Xenia, just to be clear, is the builder saying there doesn't need to be a non-combustible material covering the gap between the stone benchtop and the window?? Is that wall made of brick or some other non-combustible material, or is merely plasterboard? If it's plain ole' plasterboard, it is most certainly combustible and can ignite in say, a fat fire. Maybe I'm missing something. Would you please look closely at your plans and clarify? I very much like your table/butcher's block. The one in photo looks like it's higher than a table, so I'm guessing it is at a perfect height for you to work? Yes, that's a lovely, restful colour of glass, and no, I don't think it is overkill. You want to be happy in your own kitchen. Just a thought, but you could choose material with that colour of blue for any chairs or stools you have at the butcher block table. Ties it together.

Hi SonaandDi, In case you haven't come across it, here is the link to my finished kitchen: https://www.houzz.com.au/discussions/5598603/renovation-of-our-1956-red-brick-triple-fronted-home-all-done This layout has the potential for issues, but I tried to factor those in by noting where the fridge doors came to when fully opened. I should have allowed a little more width for the fridge gap, as the theory didn't quite translate in practice: on the plans I allowed the minimum of 20mm either side of fridge, but ended up with only about 13mm (was not fun getting the fridge in!). So my suggestion is to make sure there is 50mm either side of fridge. eg the fridge space is 1000mm wide for french door fridge around the 900mm mark. Even so, my doors do open fully (vegie drawers slide out unobstructed), as the doors themselves sit forward of the nib wall on the right. If your fridge space is wider, you won't need to sit the fridge out the full thickness of the doors, which may look more streamlined. But make sure you allow for 50mm space at the back of fridge. This will decide the depth of your nib wall. I calculated mine as 50mm plus the depth of the fridge to the start of the doors. You might prefer to make it a bit deeper, as the doors have more room to open due to the extra width of the space. It isn't annoying having the door opening over the pantry entry. It isn't often that someone wants to get to the pantry at the exact moment someone else opens the fridge. Even if that happened, you could get past if you couldn't wait: Good luck with your renovation! Because you can't be on site, I would always factor in more wiggle room. Let me know if I can help with any more info - I could talk about this stuff all day long!

thank you for the suggestions & the photo helpful I get down to a ushaped kitchen with a 2.2m island & sink maybe across the U and a servery bifold window - does this close out the room and make it look crowded ceilings are 3.1m OR the island butted close to sliding doors which looks like an island when sliding doors are opened like the photo Also does the window splash back add very much in a small kitchen with no outlook from this window, that is the splashback window spilts the attention focus and doesnte seem to add much to the overall perspective. Is a more traditional title a better option & shift all of the focus to the large sliding door opening & garden.

What we try and do in a professional position, is take the time to identify,clairfy and extract the underlying goals and the specific needs of the owner.....every situation has different and varied (intimate) order of priorities for different aspects/details/functions etc....eg storage for some people is more or less important, same goes for benchspace, or fridge size or any other detail......but until we understand this order of priority of the owner, we are just comparing different sets of personal opinions, and one suggestion is not necessarily any better or worse than the next........this goes for all types of design situations, whether fit-out like this or say the larger scale complete home scenarios.......in my opinion, having the capacity to set aside personal preferences and focus on getting inside the head of the client/owner is critical/key to productive design assistance & support