I like your door, David, about a zillion times more than that bright yellow thing on the other house. It looks classic and tasteful. I don't even mind red doors, but that yellow one is awful. I agree with andj32 about just painting any crappy door that happens to be there. At least put a nice door in.

Many herbs grow really quickly - mint, oregano, thyme and so on. Parsley will reseed everywhere if happy and sage and rosemary are quite large plants. In order to grow herbs well you need to use big pots - this is essential. And then group them together - sage with thyme and chives; rosemary with oregano and lemon thyme for example. The mint must be planted by itself in a decent sized pot and then split annually. Parsley also benefits from being in a big pot that is deep as it has a long tap root. Parsley are usually annuals so allowing them to reseed is a good idea - free plants. You need good quality potting mix that has some fine gravel over the top. This acts as a mulch but also is often alkaline which many herbs enjoy. Once a month apply a very weak liquid fertiliser to the plants along with watering the plants at least twice a week while it is so dry. When you water, keep the water up so that the whole of the soil mix is watered. Add a wetting agent to the top of the soil if the water is running straight through. Herbs in pots need more water than if planted in the ground. The best pots are pure terracotta - they breathe and are also much cooler than other pots that you purchase. But the pots need to be about 40cm in diameter to work. The principles suggested here are the same as for many succulents. But succulents come from a variety of regions and so have different requirements. These may do better in smaller pots being repotted annually.

Aside from how you want your kitchen to function, you need to consider what depths and hues can do for a space. Basically if you have high ceilings, darker cabinetry for your overheads can really draw the eye upward and highlight the feature but if your ceilings are standard it can feel heavy and encroach the negative space. Lighter overheads will reflect the light so the negative space will feel larger. Dark colours are also used to create depth in a room, to draw it back further visually. In my opinion darker lowers would work if you like the two tone look, it will break up the light flooring. Keep in mind you don't have to use colours that are contrasting, try pulling samples together that are a few shades deeper in harmonious hues, much like your picture provided. When it comes to the splash back you can opt for a texture in similar colour family to create interest without adding too many colours. Perhaps a penny round, hexagon, hand made subway or the same stone you choose for the benches. Don't stress about paint colours right now as there are thousands that you can choose to complement your kitchen. Hope this helps!

One thing you might want to consider too is the finish of the bench top. Even though dark colours absorb light if you have a shiny coating on your bench top it might give you that glare effect. We have a dark green laminated bench top. And we get a lot on sun in the morning and the bench top is quite resonates a lot of glare. Opt for a matt finish in a material that won't throw a lot of light back. I have attached a photo of our bench top to give you an idea of what I mean