What a beautiful tile! Rule of the tump - always match the grout to the tile. Specially with such a strong patterned tile, otherwise the grout also becomes a clashing pattern. I'd pick light grey to avoid pure white cleaning issues. I have these type of tiles in my patio, you will have to be seal them with penetrating sealer after installation, but other then that you will love them forever

I love light filled kitchens so I wouldn’t have any overhead or long cupboards in black - all white then can have black on the island Remember a little black goes a LONG way as it absorbs do much light

hi MB - I live in Sydney .. I designed my house in 1988 to be 'passive solar' - I looked at Louvres back then but chose Awnings bcoz the Louvres in 1988 did not have screens or Locks… I think if you lived somewhere really cold you get more benefit from 'double glazing'- but, these days the really cold Northern countries use 'triple glaze' and thermal energy... for you, opting for a few on your Northern side with deep eaves would be sensible A couple of years ago, I finally replaced my Block-Out Verticals with Plantation Shutters - the Plantations look great and when shut keep heat and cold out... the verticals did the same thing but the look was outdated and got ratty ….

The Kitchen -- it is very much a 1970's intrepretation of Colonial IMO , and ties in with the front door , so presumably thge rest of the house is similarly dated -- and thats not a bad thing . In one of the other pictures is a white 'panelled' door -- in a lot of ways its a pity that the rest of the doors weren't wood . Anyway , IMO painting the kitchen white will not achieve anything -- it won't look more modern , and it won't look warmer . The only slight argument is that it may look 'cleaner' but I don't think that's enough reason to do it . Your front door looks a few shades darker , and better for it IMO . So if you are keeping the kitchen , stain it darker , embrace the scrolls and the fake latticework , and the appliances all look reasonably modern . Its a decent size and has a good flow . Even the tiles look okay , but my criticism of them is you actually have to look -- they blend into the walls , because they appear to be exactly the same colour . The kickboards look grey -- you could repaint the upper parts of the walls in a similar grey , but my preference with slightly darker and slightly redder stained cabinets would be stay with a white or off-white , but re-grout in a mid to charcoal grey , and make a bit of a feature with the tiles , and it also ties in with your bench colour . The downlights are good -- the bug catcher UFO light definitely not so . Get something with character , but NOT 1970's , and definitely not 1970's faux colonial . Clean and modern would be the buzzwords . You could start again , or paint the frames white and change the doors to white or grey , lose some character and lose some warmth IMO -- it suits the house , just needs a lift .