I put a lot of thought into what kind of sink to install ino my new kitchen: single vs double, stainless steel vs other materials, dish drainer or not, and finally undermount vs top mount. I went safe and chose industrial grade steinless steel, double sink without a drainer but with aditional part with multi purpose. I was very indecisive about the last thing: undermount vs top mount sink and finally decided after reading this - I will go top mount.

Xenia, just to be clear, is the builder saying there doesn't need to be a non-combustible material covering the gap between the stone benchtop and the window?? Is that wall made of brick or some other non-combustible material, or is merely plasterboard? If it's plain ole' plasterboard, it is most certainly combustible and can ignite in say, a fat fire. Maybe I'm missing something. Would you please look closely at your plans and clarify? I very much like your table/butcher's block. The one in photo looks like it's higher than a table, so I'm guessing it is at a perfect height for you to work? Yes, that's a lovely, restful colour of glass, and no, I don't think it is overkill. You want to be happy in your own kitchen. Just a thought, but you could choose material with that colour of blue for any chairs or stools you have at the butcher block table. Ties it together.

Thank you Oklouise for looking into these again for me. We had a lengthy discussion with my artchitect during the week and we agreed that he would revisit the whole concept, with particular regard to how spaces are distributed across the split levels. This might change the floor plan entirely. He is coming up with a new proposal today. I will share that with you here for comparison and advise. Thanks again.

The placement of the sink in my suggested new floorplan is to keep clean up out of the kitchen as requested and is still in easy reach of the cooktop, with or without the Nib wall. If this sink is carefully considered it will accommodate large pots and pans The smaller sink in the Island is to facilitate veggie prep and salad making plus drinking water for family and guests, I prefer to keep the WIP and Laundry as separate spaces as shown but still allow both access to outdoor for clothes line and rubbish bins.. The Linen room can be an Airing room which are popular these days, either way it's a good space attached to the laundry. I also prefer the powder room not having to be accessed by guests via the Laundry, this powder room will also be used when the Media room is in use. The Media room and study have been swapped so that the Media room now has Light and ventilation via a window.