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.

@Karen Hodge, I hear you!! Sometimes I think the estate agent should carry quite a bit of the blame actually. If they do their job correctly like you see in the adds on TV, they should bring these discrepancies to the attention of the sellers, stand on their morals and say if you can't get it better than this, then you'll have to find someone else to sell your home!! I know you can't make everybody "house proud" but the saying "do unto others" springs to mind. I bet if these same people bought a house not up to scratch, "a current affair" would hear about it but they don't think it wrong to simply walk out on a house that isn't being left nicely for the next family!! I have some friends that recently sold a house in Essendon, Melb and whilst the buyers were back and forth selling their own home, my friends kept watering the plants and even did things like painted out the wardrobes because of the scuff marks made over time!! They cleaned the entire two storey house from top to bottom and finished by mopping the floors as they were exiting. The buyers were so taken by the entire home, they bought it with almost all the furniture that my friends had in it!!

bigreader I'm okie..thanks for caring ..just need time to readjust kind of walked out on my job..so looking for stuff to fill in my time ..I hate being bored and sitting sround fiddling my thumb been looking for courses to do and taking my camera out.. these I took yesterday in Warrandyte..

Hi T Whit, Firstly, congratulations. How lovely to have 10 acres and a view! Also really glad that you are taking the sensible approach and aren't rushing into anything. Perhaps the best place to start is finding an architect or building designer with whom to work through your ideas and come up with a concept. Whether you engage an architect or building designer really depends on three things: your budget, the size of your project and, probably the most important thing, finding a professional person with whom you feel comfortable working. The whole process will always run more smoothly when a good working relationship is established. Once you have a plan you are happy with, it may also make sense to engage an interior designer to look it over prior to submitting to council or beginning construction, to see whether the flow of the internal design is optimal and where any adjustments might be made. Once you have council approval, it's costly and time-consuming to make significant changes as you'll then need to re-submit the plans. An interior designer can also help with exterior colours and finishes, selection of all the internal finishes, lighting, fixtures & fittings and would be able to provide detailed design of kitchens, bathrooms, built-in joinery etc. which trades will need. There are so many details to consider in any building project, so best to have as much of it as possible worked out before the project gets underway. Having said that, it's also an "organic" process and your ideas and tastes may well change during the design process, so it's good to have people you can trust on board to help with important decision-making and to workshop ideas. Best of luck with your project!