Hi Carmel, I'm not a architect and I do value everyone's professional opinion, but can't help thinking that perhaps you and your husband are both right. The breakfast table would look great in a natural stone, it is the where you eat, have tea or wine on, maybe a small project, entertain or have a fork fight on. Choose a granite or marble that's going to tie in with the splash back and your lovely timber floors and go with a wow factor like a stand out vein or run of colour in it. Makes it interesting. As for the rest a dark or even black solid surface or laminate is ideal. I find them soft and touchable, easy to maintain, a pleasure to work on and it adds the extra modern elements that's missing from this lovely galley style kitchen. Corian is another brand of solid surface but a textured dark laminate from A reputable laminate supplier should do it too. Make this room an energy that you want to be in not just look great. Kind regards Marina.

Hi, This is totally normal. To answer your question, the location of the taps depends on the sink. If the sink has a landing (space for a tap hole) you can elect to obtain it with or without the hole/s and have the tap on either the sink itself or the benchtop. If as in the case of the Franke one you've selected, there is no landing then the taps are mounted on the stone. The cabinetmaker usually provides a template of the benchtop when the carcasses are installed for the stone supplier. This is then used by the stone supplier to make the correct size and cut outs for eg the sink. They will want the sink so that they can do the cutout to suit. They either then drill the holes for the tap/s during production or do it on site. It's no biggie. You just need to have the tap selected so they know what size holes to drill and where you want them. Take care to keep in mind clearances between the sink bowl and the cupboard carcass or other items. It's usually tight. We always plot the location of the taps while we have the template on site so we can check clearances etc. Cheers

I have lived with both and both chipped, although the stone bench was only from a much harder knock than what pitted and chipped the laminate. I've also found that any 'stains' from things like beetroot or turmeric tended to disappear from the stone bench tops within a couple of days of regular wiping, whereas the laminate discoloured permanently. In its defense, the laminate would have been a much older product than my current benches, by a decade or two, so there may be better products available now. But I also think the cool feel of a stone bench is lovely and may even be better for baking, too. I prefer the stone, but that's just my opinion.

Hi Em, no you are not overthinking it, it is important to pick a white that does not clash with your tops, or kitchen face colour. You can't change the colour of granites but you can pick a colour to suit your Granite (stone), which is why we like to recommend that our clients should always choose their stone (and cabinet colours) first and then choose their wall paint colour after the kitchen is installed. In addition to your floor throwing off colour, also effecting wall colour in the room is the type of Lighting which have a strong influence (white light or warm light) where these too are other good reasons to pick your wall colour last after the kitchen installation where you can best see that paint colour within your space and not someone else's warehouse or showroom. Hope this is of some help, regards. Malcolm