Hi, I would paint it with chalk paint, no sanding ( I use Annie Sloan - not available at Bunnings ) have a look at purple lady painting tip page, the best I have read. I use the soft clear wax to seal. I really like the depth of the paint. You could leave the bench wood or replace, I wouldn't use chalk paint on bench top, or any other paint. Chalk paint is expensive but saves priming and sanding so maybe more comparable when you do that sum. Changing the knobs will give a revamp as well. If you do choose an Annie Sloan paint and want white use the antique white, it has much better coverage than the pure white. I buy the paint on line as my nearest stockist is 160 kms from where I live. I use correct brushes as well, very expensive but I do take very good care of them, I was them out in softly and gently scrub down the bristles with a soft scrubbing brush

Lightening the mortar will look great and keep those lovely bricks as the feature of the room. Eventually a few other ways to brighten the room could be: lighter coat of paint on the walls & a tall indoor plant or wall art in place of book shelves (if you have another spot for the shelves that is). Gorgeous room - look fwd to seeing the before/after pics when you colour mortar. :)

to access the power point through a backboard cut a matching hole in the backboard to access the power point and add a small extension cord to have the power in a more convenient location but storage depends on what you need to store but try the PAX wardrobe (1500 wide x 2100 high) with extra shelves plus a freestanding chest of drawers eg Malm 80 wide to leave a small gap at the window wall for the blinds and use wall hung open shelves and don't forget to secure the wardrobe and drawers to the wall...if you prefer the chest of drawers to be the same depth as the wardrobe you could add an extra counter on top of the drawers (Ikea and Bunnings sell custom cut counters in various colours but consider having the chest of drawers and/or the wall shelves in different colour for constrast and matching knobs or handles to doors and drawers

I took into consideration your new Fridge pantry alcove when I designed your kitchen to get you the max island and still being well placed within the kitchen. If the island isn't attached to the fridge wall you would need to leave a 1m space between them which would reduce the 3m Island as I have shown, the dotted wall shows the length of your kitchen, and how the island fits into that space, you could extend the island further into the dining if you wanted, I can redraw that for you. As I said with both of your plans drawn differently Both OKL and myself had a differnt result