Dear Sophia, I have read your post very carefully and become interested to advise you about flooring. I am a professional flooring consultant. I recommend you the following options : 1. Waterproof Laminate for whole house as you mentioned you want same flooring in Laundry area too. There are few waterproof laminate in the market and I am happy to help you with that if you need me to do that. 2. Carpet (Solution Dyed Nylon or Triexta) for living, dining, study and bedrooms and Vinyl planks or waterproof laminate for Kitchen and Laundry areas. If you need any further please do not hesitate to contact us via http://www.carpetshoponline.com.au/online-enquiry/

780mm is too deep for easy access from the kitchen so can the extra space be accessed from another room but 435mm is still wide enough for a single tall door enclosing some useful drawers for extra cutlery, plastic wrap, tea towels, odd kitchen tools, and shelves for all your big appliances, spare containers, drink or wine bottles and glasses, punch? bowls etc...take a tape measure around your supplies and equipment and there'll be plenty of uses for the space and i suggest that the toaster will be much more convenient in a more open area and stored out of site on one of the new shelves when not being used...

take some very close up photos of the patches to your local paint specialist store for advice...the most important issue is how to prepare the surface to seal it before you add another layer of colour...

Serene, I believe your ceiling is ok, You don't need to go full height, there is a lot of ways to design kitchen for a high ceiling. Seems like yours is more than 3m high. Why not put some potted plants above the overhead cabinet? It can be fake plants, nobody will notice the dust if its high on the top. On your other question, I prefer Washing Machine to have a proper tub to soak shoes or really dirty towels, so if you can build another roof to boundary fence OPTION D like your sample photo, it will be most ideal. In Malaysia, its hot and humid, and lots of rain, so having a shelter that allows you to air the clothes is best.