I would suggest replacing the counter tops with a stone not overlapping too much for a modern look. Neutral white or light grey tones or if you want to go overboard a gorgeous Carerra marble. Keep your cabinets white too, white kitchens are great for re-sale, easy to live with and you can bring in colour with accent pieces such as a decorative bowl on the kitchen island and some coloured appliances. I would personally paint the window white. With a white kitchen you can virtually paint your walls whatever colour you want. I think a pale grey/blue would be lovely for a Hamptons feel which would suit the style of your kitchen but remember if you paint the architrave around your window white then you may have to follow through to the adjacent room. You could also replace the hardware on the cabinets, black knobs and D handles on the drawers would be nice, I used black in my beach house kitchen. See the image below. The blue on the ceiling of this kitchen below is a lovely colour, if you definitely want blue I would choose a blue/grey. Make sure it doesn't throw any mauve as blue's can do this, use a test pot first and ask them if it has a lot of red in the base as you don't want this. I can't advise a paint colour unless you live in New Zealand as I am not familiar with US paint colours. Remember the colour you paint the kitchen walls will also depend on the colour in the adjoining room, you should try to choose something that will work with your adjoining spaces. Putting two new suspension lights over one of your islands would also give a new look to the kitchen. I don't know what the rest of your house is like with regards to style so can't make a suggestion but your kitchen definitely could be Hamptons style by the look of the cabinets. I just noticed that you have stained wood architrave around the other adjoining room so if you paint the kitchen window you may have to do the entrance to the other room etc. White will make the spaces feel bigger, they won't seem broken up by the wood colour. Good luck, would love to see your finished project.

Do you mean Corian? Dorian Grey *painting looks older, while you stay young. Corian just stays looking the same, in the case of my parent's kitchen, for 20 years, really. * fashionable colour.

Hi there, we just do a wipe down every day for cleanliness ( can still see some marks with this) and a wipe and buff once a week to look as new. We have red wine, turmeric, beetroot, coffee drips, grey ‘pencil’ scrapes from plates. Oils are pretty much a daily addition on our benches too, and as it is also our backsplash it gets tomato sauce, spatters etc from cooking. All disappear with the wipe and buff method except for the pencil type marks which I use another Enjo product called marble paste on then follow up with the usual routine. I think you may have to make the hard decision between the fresh concrete look or a stone that shows less marks in certain lights- choose whichever feature will make you the happiest in the long term. Either way you will love your new space.

Yes, if you check the Caeserstone website they say; " As Calacatta Nuvo™ incorporates large veins with some small unique natural variation between slabs, we encourage those of you that select this design to view your actual full slabs first hand at the stonemason prior to them commencing fabrication." https://www.caesarstone.com.au/colour/5131-calacatta-nuvo I am not sure if your product is from Caeserstone or a competitor, but most manufacturers have a similar disclaimer with their veined reconstituted stone as there is variation between slabs as you have discovered. If you were selecting from real Calacatta marble from Italy you would definitely check the slabs before delivery as there is always variation in natural material. I suppose the question is - who checked the slabs? Or did you just order for two to be delivered, assuming they would be the same? Best of luck, Dr Retro of Dr Retro House Calls