Different strokes for different folks, as they say. We have a butlers pantry, smallish, with a sink in it. The pantry has become effectively a walk-in pantry, with storage, a wine fridge and the toaster and microwave. It's very useful, but we almost never use the sink because there isn't enough practical counterspace and because, well, who wants to do dishes in a closet? We also have an island, with a single basin sink in it, and of course the dishwasher. That's where we do prep, and it works just fine for us. We can watch TV while pealing spuds or washing those dishes that don't go into the dishwasher. Even with the sink, there's still plenty of prep space, and we have a good work triangle between sink, oven on the wall directly behind it, and fridge, oven and pantry on the end wall. In practical terms, the arrangement works for us. When we entertain, we clean up and load the dishwasher as we go, dump the pots and pans in the butler's pantry, wipe off the bench, and we're good to go. And since it's only a single basin undermount sink, the look is clean enough for us.

Thanks Tilly, yes I think it'll be a really good exercise to think about how we live every day and what will support that. For example we had a BBQ on the weekend and the weather was quite cool, so my husband said how about a covered entertaining area to the rear of the house (north facing), but I'd rather have it open so the sun comes into the house every other day of the year! So we're investigating these fabric folding awnings... I might get us both to sit down and virtually go through our day to work out our ideal items. Thanks! Holly, thanks for sharing, some great ideas there. Yes I don't want a huge footprint, and survived for 10 years in a small Victorian terrace with a 'Euro' laundry behind fold-back cupboards in the bathroom and it never bothered me, so you've reminded me that I'd much rather that space devoted to more enjoyable areas! And keen on the versatility of a multi-purpose room, sounds like such a great approach, I work part-time from home plus my family is interstate so doubling as a guest bedroom would be perfect for us. Love the window bench with storage idea and yes I want an island bench that's clear of sinks etc. Wow those loft beds are amazing! Might pencil that in as an idea. Wonderful, thanks!

Hi There, There are so many different options these days! It's totally dependent on what you plan on storing in there. My personal favorite is having 5-6 drawers with a mixture of shallow and deep. Drawers are a much more effective way of storing items as you are essentially pulling the back of the cabinet out to you. This way when you can stack as far back as a standard shelf but you're not pulling out everything in the front row to get to the back. Another benefit of this is storage for small appliances that can be a pain when below bench as they can be heavy and hard to manoeuvre our of corner cabinets for example but when in a drawer access is instantly improved! The capacity compared to shelves is pretty much an extra 50% Along with this are additional options to customize there is availability to customize the number of drawers, heights and material (I find glass if very handy!) Emma

Congrats on doing the planning and thinking about how you will use the space, absolutely essential even if you don't do a lot of cooking. A well planned, functional kitchen will make your life easier and add value to your home. I am an avid cook and long time renovator so have done many kitchens in my time. Looking at your space and how I personally use a kitchen I'd suggest two sinks. A small prep sink on the stove side and a large double bowl sink on the island, with dishwasher underneath. I think your hotplates are in the right location as long as you have at least a 500mm or more of bench on the wall oven side and then ideally approx 2m (if you have it) from the hotplates to your prep sink. This divides your kitchen into zones, prep, cook on the back wall and clean up, serve on the front. If you tried to put everything on the back wall it would be too crowded and not work. Think about a desidng that allows for two people at all times to be in the kitchen, you do this by dividing your kitchen into zones. Prep, serve, clean up and think about how you entertain or liaise with the family whilst you are in the space. I hope this helps and best of luck with your new kitchen.