Hi mikaelamaya, I'm getting porcelain benchtops for my new kitchen, so like you, I'm interested in how other people go with them. I was listening to a radio segment the other morning ('Homies' with Simon Marney) and they said the new porcelain benchtops were more more stain resistant than composite stone benchtops, and suggested that a caller replace her stained benchtop with a porcelain one. That gave me hope! I've been testing a sample of Arte Domus (Sydney) porcelain and so far its resisted red wine, beetroot, turmeric, oil and tea. My only concern with it is whether it will chip easily. I guess I'll just sand back a chipped edge and call it 'patina'. I'm going for porcelain because of its matt finish and slim edge, and because I can get a whole slab for an island bench without joins. I'm also putting it on the bathroom vanities, so I hope I'll be happy with it. Anybody else out there with experience of this product?

White-matte cabinets (flat panel, not shaker) and white bench (or maybe epoxy sealed marine ply??...siriuskey can tell you about that), mirror splash. Love the ceilings. I personally would go for a modern, stream-line, no handles, integrated appliances look. This space has real potential to be very cool, even with the slate. It doesn't need any more more texture or darkness. This is a nice kitchen, you should be able to sell it on ebay.

Got my answer - non combustible material such as, natural stone - marble, granite or concrete etc.

Wow...you’ve all given me so much to think about! Kate Partenio - I hadn’t even thought of garage fumes...definitely something we will consider going forward. Re: traffic through pantry/kitchen..this doesn’t bother us so much given we don’t have kids but worth thinking about for resale down the track. Oklouise - I love your sketch but upon redrawing it myself I realised that the kitchen bench will likely be the same size as it is now, as we would want it to be flush with bedroom 2. Also in your sketch (and in relation to marie4509’s suggestions) the pantry would have to be a straight line pantry rather than one that has a bench/shelving going across horizontally - unfortunately that space is just too narrow which is why we were thinking of it for the laundry. I don’t know about all of you but I feel like a straight line pantry still feels like just a pantry, rather than a full out butlers pantry! That all being said, we will consider moving the internal garage door to lead straight into the main hallway, rather than through the butlers. This would eliminate concerns of fumes to kitchen directly + problem of foot traffic through kitchen. It would also give us more counter space + storage in the butlers. I must say I’ve never been a fan of garage entry doors being visible to guests, but it seems this would be the only real solution. Looks like I’ll have to let go of my dream of a bigger bench :( Thanks all for your suggestions and sketches - what an amazing community I’ve walked into.