Look at a sample joint first. It may look good or it may look crap!

Your view may be the wow factor- You may be better to put your wow into the splash back as ultimately it is less expensive to change. A total rebuild has many areas for cost over runs so with a large area, I would look at your overall budget and how much you are allocating for bench tops - This will help determine what you can afford and ultimately your choices. Depending on the surface dark benches can be harder to keep looking clean. I suggest you borrow some samples and bring them home - wet them and wipe them etc

Hi Mark, You might also check out kitchen design considerations in the Liveable Housing Design Guidelines They suggest for Gold Level that: (A) The kitchen space should be designed to support ease of movement and adaptation with: at least 1200 mm clearance in front of fixed benches and appliances (excluding handles); and slip resistant flooring. (B) Floor finishes should extend under kitchen cabinetry to enable cupboards to be removed without affecting the flooring. Where fixtures cannot be easily removed (e.g. ovens which are built in) the floor finishes should not be continued. And for Platinum (highest) Level that: As for the gold level except that the kitchen space described in (A) should be designed to support ease of movement and adaptation with: at least 1550 mm clearance in front of fixed benches and appliances (excluding handles); slip resistant flooring; and task lighting installed above work spaces. These standards are being considered for incorporation into the National Construction Code (BCA). They will not appear for a few years yet, but by considering and incorporating these principles now it may future-proof the house to some extent.

My suggestion for the whole kitchen, is to keep a bank of pantry cabinets next to the fridge, staring from the left a flat corner pantry that has "L" shaped shelving plus a pull out food pantry between it and the fridge. An under bench oven, the MW would be in the open shelf wall cabinet with kettle and toaster etc in the corner under the MW The sink, DW and rubbish bin in the Island which would have a taller panel as shown to cover any mess in that clean up space I've added a bench height table next to the island, this could be dropped to table height if wanted. I have continued the wall cabinets on the wall across both the kitchen and dining, I haven't sectioned the cabinets but they could be a combination of doors and open shelves. I have also extended floating lower cabinets at a depth of 400 across the dining space with the same bench top as used on the kitchen cabinets This will give you great storage to allow you tuck your appliances and food stuffs into when not in use,. You can also use a deep drawer to pop certain appliances into if that fits and suits how you use your kitchen You can also store a broom in the "L" shaped pantry with dust pan and brush fitted to the inside of the door, the "L" shaped shelving allows for this Click on the images to open them