If you do this first step, a local handyman in your paper would be capable of UN/ installing it for you, the benchtop manufacturer will come to you, measure and quote off plan, and install for you. The only things is organizing an electrician and or plumber to disconnect during your removal, and then re fitting after it's done. The same trades people will do this as it's common practice. Send me your list of cabinets and room layout, I can make use of them for you, then it's a matter of contacting a handyman to reinstall for you. I will make a list of existing cabinets and note any new ones that might be necessary, keeping that to a minimum. I am a kitchen designer and have lots of experience in doing this. Yu simply go to a. Cabinet maker with your list of a few cabinets with all your preferences made, such as selecting a door profile in your solid timber from their catalogues, or a match your happy with. You can say you Want a quote for new tops and some cabinets, without knowing the details, most would be happy to do this for you, it's just the first process I mentioned you need to do, as they have little time to think for you. Where possible save time and money by planning it out, and then it should go well.

Depends on budget. Many dwellings (probably majority actually) don't setdown the floor structure to end up with a flat floor throughout. It costs extra money to achieve for something that is to most people un-noticable. High quality dwellings do this all the time however. If you're going to that level of detail you should also look at setting down the floor edge where the sliding/stacking/bifold doors are (if you have them) so that the door sill is flush. This something you'll see continuously more often than the bathroom/ens floors. It was mentioned on 'The Block' recently and I've now had numerous clients asking about it and/or presuming that this how all floors are done.

If you are after a durable and stable timber floor then Spotted Gum is superior to an engineered floor. But there are many others like Turpentine, Blackbutt, Brush Box, Mahogany to name a few. Having said that the installation process for both are completely different. The longest lasting timber flooring system is Australian Hardwoods installed over Hardwood Battens. Having been in timber flooring in Sydney for over 57 years our experience with trying different products always brings us back to Australian Hardwoods. Selecting a grade of timber does not translate into colours it is merely the quality of the timber board ie in the imperfections of nature - Select Grade has less gum vein and grub marks than say Standard Grade - however if you choose a commercial named grade then you get whatever the suppliers offers in their own grading. Oh and by the way be aware that many imported products are products with Formaldehyde which is toxic. But I agree with Paul if you are after uniformity then you need to go with an engineered product, the beauty of hardwoods lies in the variation so that no two timber floors will be exactly the same. Hope this helps a little more - being a tradesman we do not necessarily base our choices on colours but rather performance of the timbers which varies from species to species.

Thank you for your comment, I feel like the Tassi oak woodmatt matches well in your photo! You kitchen sounds similar to what I am doing also With the front island and feature shelves. We are also using a polytec woodmatt for our bathroom cabinets. The designer choose prime oak for us as it has more black colour to match the feature grade. Hopefully it works out, although our floors in the bathroom are tile so the blackbutt is not directly against it.