Painted cabinet doors are generally at the top of the price point, with polyurethane in either gloss, satin or Matt finishes being rather expensive, and hand painted doors even more so. Laminate on the other end of the scale are cheaper, but also only have the option of a flat door. If a profile is what you what, as most if not all painted doors are profiled, ( have a door shape), but the durability of laminate is wanted, then a vinyl door can provide both. Depending on your door provider, try to stick with Australian manufactured vinyl doors to ensure they meet our regulations, such as albedor or tesrol doors, and they will give you best of both worlds. Also, being that they are cheaper than painted timber doors, modern kitchen construction means replacing doors are as easy as clipping off hinges, and ordering new ones!

I so agree with Alphen Construction - on first glance, it is definitely the handles that are drawing the eye to changes in height. I would definitely try Alphen Constructions' suggestion re 'blocking out the handles with tape' to see how you like the effect. Take a photo when you do it, you can then compare. I think I would remove the handle from the cupboard over the fridge and the cupboard over the stove. I wonder if a steel extractor fan that would take that cupboard to the same level as the other cupboards might be an effective trick, it would also tie in the steel of the fridge, oven and appliances. Under cabinet lighting is needed in my opinion. I do hope you will be able to enjoy your kitchen because it is lovely. I wish you all the best.

Hi everyone, thanks for your amazing feedback so far! I had a builder come look at my cupboards last night, and he advised that they're actually chipboard with laminate front, although when he first looked at them and felt them he said they are wood but that's what he found upon further inspection. The cupboards are in excellent condition still - there is no peeling on the edges or and chips or anything like that. They must be a high quality material when originally installed. The kitchen is a stand-alone room. There is a door that goes outside to the backyard, and another sliding door that opens to the dining/living room. The kitchen window frame matches the rest of the window, door frames and architraves in the house (the top picture has the door frame visible). If I was to paint the window frame, I would imagine the door frames in the kitchen would be painted to match, correct? I prefer to keep the bench top as it is about 5 years old and in prefect nic. Perhaps I might go down the path to replace the cupboard doors as personally, I'm not a fan of the routing.

Yes agree the door style is dated but for a cheap and cheerful short term fix a coat of paint and new door handles could work. Try a dark charcoal Grey slightly lighter than your black bench top….or a navy and add brushed gold door handles to lift it all.