I love the idea of your cupboards 'floating' between two windows. OK, thinking about the whole privacy issue, let's treat it a bit like a risk assessment... I gather we're talking about the side of the house, gap, fence, gap, neighbour's wall. Concentrating on the splashback window, it seems there are two issues, the neighbour looking in from their window and a random peeper. It seems to me the probablity of the neighour looking in is fairly high, more from useage, rather than deliberate spying. The consequence, lack of privacy. What controls can you put in place: solid wall (no window), screen along fence to minimise sight line (probably fairly easy, depends on fence), smart glass (expensive), blinds (aesthetics and practicality/cleaning issues). Residual risk/issues is a bit hard to quantify, as it really comes down to would you be comfortable in your own home with the lights on and the control/s in place. Moving on to the Random Peeper, which to my mind the likelihood is a lot lower. Consequence is the same as above, so IMO has a lower ranking. Controls: Barrier as in a fence or gate to reduce easy access (should be fairly straight forward), smart glass and blinds as above. Residual risk, as above. What do you think?

I have used man-made stone such as Caesarstone on my client's bench tops for years with no negative feedback thus far. If you are looking at Caesarstone and don't want a stark white, then consider Organic White, Frosty Carina or if your budget runs to it, Calacatta Nuvo (a marble lookalike). If you like grey, before they released their concrete range I used Oyster. I agree with Focus Kitchens & Bathrooms, you would be better to visit a showroom and have a look at a large sheet of any you are considering. It gives you a much better idea of not only colour variation but the overall pattern. If you do use 'stone' on the bench top there is an emerging trend of running it up onto the splash back as well. This works well if your design style is classic or modern classic (transitional).

Hi everyone, I've finally gotten around to creating a "Before and After" post which includes my kitchen and the remainder of the house. Pop on over if you'd like a look! We are very happy with the finished project. Thanks, Louise

I've been playing around with a pantry location. Originally, I was going to move the pantry into the laundry with some custom shelving and cut the laundry space in half. Now, Im thinking of cutting into the study area and building a wall there, and converting the new space into a long and narrow walk in pantry. Either that or build half a wall and put built in shelving in the study. Building the extra wall will reduce the need to cover in the door way that is currently in place and instead utilising it. Thoughts? p.s. this isnt too scale.