yep, stunning. I been drawing something similar for a while and it's awesome to see your ab fab results after your OP. I got interested in some ikea solid timber benchtops, not nearly as nice as yours, and thought I'd combo them with black cabinets, white stone and white walls (just a "what if" design). so I totally love your kitchen. it's great how well the tiles look now compared to when you first posted, they really excite me! and the lightshades against the black wall. and what's that dining area I see? that smoked glass table top with timber trestles and black chairs and that black and white rug? where you get those?! I want to see more! congratulations, it's hard not to gush! big ups to Mldesign too.

Hi Lil, I believe your original plan works much better than the revised version. While the notion of ideal working widths is great, the larger problem here is the post. I worked on a project very similar to this last year where a post could either be connect to, or separate from the island. What we found was that by separating the island the space between island and post became very awkward. It's not enough of a space to comfortably walk through or be seated at the island in front of. Instead of your room feeling open and generous in proportion, it is going to start to feel cramped and awkward. We have a kitchen in our showroom (Kitchen Studio Tauranga NZ) with a 6ft gap between bench and back wall and it works wonderfully. It allows someone to work at the sink and a second at the island with ease. Stick with the original plan. It will feel a lot more spacious, without compromising work flows.

Hi M Tranter, we just finished our Blue Ivy house in Malvern, although more contemporary in style, we went bold with the blue in a very similar shade to yours! We actually fine-tuned the shade on site, as the blues will appear different depending on orientation and light. We never worry about 'trends' but choose material and colour palettes to suit each client, and the bold colours always balance out with the other elements in the space. Good Luck (and go for it!).

with the cost of the appliances you've chosen the additional cost of the wider stone should be worth it to achieve the results you need but 950mm may not be enough to achieve the clearance needed to slide the fridge into the space...consider raising the fridge up higher (easier to view the contenets too) and add a wide timber edge around the stone counter to add a feature with the extra depth needed