have that it will be fine. :) In a small space without natural light, it may look dark and the black gloss may be a little overwhelming. If you have a kitchen with a defined back wall, another wall to the left/right and an island, you might want to put the gloss fridge and cupboards all down the side wall and on the island, and use a contrasting colour for the other cupboards. Perhaps a timber or grey timber look laminate and off white to warm up the space and bring in a bit of light. Depending on what you do and do not like as well as what is going to be reflected, a mirror splash may bring in a little more light as well. Goodluck with it all.

We have been a supplier of OSMO Hardwax Oils for a while now and have found that they have been great in all applications. They have an Oil specifically designed for Kitchen benchtops. OSMO Top Oil which is foodsafe and contains linseed, carnauba wax, candelilla wax, sunflower oil, soybean oil & thistle oil. You can buy it from VCS Products in Perth or Natural Timber Oils in Melbourne.

Have you been to visit some kitchen showrooms? You can customise the photo search here on Houzz quite a bit. For example, you can simply select [dark wood[(https://www.houzz.com.au/photos/kitchen-design-ideas-with-dark-wood-cabinets-phbr1-bp~t_10444~a_17-103) cabinet finish in the filter options. Then add more filters like floor colour, kitchen layout, cabinet style, wall colour etc if you wish. Leave the benchtop and splashback options open and see what results you get. You can then save any photos that appeal to your ideabook.

Fill it with pieces you love and learn to zone out what you can't change. Funnily enough we are having the opposite problem - about to move into a home we have created but still with the 'rental' stuff...it will be an adjustment. Have you seen [this[(https://www.houzz.com.au/magazine/meet-my-houzz-the-coys-stsetivw-vs~60048479) Houzz story about living in a (albeit friendly landlord) rental? Perhaps that is the key - find a great landlord...?? Good luck. I love the concept of hygge - it exactly describes the kind of space I want to create at home and I can't wait to share it with my friends and family. Thanks so much for that link :)