I just finished my kitchen with Laminex riven wood grain in sublime teak, Caesarstone buttermilk bench top and splash back, and Preference oak in parana colour. It is an earth tone brownish hue and am quite happy with that. Your greyish colour theme with dark wood accent is nice. There are many shades of wood floor that you can choose to match or contrast with the rest of kitchen.

The lights! Not to my taste... Then the pale timber cabinetry, this is a great alternative to boring laminex! & it looks good with the brushed stainless. I wonder if it would show fingerprints... my greatest bugbear in the kitchen

Thanks all for the wonderful comments. Ive made some redesign, and taken lots of points from you all. Big Reader: agree to have some window/lights on southern wall of mud corridor to allow light through. clerestory is a great idea Nik Star: Your suggestion make practical sense about having a dropzone once when I walk through. Ive moved that, move the coat hook/bench with below seat drawers north of it, and added a small cabinet for hooks. Ive made a deep shoe cabinet on the east side where dropzone used to be. this keeps it in all one area. OkLouise: Thanks for big advice on laundry: I know now where to put laundry baskets, and have added in that extra linen cabinet. I might just access the whole understairs from the stairwell entrance instead. The southern bench space Ill keep now: can use to drop groceries and maybe could provision space for a future wide fridge, and great idea to make bench with open knee space underneath so can be a work area. Girlguides: Ive move the tough slight so can have elbow room on either side. I have a feeling the builder would want to keep plumbing/drainage of sink/WM close together. Ive attached the next iteration. Thank you. MB

Hi Mark, You might also check out kitchen design considerations in the Liveable Housing Design Guidelines They suggest for Gold Level that: (A) The kitchen space should be designed to support ease of movement and adaptation with: at least 1200 mm clearance in front of fixed benches and appliances (excluding handles); and slip resistant flooring. (B) Floor finishes should extend under kitchen cabinetry to enable cupboards to be removed without affecting the flooring. Where fixtures cannot be easily removed (e.g. ovens which are built in) the floor finishes should not be continued. And for Platinum (highest) Level that: As for the gold level except that the kitchen space described in (A) should be designed to support ease of movement and adaptation with: at least 1550 mm clearance in front of fixed benches and appliances (excluding handles); slip resistant flooring; and task lighting installed above work spaces. These standards are being considered for incorporation into the National Construction Code (BCA). They will not appear for a few years yet, but by considering and incorporating these principles now it may future-proof the house to some extent.