Here's a video of an area of water damaged bamboo being removed and replaced Joyzzz. Maybe you'll consider replacing the area in front of your fridge. Like you I also have bamboo in the kitchen (and pot plants throughout the house), but haven't had any issues with spills marking the floor. It's a shame there's so much variation in the manufacturing process resulting in some floors tolerating spills and others not at all. I do have a damaged board though thanks to a guest leaving a tap running causing an overflow...that I wasn't told about until days later, grrr. Fortunately the damage is in a shadowed corner and the sealer is still intact, so it isn't noticeable, just a wrinkled surface to the touch. Which is lucky, because our home is earth-covered and there is nowhere for water to drain out of the sub-floor as we "tanked" it with a sealer to ensure no moisture can make its way in. That board sat there in a puddle for days! I still wonder why only one board suffered damage, very strange...

Hi SonaandDi, In case you haven't come across it, here is the link to my finished kitchen: https://www.houzz.com.au/discussions/5598603/renovation-of-our-1956-red-brick-triple-fronted-home-all-done This layout has the potential for issues, but I tried to factor those in by noting where the fridge doors came to when fully opened. I should have allowed a little more width for the fridge gap, as the theory didn't quite translate in practice: on the plans I allowed the minimum of 20mm either side of fridge, but ended up with only about 13mm (was not fun getting the fridge in!). So my suggestion is to make sure there is 50mm either side of fridge. eg the fridge space is 1000mm wide for french door fridge around the 900mm mark. Even so, my doors do open fully (vegie drawers slide out unobstructed), as the doors themselves sit forward of the nib wall on the right. If your fridge space is wider, you won't need to sit the fridge out the full thickness of the doors, which may look more streamlined. But make sure you allow for 50mm space at the back of fridge. This will decide the depth of your nib wall. I calculated mine as 50mm plus the depth of the fridge to the start of the doors. You might prefer to make it a bit deeper, as the doors have more room to open due to the extra width of the space. It isn't annoying having the door opening over the pantry entry. It isn't often that someone wants to get to the pantry at the exact moment someone else opens the fridge. Even if that happened, you could get past if you couldn't wait: Good luck with your renovation! Because you can't be on site, I would always factor in more wiggle room. Let me know if I can help with any more info - I could talk about this stuff all day long!

I’ve received different and conflicting advice. All of which seems valid. Lay first cause you may want to change kitchen layout. Guys....I have had my existing kitchen 20 years and it was here when we arrived. Add another 15 years. I’m in my 50’s...highly unlikely I will be changing layout. I’m choosing floating boards because I wanted to soften the otherwise very modern kitchen that I’m getting. Floating instead of actual boards because of $$. I don’t want to put tiles or concrete in case of a possible plumbing mishap. Positive vibes. Thanks to all for your advice.

Also if i can avoid moving air con for now that would be great. The next phase of reno will be to take down the wall between lounges and put aircon on the front wall of the lounge as it's the only other outside wall it can go on. Here might be my plan for now. I'll put the kitchen in place and figure out if i need to add more storage to office area. Will add range hood and a few long open shelves like in the image below (and is also the look i'm going for decor wise)