Gorgeous brick pavers, I love that look for the floor! It has a rustic appearance yet you're right- sophisticated, even an elegance. I think this would suit the feeling I'm wanting for the room, the pine boards have a rustic appearance, this would go well with them. We have a 1m square oak table with cross back chairs for the dining section and a La Spezia 3 light pendant (Beacon), farmhouse sink, timber hood cover to give you an idea of the look we're going for. Thanks very much for your thoughts on this. I like the idea you're going with, but yes, we have the window and door in already. Door could be trimmed if necessary. It wasn't until the window was already made and the wall sheets and cladding was removed that we realised the original kitchen layout had the back door next to the window, and the door into the laundry section was a modification. I most likely would have put it back where it was originally or had double doors. It made no logical sense for the back door to be a thoroughfare through the laundry, eliminating valuable storage space. I may have just left the kitchen in the original layout and made an entry into the laundry from the kitchen side for a laundry/butler's pantry with fridge in there. Removed the side window for more wall space for storage and changed the existing door to a window. But it's too late now, the outside of the house has all been newly clad so doors and windows are as is. There's no other possible place in the house for a laundry. It is a very tight space. Plan to build an external laundry studio in the future. The one in the house would be temporary, yet need it to accommodate a washer dryer combo for now, and be suitable for prospective buyers/renters in future if the external laundry doesn't eventuate. This is the original 1960's floor plan. A previous owner made internal access into the laundry and made bench space where the original back door was, the next owners opened up the living to dining room and blocked up the hallway doorway which became the fridge space. The cornice didn't match up in the hallway though where the old doorway was. They had made a shelf from the cut out on the hallway side, and the protruding section in the kitchen side became a kind of bulkhead for the fridge. Old hallway We've rebuilt this so that it could have an upper cabinet on the kitchen side/ hallway later if needed. But the lack of space in the hallway didn't allow us to build a linen cupboard, so that will also be needed to be included somewhere in the house. At this stage, thinking we will have to configure the laundry space to have a linen cupboard/ broom cupboard between the dining room and laundry section. Open to ideas too for storage in that limited laundry area space. I'll add more measurements to the floor plan for reference.

My subway tiles are hand made Spanish tiles. I don't know what you mean by textured artisan tile?? I have used white grout. Our home is nearly six years old, and the grout is still white. I always rub a cloth over tiles if I have used the cook top. Keep it clean after cooking, and then it can't get dirty.

Like others , I absolutely love the colours , the rounded cabinet and mirrored wall unit , but the square tiles and subways meeting in that corner distracts from the beauty of the niche . You say the client fell in love with the square tiles -- I can understand that , but I'd suggest doing a row or two of them around those 2 walls ( maybe just below the height of the niche ) would have made it look like it was planned -- right now it basically looks like someone under-ordered tiles , so had to do the next wall in a different one . In fact , it's slightly worse than that , because one goes to the floor , the other stops 600mm above it and is white below , and us OCD people don't like that haha !

Hi, This is more of a personal preference thing. I see a lot of good suggestions in the comments, at the end of the day, there is no issue with leaving it as is, adding a strip or tiling the whole wall. Your home should mean you are comfortable and in control of the design choice for this. Your tiler is not incorrect in saying this is usually what people go for but they are incorrect if they refuse to do it any other way which you ask. In terms of the solutions below, the narrow strip option will complete the look but will leave a cut edge either facing down or up. This is not an issue under a cupboard as the cut edge gets put against the joinery. In this situation, the cut edge will either be expose on the top ( not a great issue if you don't mind the look and the tiles are cut straight and consistently). Or if facing down the top finish will be nicer but you may have a slight raised lip at the join between tiles (not usually too noticeable unless looking for it). OR if cut edge is facing the top you can also put a trim. A lot of options available, any tiler should be aware of for you to choose. Good Luck!