Just DO it ! You'll need to undercoat to make the paint cover, so once you have done them in white undercoat, you'll wonder why you hesitated.......they'll look brilliant. You could do them one unit at a time, until it looks right but you'll probably find you want to do them all white. Your suggested colour Antique White USA will look awesome and I too would suggest new door handles - it's surprising what just that change can do for a kitchen. The pendant lights would certainly make an inexpensive change to the whole area - I did it recently when I put in a secondhand kitchen and am super-pleased with the end result considering the awful lime green & mustard monstrosity I started with LOL.

Have you been to visit some kitchen showrooms? You can customise the photo search here on Houzz quite a bit. For example, you can simply select [dark wood[(https://www.houzz.com.au/photos/kitchen-design-ideas-with-dark-wood-cabinets-phbr1-bp~t_10444~a_17-103) cabinet finish in the filter options. Then add more filters like floor colour, kitchen layout, cabinet style, wall colour etc if you wish. Leave the benchtop and splashback options open and see what results you get. You can then save any photos that appeal to your ideabook.

Hi Michelle, There are many independent designers (both kitchen & interior) that would be happy to put together a colour schedule to suit the kitchen design that your cabinet maker has prepared, so a few phone calls in your local area should have this sorted for you. Alternatively, we offer a cost effective 3D rendering service at The Interior Difference (check out the examples on our Houzz profile) customised to your colour selections to assist you in ensuring that you have made the right selection before you commit to the colours. We find this is really helpful for client's who have a good idea of what they think they want but just need a visual to give them the confidence to proceed. Feel free to send us a message if you have any queries. Good luck with your project!! Rebecca - The Interior Difference

Hi Kate - my kitchen doesn’t get exist as the renovation starts early in the New Year. The attached link has some pictures of my parent’s kitchen. They used Neolith Statuario in the Silk finish - it is greyer and has a more dramatic vein than the Calacatta (which is also a bit browner and then the Calacatta gold is browner again). https://designerkitchensvictoria.com.au/gallery/item/137-coffey The photos do not do their kitchen justice - it is lovely in real life. There are quite a few different porcelain brands in Australia now - Dekton (as mentioned above) is another option and there are others. The different companies also do various different marble looks. You could have a look and decide what style of marble look that you prefer. They can then provide you with pictures of projects using that style of stone (Neolith has pictures on its website). There are also a lot pf photos on Pinterest and Houzz. Neolith gave me a really generous size chip (about 1/2 the size of an A4 sheet of paper) - that has been really handy for selecting other finish colours (eg paint for the 2 PAC and walls and trims and the Polytec laminate and tiles for the bathroom and laundry - if you do decide on Neolith, I could give you the Haynes paint and polytec colours that I am using if it helps). Porcelain is more expensive than Quartz (both in raw material and in installation costs), but then so is marble. I am using a lot of Neolith in my house, so I shopped around to find a stone cutter who was crafty with maximising the use of each sheet of Neolith (to avoid wastage and minimise the number of sheets needed). It made a huge difference. My house was also designed around the sheet size - Neolith sheets are 3.2 metres long (so you can have a 3.2 metre benchtop or island without needing a join). You need to use 12mm (or thicker) sheets for benchtops. (Splashbacks and showers use 6mm thick porcelain sheets - Neolith does 2 different matching sheets for each marble design, so you can bookmark and pattern match the splashback). Also be aware that the marble pattern is only printed on the top of all of the brands of porcelain. If you want to continue the pattern on the “lips” of your benches, this needs to be a beveled edge (which you also need to do with quartz or marble if you want any thickness of “lip” to your benchtop). So you also have to factor in the stone cuts needed to create the benchtop “lips” when calculating sheet cutting and usage. I am not having edging on my benctops and am instead going for the slim European look of “floating” benchtops. I am not worried that the 1.2 cm edge all the way around the benches will be plain white. On the marble etching and staining - at my brother’s house it is everything that has been a problem - from wooden chopping boards, tea cups, wine glasses, metal cans, citrus, vinegar, tomato, water (yep even water marks marble!), oil, certain plastics, berries, juice, even some metal cans…. I understand what you designer is saying about the beauty of natural marble and how it has been used and loved for hundreds of years in European houses - but frankly the modern day types of stains (where the toddler smeared their blue playdough, the round marks of tins, the outline of wine bottles, coffee and tea cups and tins etc) are just not pretty!