I'd go with whatever gives you the smoothest edge, as I think the angles (in your close-up pic) look to hard against the style of cupboard doors. I also think the doors give enough details without the bench top providing more.

I can't help you with the bench top supplier, sorry! But I think your current cupboards will come up amazingly well with paint! The shape looks pretty dated in timber, but that shape painted white, will look fresh, even those dinky little window doors... almost a bit Hamptons! ; D You may not need to as they're timber, so with a light sand and primer/enamel paint they should come up well. But I recently painted my kitchen cupboards. The lower cupboards were laminate so I used the White Knight Primer & Laminate Paint (in a dark blue-grey!) and the upper were painted timber so I just used enamel paint. But the White Knight paint just came up so much better and was so much easier to paint with, the finish is incredibly smooth, they look like brand new cupboards, I've even suggest using that as it's so strong too. But having seen what a transformation a simple paint job made to mine, I'm sure yours will come up really well. Just put the effort into preparing the surfaces of course, the actual painting was the much easier part! Also, try for a light stone, it'll make the space look bigger and your sink etc will blend better, making it seem larger.

Hi Melissa, My bench tops will cost me $7000 too and is Ceasarstone Buttermilk but I think it's cheaper than your price based on the benches to be covered. My stone will also be only 20mm thick I have an island with seating with waterfall ends that's 3m x 1.3m Then I have another seating area that's 4m x .9m All other benches are standard 600mm and I have one which is 5m x .6m and finally 1.4 x .6m, so that's over 13mtrs of benches in length. Oh and I also have a little breakfast bar like you have which is about 3mtrs x .3m, so that's over 16mtrs in length. I'm based in the country and I'm getting my stone from Bartlett Bros in Colac Vic 3242

Ceasarstone recommend that you do not use their products as a splashback behind a gas stovetop unless you have a 200mm gap between the edge of the stovetop and the splashback due to the heat. If you change to an electric or induction cooktop then this distance can be reduced to only 50mm. If you are using a stone-look benchtop, such as the ones that you have mentioned, I would NOT go for a stone look printed on glass for the splashback as the reflectivity is higher with the glass and it will look fake. I would suggest tiles or a glass splashback that is a consistant colour, possibly matched to the veining of the grey in your benchtop which will complement your benchtop (which is the feature of your kitchen), and not distract from it. Matt black tapware and sinks are very on-trend, and when the fashion passes in about 18 months they will start to look dated. Classic chrome and stainless steel is timeless, so your choice really depends on how long until you put your house on the market... Best of luck with your kitchen, Dr Retro of Dr Retro House Calls http://www.caesarstone.com.au/Portals/0/Documents/2017-Kitchen-Splashback-Guide_Web.pdf