Have you looked at island range hoods? You can get ones that are flush in the ceiling or get extra long ones made. For example, Melbourne made Qasair will make to order. There is also the option of pop up ventilation units. They aren't the most efficient but will still help and sit flush with the benchtop when not in use. And even those sparkly recirculation units that look like a light fitting. I imagine they could be set lower as they are mounted from cables (I think from memory). That all said, I'm not a huge fan of a cooktop on the island. I worry that I might splatter all over my guests sitting in front of the cooktop. But maybe that's because I'm possibly a messy cook... Also I like a island free to act as a buffet when I have larger groups of friends over.

Anne, go have a good look at new sinks, when I did my kitchen renovation I loved my sink and there was very little similar on the market so as I thought mine was fine I wanted to keep it. The plumber had to remove it to replace the bench tops and could not guarantee it would not be damaged because of the sealing necessary around sinks. When I saw the new ones though and later seeing it in my kitchen, the old one would have just been so wrong, it would have really let the whole kitchen down because it made the old one look so sad in comparison. A new bench top has to be cut for a sink anyway so the old one should survive any alternations IF you have a good tradie doing it. I painted first but I ended up selling the house before I did the flooring so I didn't sand. That issue was raised but don't think there is a problem, they can sand to the skirting without damage. Check with a floor sander to be sure. This is a photo I took of my old pantry before I finished filling it though. This is only half of it, the other side is mirror reversed, but you can get the idea of how each shelf can be adjusted and you can fill the shelves with like sized items. I did not think of this, the kitchen people just did it and I was so grateful because of the way it turned out. I think the shelves are about 350mm deep - held all my big things, but wasn't so deep I couldn't see everything clearly. For cleaning it was easy to just empty a shelf and take it out too which really made the bottom shelves easy to get to and clean.

I'd make sure I had probably 3 'zones' or options . It is just crying out for a big industrial style centrepiece on 3 or 4 heavy chains , maybe even with 15 or 20 candles . Just as I'm writing this , I'm even wondering how difficult it would be to get 15 shorter stubbier candles and drill out the middles , and thread a cheap 12 volt LED through each one ? The local electrical supplier charges something like $12 for 10 -- you'd have to wire them , but its low voltage so a soldering iron and heatshrink tubing would do wonders . look way more authentic than those cheesy ones with flickering 240 volt bulbs and fake melted wax on shiny plastic bases ! Anyway , that would be my centrepiece , even if you had to use a transformer etc -- drop it to the ceiling line height . Then I'd do a seperate zone -- probably single LED spotlights ( prob in black ) . at least one each beam , some pointing up , some across to the other 'slope' , but also some pointing downwards , because you'll need to look for dropped coins or handkerchiefs or phone chargers every now and then haha . And the 3rd zone would be wall uplights and downlights , because I can almost guarantee there will be times you want light , but you don't want or need to emphasis the height . If its not too late , I'd have them maybe 1.5mtrs from the floor , and the covers in an aged copper or similar panels , and that would match the style of the centrepiece light too . I'd have the spotlights a completely seperate style though -- more modern and plainer , but not ultra-modern , if that makes sense .

Thanks everyone - all awesome points and definitely a few things to think about! @pauldistefanodesign - yeah we're going for a modern build so I think the look with the top row 'protruding' more than the OH cabinets should work. @Ben Wragg - thanks for the photo!! This is a great way to visualise that 3m high cabinets - it actually doesn't look too high or out of proportion. How big of a ladder do you need to reach the top? @08 85568494 - actually yeah really good point. initially i though tof splitting the OH & the top row to be the same height - but I think you're right. Those look pretty good with the top row at a smaller height. @macyjean - good point, didn't think about heating/cooling. I think on balance (maybe I'll regret this later) but I still prefer the bottom floor to be 3.0m ceilings just to have a more 'open' feel, but will defs keep this in mind.