Hi Magic M new kitchens have more drawers than doors. They also have soft closers on doors and drawers, as well as full extension runners on the drawers. Your kitchen is therefore immediately showing its age because it clearly has more doors and is probably missing the other elements I mentioned that are considered standard in today's functional kitchen. So it really comes down to your budget. If you have the budget I would replace the whole kitchen with cabinets (more drawers than doors) with a shaker style profile. Custom cabinets to the ceiling. Manmade stone such as Caesarstone benchtops. You could think about the same stone on the splashback as subway tiles are on their way out. If your budget doesn't run to a new kitchen then the Annie Sloan chalk paint as suggested is a good option on both the existing cabinets and the new add on ones. Any of your suggested colours in muted tones would work.

Hi iggs85 as it is an older kitchen I would not spend a huge amount of money on a revamp. It is definitely possible to paint laminate but good preparation is vital to ensure the paint 'sticks'. However a quality painter is going to charge you about the same as your resurfacing quote. Using either a painter or a resurfacing company does let you choose any colour though. The biggest disadvantage of the current benchtop is the bullnose which is very dated. From your photo, the colour and pattern look OK but you could get a stone 'overlay' put on it. They square off the bullnose so it looks more contemporary. An acrylic feature panel on the return is another alternative to vinyl planks. It looks like glass, comes in a good range of colours and is relatively inexpensive compared to glass. See http://zenolite.com/range as an example. You can buy acrylic sheets from Bunnings. You could also use pressed metal panels as a feature eg. http://www.wunderlite.com.au/catalogue/details/1/79/pressed-metal-crystal?start=25 Add some new handles on doors and drawers too.

Look at corrugated Colorbond and zincalume. Cheap, recyclable, always looks good. Use for cladding, roofing, etc. Cypress Pine is cheap and sustainably managed. Local hardwoods are more expensive but also a good option. Avoid anything imported!! If its imported the Eco credentials have but disappeared!! Remember, Eco probably should really be 'Economical' i.e.: Cheap! So look at second hand and second grade material's like masonry. Second hand bricks are alway's great looking and usually have a history to them. They are usually cheaper than new when compared to it's equal. What about second hand paver's and flag stone's. I got sandstone flagging that I went and picked up for free!! Scouring Ebay, Gumtree, etc is the best place to start. Recycled and second hand is the ultimate in Eco!

Keep ringing around, try the local paper. We had trouble finding a cabinets maker for a larger job. They all seem to be caught up in the apartment building boom.