Hi kelly. can see you are going for a classic kitchen that transitions between traditional styles such as provincial, hamptons and a slightly more modern take on them. your island will be hero, and it's bespoke finish will make or break the whole room. The layout is quite practical, although the abundance of bench space used as a seated area will undoubtedly clutter up your prep space and designated walkway around it when stools come into play. as for the fluted columns and turned legs, I do like them, however the Georgian blocks (your pyramids) which are referred to as rosettes, regardless of the design, are perhaps not being used to best effect on your rangehood area, and in fact, are better used either side of the adjoining wall cabinets. They are typically used in place of fillers, which go between Walls and cupboards, and symmetrically flank a show cabinet - ie glazed display cabinet, a function cabinet such as a sink or cooktop/oven unit. i have designed many provincial kitchens including the schots showroom in Clifton hill, and have many years experience in applying these ornaments to otherwise simple kitchens to great effect. I am a kitchen designer, and from my stance, the proportion is what is not working for me. the island is going to dominate, but it will feel somewhat domineering to the kitchens detriment if it is not suitably complimented by same scale cabinets around the perimeter. In these style kitchens, the trick is to emphasise and highlight the main function areas, the cooking zone, typically by over scaling the rangehood with a nice mantel, rangehood cabinet or mouldings, the sink, and the storage or prep areas. Your rangehood cabinet needs to be wider, wider than the cooktop, and as important, the glass doors either side need to be narrower, regardless of storage, they will look grander, and have more impact with the fluted column either side of these. Also, varying depth is important, the side glazed cabinets should be standard -330mm and the rangehood deeper, and higher, so it stands out dramatically, make it 450mm deep, and 900mm wide, irrespective of the cooktop width. I encourage making it higher, so the capping mould on top of the glass cabinets abut the rangehood cabinet, and the central rangehood capping then stands out framing the focus, it also makes your ceiling appear larger. if your render is representative of your layout, align the top height of the glazed cabinet with the bulkhead, and then the rangehood unit to the ceiling, then actually run the ceiling cornice around that to provide an illusion of high ceilings! i would also consider lowering the side cabinets with Undermount lighting to illuminate your workspace. Do the same highlighting your sink, by flanking the cupboard with the fluted columns, perhaps even protruding it 100mm, so the stone bench top enjoys a beautiful stone edge on show. It also allows your tapware hob more generous space. The Columns will then make sense, and link into your dramatic and over scaled island. Your designer can easily modify this render in 15 minutes or so, and show you just how proportion alters an image, and will instantly provide insight to a successful aesthetic, or whether you want to rethink the layout. Last tip, when you kitchen has one plain wall with upper cabinets, but others are left without any, I would suggest considering tiling up to a bulkhead on adjacent wall,s perhaps a subway, or marble hexagonal small tile like a penny round, it will provide balance to both style and surfaces. good luck. ML

Looking at Asko, Miele and Siemens for oven, induction and dishwashers for a new build. Been to cooking demo’s for all including VZug and Neff. Asko Elements ovens seem like a good pyro and steam oven in comparison to price point for Miele (not paying $10K for one Miele oven), but don’t want to compromise ourselves down the track with maybe spending a bit more upfront for Miele ovens as they have such a good reputation. I also can’t locate many reviews for the Asko ovens. Likely going with Miele dishwashers and induction as Miele induction is built for flush mount and won’t void any bench top warranties. I’ve read really mixed reviews on the Asko dishwasher but price point between Asko and Miele dishwashers wasn’t too much. Range hood looking at Falcem. Does anyone have any experience with the Asko Elements ovens? Or should we be sticking to Miele ovens (combi steam and pyro)?

I have AEG electric oven and gas cooktop. They are nearing four years old and no hiccups yet. A great brand with good customer service which I had to get for minor gas adjustment. I live remote and was surprised with quick response.

I can't comment on the best brand of appliance. But, from my experience choose a pyrolytic self cleaning oven. Turn it on to cleaning function, then in 1 1/2 hours you have a clean oven, no chemicals required. A 900mm induction cook top would be best. But, remember if you have a power outage, you have no cooking appliance. If you have a gas cooktop, you can always cook a meal and boil some water. I do have AEG appliances, and can recommend them.