Hi Carmel, I'm not a architect and I do value everyone's professional opinion, but can't help thinking that perhaps you and your husband are both right. The breakfast table would look great in a natural stone, it is the where you eat, have tea or wine on, maybe a small project, entertain or have a fork fight on. Choose a granite or marble that's going to tie in with the splash back and your lovely timber floors and go with a wow factor like a stand out vein or run of colour in it. Makes it interesting. As for the rest a dark or even black solid surface or laminate is ideal. I find them soft and touchable, easy to maintain, a pleasure to work on and it adds the extra modern elements that's missing from this lovely galley style kitchen. Corian is another brand of solid surface but a textured dark laminate from A reputable laminate supplier should do it too. Make this room an energy that you want to be in not just look great. Kind regards Marina.

I like the bottom left one in the first pic of the set of three you posted. What colours do you plan in rest of the house? The second sample in your first post has some nice colours that you could pick up as accents.

I'm sorry. It's guesswork a lot as what seems obvious to the poster isn't necessarily to the reader. It seems as if there might, might, be potential for 'go for it' to turn into 'expletive deleted this stuff is dirty/discoloured and won't peel off, how do I fix my kitchen, I'm sending my ex-friend the bill for this mess'. I mean we don't know how long you're going to be living there, whether your friend is thinking to renovate longterm, whether preserving resale value is important since the kitchen looks fine as is, whether either of you have thought that far ahead. And something like 'how to brighten' in the title would of sounded better than 'awful'. One person's too dark is another person's cosy and colourful.

I’m glad you like it Irove. We have done similar changes to our house. -I’m not sure what your council will require in regard to your changes. Ours was only for the fitting out the supporting beam. Ours was supporting an upstairs area, whereas yours may only be supporting a roof truss or not. So I’d check that out first. Worst case scenario, you may need a supporting post. All of the work for this can be done by a registered carpenter. Get quotes! -There are kitchen companies that do flat pack kitchen but also offer the added service of an installer at a very reasonable rate. My daughter had her whole kitchen installed, including electrics and plumbing for $3500. They could also do your WIR and vanity downstairs and coffee bar.😜 -Downstairs, all the plumbing is already existing, you can work with this. Check with your local council about any certificates you may need. I am wondering if downstairs maybe on a concrete slab? If so, there is amazing work being done now with polished concrete. Check it out. Back to the bathroom. We bought all our plumbing fixtures and fittings on line for a fraction of the price that any bathroom company charged. We bought our tiles from a bargain tile place, (larger tiles are cheaper and quicker to lay and less fiddly) they suggested a tiler. We called in a plumber to fit out the bathroom. You will also need you carpenter to be involved in this. Get all trades together before you even start. Work out your plan, if you keep most of your amenities in place, it will make it cheaper. That doesn’t mean you can’t update them. Good luck, if you do go with this!