I have had my kitchen area painted with Dulux Cowardly Custard half strength walls for years now and I love it and never tire of it. I love how cheerful and clean the rooms always look and the colour is not overpowering. Other areas in my home have walls in green and aqua blue and the three colours mix together well and stronger shades of yellow can be mixed with it also. I have just redone the kitchen cupboards and did them in Cowardly Custard too with white benchtop and white glass mosaic tiles and my small kitchen looks so much bigger now. A pale colour will not make a room look smaller.

Thanks so much for the recommendations guys, really appreciate it! What colour would you recommend for the splashback if we're going glass? also we might be tenant in the property, will glass be okay there? (also.... how much more expensive is thus going to be that tile? I have no idea on costing here :S) Also I think I may have oversold the messyness of my cooking haha I'm not that bad but I do worry about discolouration of grout.

We have tiles that do not have a gloss finish. They are Encaustic, or at least I think that is what the style is called.

Well now after reading all these posts, I have a dilemma. We would like to maximize the practicality of the deep and soft closing drawers. Corner drawers, the under sink u-shaped drawers etc. Thirty five years ago (yep that's right 35 yrs) when our budget did not allow us to buy new, we bought a dismantled u-shaped show-room demonstration timber kitchen. For years it was blonde pine. Solid pine benchtops, re-sanded and stained a couple of times. Then my husband painted all the solid timber doors with antique white USA marine paint which has worn well. New satin knobs (that have not worn as well) Now it's becoming a little 'shabby chic'. We thought of a complete reno. But we have no space to enlarge on the 3x3 metres. and new 'plastic' kitchens somehow seem less durable than our existing old one. Sink, stove and fridge in the recommended triangle floorplan. So what to do? Our pantry is in the corner with shelves that items at the back of are inaccessible. The microwave is the perfect shoulder level. The cabinets allow me to display favourite tins, crockery and vintage scales. Being a split level house I need the broom cupboard and ironing board stored close at hand.