How about adding a long dining table. It drops the height, remains a useful bench extension and provides for casual dining or a dining space for the children when you want adults at your proper dining table. Not sure of your family age group, but it can also make for an inclusive area for the kids to do their homework away from the cooking at one end, but close enough to supervise. I am a fan of multifunctional, because life changes. This option also means you can change your mind about bench space later. We added a steel framed table to the end of our benc, which has the same bench material popped in as a surface. We wanted this option for the future grandchildren, that have yet to make an appearance.

The space already looks quite clinical and I think with your laminate options will be more so. I love the way timber softens grey and white and agree with the comments above. Have you checked about how hard wearing the Diamond Gloss is? You don't want to install it then have it scratched. If cost is a concern, Bunnings have bamboo and maybe also timber options at reasonable prices.

I want to do the same to free up a ‘stretch’ of bench space, rather than having only small work areas in the corner and ends of our small L shape. I am talking stove top only as oven will be in a tower with microwave. That means the cupboard underneath can utilise the whole space, albeit with relatively small door (430mm). We would have to offset the range hood on the adjacent wall due to window position but have been advised the modern hoods are powerful enough to extract steam without necessarily being positioned absolutely over the hot plates.

We got an engineered stone resurfacing in marble for our bench and splashback. Looks amazing. We went with Granite Transformations in Taren Point (Sydney), very happy with their customer service and speed of installation. We changed our sink and that could be easily done with the benchtop overlay. You could get rid of the ugly bullnose and get a straight edge too. They also do stone, which is a bit cheaper, but marble looks so good. Granite Transformations Sydney South