hang a curtain track attached to a piece of wood suspended below the ceiling (anchored in overhead beams) with drapes or panel blinds or roller blind or venetians could work and/or what about an island bench made out of kitchen cabinet on castors with space for stool under overhanging counter

@mwenn, I sort of do agree with you that hiding everything away till it's needed seems a little fake but when you live in a home as I do at present, with a very tiny kitchen and everything is out because there's nowhere to put it away, consequently, I have a very limited prep area, so in my new kitchen, I can't wait till everything is in a draw or in a cupboard, so that I can enjoy the freedom of having a clear work area. That doesn't mean I won't enjoy a cooking day where everything is brought out for it but most everyday cooking in my opinion, doesn't require all the big gun machines to be taking up bench space. I'm afraid you might think my new kitchen will be one of these "fake" kitchens but I can assure you it won't be but remember most of the photo's that get shown on Houzz, have been professionally prepared for the photo, with nothing out of place, "minimalist" with a perfect vase of flowers and so on like the photo above!!

Flat roof with a box gutter down the middle is what we have on the house we have bought to move into after renovating - starting from the top down. i.e. A new roof. Present one a nightmare. Leaves from leafy garden - a major reason why we bought the place - pile up in box gutter, which overflows if not constantly cleaned out and anywhere the roof has been breached - e.g. Cable tv antennae and roof mounted airconditioner - somehow water trickles thro - no matter how much silicone gets poured into the crevices - or yet more flashing is replaced. We thought the place was tech-smart with everything controlled by remotes, but soon discovered the reason the 1980s house, built b4 internet, wifi, roller shutters, etc, is that it is impossible to hard wire thro the non-existant roof cavity ! Flat roofs tend to sit just cms above the ceiling. But none of that has permanently put us off the gorgeous minimalistic feel to the place - particularly as we have bought it, knowing it needed to be upgraded. . Aha, we thought. A nice big flat terraced roof with a fabulous view out over the treetops that we can use for a roof garden, entertainment area, etc - with easy access to the necessary box gutter to keep it free of debris, will be just the way to go ! Until our plans got to council - oh no, they said, roof terraces cause overlooking issues into neighbours' private spaces, and also they fear we might have a tribe of teenagers up there making a noise, or kicking a ball, disturbing the local amenity ! We were not that easily deterred. But it is not so easy, i have to warn those who have waxed lyrical about swimming pools and outdoor living with a view, etc, etc up on their roof ... we have had to compromise with 1800 high screening along one side, which fortunately we can camouflage amidst high overhanging trees, and pulling in terraced areas about a metre from the edge of the building - lessening the expanse of useable area considerably ... but we can still make it work, including solar panels on another part of the roof not in our terrace plans - they can easily be installed with angled brackets ( ie a flat or pitched roof is not really an issue when it comes to solar panels) - but turning a flat roof into a wonderful addition to the garden is turning out to be not quite what we originally envisaged And adding any extra weight on the roof, especially if it is going to be used as a living area, also invokes extra building regulations - like the earthquake code i.e think expensive engineers and extra strengthening of whatever is holding the roof up !

roof without leaks is number 1 priority and although we loved our old Velux roof windows they leaked over time and were too hot on hot days and the blinds are very expensive so they were replaced with Solar Skylights and, although not as pretty as the roof windows and having no ventilation they can't leak because there's no hole in the roof and operate as a solar powered "light" connected to a small roof mounted solar panel with fibre optic cable (our two 25cm Solar Skylights do a great job brightening our 5 x 7 m kitchen dining area and cost about $500 with DIY installation..