Hi there, Many thanks for your positive comment. As a rule leave at least 1 meter between the kitchen island and the rest of the kitchen. If I have space I like to leave 1.2m/1.4m and at a push I will reduce this to 0.9m. Hope this helps.

Why thank you - I was quite surprised how well it turned out myself. I cleaned the surfaces, then wiped ESP product on all surfaces to be painted, waited 90mins, then 1st coat of oil based enamel white. I was impatient and did the second coat only about 4hours later. It took a Saturday morning and I was done :)

Personally I would always go for a consistent style throughout the house if at all possible. Expensive if you have to make a lot of changes to achieve it. I guess it comes down to how much it bothers you.

White kitchens are neutral, they go with everything, so I don't think they'll ever be out of fashion. The "dark recycled black plastic sinks" sound horrible, and this is the first I've heard of that trend.