Different strokes for different folks, as they say. We have a butlers pantry, smallish, with a sink in it. The pantry has become effectively a walk-in pantry, with storage, a wine fridge and the toaster and microwave. It's very useful, but we almost never use the sink because there isn't enough practical counterspace and because, well, who wants to do dishes in a closet? We also have an island, with a single basin sink in it, and of course the dishwasher. That's where we do prep, and it works just fine for us. We can watch TV while pealing spuds or washing those dishes that don't go into the dishwasher. Even with the sink, there's still plenty of prep space, and we have a good work triangle between sink, oven on the wall directly behind it, and fridge, oven and pantry on the end wall. In practical terms, the arrangement works for us. When we entertain, we clean up and load the dishwasher as we go, dump the pots and pans in the butler's pantry, wipe off the bench, and we're good to go. And since it's only a single basin undermount sink, the look is clean enough for us.

I would engage a lighting designer, or get one of the Beacon lighting designers to help you with those glary spotlights. Your proposed lighting plan looks like a builder's dumb-down approach to lighting, and is commonly used in display homes to feature the home, but can be quite challenging to live with. There are so many other choices that will add warmth and character and more options to how you use those rooms. Nothing worse than the glare and reflection on a TV screen from ceiling downlights. Consider wall sconces, standard lamps, concealed LED strips in cabinetwork, and pendants to give you more flexibility and better quality lighting that is more suited to the use of the spaces, with less car showroom ambience. Keep the intense lights to your kitchen task areas such as benchtops, and some consideration to side lighting your shaving mirror. Your downlight above your bathroom vanity is only good for cleaning it, and it will cast deep shadows on your face when shaving or doing make-up (and add ten years to your age in the mirror). Dr Retro

Firstly OP, I believe the NSW government has no rebates for solar (except a minor trial for a low income rebate for solar in selected areas). Only a loan scheme. The main rebate for solar is the STC rebate, which is a federal rebate. Victoria has a state rebate, worth an additional $1,800 (plus another $1,800 as an interest-free loan), or there abouts. But to the crux of your question. If people have an unshaded roof, I think they'd be crazy not to invest in solar PV. Technology has improved over the years, & prices have tumbled. In most areas, single phase homes can have a solar system up to 6.66kW (5kW inverter) installed - any larger than this & export limiting will occur. A system this size can be installed for somewhere around a cost of $5,000 - $6,000. $3,500 to $4,500 in Victoria. With savings on electricity of up to $1,500 a year, payback times average from 3 to 5 years. After that is all profit. Tell we where you can find an investment with these sorts of returns. From you bank, shares, real-estate, I don't think so! If I was building now, not only would I spend a lot of time getting the passive solar design right, & making sure my building envelope was well insulated & air tight (most new Aussie homes are very leaky). I'd also make sure my roof was well designed to accommodate solar panels. This is often not the case in Australia, where we have a fascination for hip & valley tilled roofs. Hint: a rectangular panel doesn't fit well on a triangular roof face. A complex roof, with multiple angular roof faces, over many aspects, will reduce the available area for solar panels. It will complicate the installation, increasing costs. Plus the final result will look like a dog's breakfast. But I'd be going much further than just installing solar panels. I'd be building an all-electric house. Split system reverse cycle AC (heat pump), the most energy efficient, cost effective form of heating. Fans for cooling (AC is energy hungry for cooling). Heat pump hot water, again, the most energy efficient way to heat water - unless you're in northern Australia, where solar thermal water is a good option also. Induction cooking. As responsive as gas. But with even more control over temperature, & far, far easier to clean. This means no gas to the home! A saving of over $300 a year, just in service charges alone! Plus cheaper running costs, especially when powered by solar PV. Installing solar PV & saying no to gas is also far better for the environment. The federal government may tell you that gas is a great transitional fuel, it's not! Why was the CO-VID Commission stacked with gas executives? Jobs for the boys, their fingers in the pie. Not only does combustion of gas create quite a lot of carbon dioxide (about 50% as much as coal). But natural gas (methane) has a global warming potential of 25. That is, it's 25 times worse than carbon dioxide! This means that if only 3% of it leaks into the atmosphere during its extraction, processing or transportation, emissions are just as bad for gas as they are for coal! Progressive government's like the ACT are considering banning natural gas from new developments. Other government's, who are too friendly with the fossil fuel industry, & are addicted to their political donations turn a blind eye to science & tell you gas is great! For anyone on Facebook, who would like to build an energy efficient home, is recommend that join the 'My Efficient Electric Home' (MEEH) group.

Love those tiles, will the led lighting provide/spread enough light onto a dark benchtop. How wide and deep will the Oak shelf be, my thought would be to use a dark specialist power point to closely match the dark tile colour or even a colour that works with your multi coloured tiles and have the power point set vertical in the top row of tiles under the Oak shelf. The cooktop is close to the appliance cabinet (can't read dimensions} as you may still need to pull an appliance out of the Nook to use without damaging the cabinet, ie: kettle steam, I think a flip up style door would add to your kitchen style. The space above the appliances gives a good opportunity to have shallow timber shelves for special things. Do you have somewhere to have your notebook open to a receipe you are trying to replicate