Hi, have you considered smokey mirror? We did a full home build recently with the kitchen and bar both with smokey mirror splash backs. Looks great and gives lots of wow factor. Cleaning isn't so bad either. More pics on our projects page if you're interested. Good luck! Creative Home Plus

I love the idea of your cupboards 'floating' between two windows. OK, thinking about the whole privacy issue, let's treat it a bit like a risk assessment... I gather we're talking about the side of the house, gap, fence, gap, neighbour's wall. Concentrating on the splashback window, it seems there are two issues, the neighbour looking in from their window and a random peeper. It seems to me the probablity of the neighour looking in is fairly high, more from useage, rather than deliberate spying. The consequence, lack of privacy. What controls can you put in place: solid wall (no window), screen along fence to minimise sight line (probably fairly easy, depends on fence), smart glass (expensive), blinds (aesthetics and practicality/cleaning issues). Residual risk/issues is a bit hard to quantify, as it really comes down to would you be comfortable in your own home with the lights on and the control/s in place. Moving on to the Random Peeper, which to my mind the likelihood is a lot lower. Consequence is the same as above, so IMO has a lower ranking. Controls: Barrier as in a fence or gate to reduce easy access (should be fairly straight forward), smart glass and blinds as above. Residual risk, as above. What do you think?

Hi Bronwen. I'm sorry to hear your sad news. Here is a link to the colour choices on the Laminex site: http://www.laminex.com.au/products.php#!/splashbacks/metaline-splashbacks-and-panels/ . There are 23 colours in total. I'm pretty sure we chose the Palladium Perle (see 2nd set/page). We obtained samples from the Laminex showroom in our nearby country town (see Locator on website) and ordered it through our kitchen installer. If you don't have a Laminex showroom near you, you can order brochures and samples on 1800 002 204 in Australia (per their website). If you are installing it yourselves, you would have to ask them how to obtain it but you do need to add extra insulation on the panel behind the stovetop.

Hi Clikmania, i have just renovated my son's split level home and installed totally new kitchen, i chose black mirrored splashbacks with black benchtops, white drawer fronts and stainless steel appliances, your kitchen looks great and i think would look great with the black mirrored splashbacks also. I will add photos for you asap( the ones i have don't show up very well)