Thanks Guys for your lovely comments. This project was an amazing transformation by opening up the space. We also love the warm colour scheme with the marble look stonetop. Cheers

What a stunning, modern kitchen!

Hi Helga, 1 ). The Island is 3.5m x 900cm ( the ridge down the middle is part of the railing system I used to get the posts so that won't be there) 2 ). Small appliance cupboard is 1m to Island (trying to get as much family space as possible and to fit the support beam/s in) my kitchen is 1100 between island and bench and I find that heaps and could easily be 1m. 3 ). The DW, window bench to Island is 1.225m , The fridge is 700deep so is 1.125m from the island, 4 ). The window bench with ovens is 1.125m to the wall of the small appliances and 950cm between ovens and pantry cabinets on the plan to allow for opening. All of these can be re positioned to line up correctly depending on what you thought, The Ovens can be swapped over to the far end of the Appliance cupboard and possibly move your appliances to where the ovens were. I think the twin beams could look great in your kitchen, I have worked artistic calculations for the beams so not sure how close I am. cheers

Jason: Thanks for the sketches and the the suggestions of storage cabinetry that I can put next to the fridge. Sirius: We do have a large piece of land, and our designer with lots of experience has said this would be a design that's appropriate but we have asked about the size of the house. We have put everything on 2 stories, and have not dug a basement like many places these days. So we are mindful of the space and effective use of it. I do appreciate your markup on island bench cabinet orientation and helped me understand cabinet orientation. 10anp: I do like a big bench which can be used for practical purposes (cleaning up ), but can also seat a number of people on 2 sides when entertaining, and allow deeper undercabinet storage as you said: 600mm both with still 300 overhang. I may even offset the living room side cabinet so that can have 300mm overhang for potential sitting space as well ( guess I lose the convenience of have a cabinet door facing that way that is easier to store things with the overhang). I like Sirius challenging of putting the cooktop on the island: but that is such a radical change for me: I'll think about it! Thanks all for the help - Im happy the changes have come so far! MB