Great kitchen hashleigh. Your kitchen is a workhorse room, it is all about you, how you use it, what you need, functional and attractive so you enjoy being there, but not "pretty". Keep what you need in the room because you need it to be functional. Your brick is a feature of the room, it is a lovely brick, so if you like it keep it. Painting it can be a lot of upkeep. I don't know what is involved with whitewashing or what the upkeep is but do look into that aspect before making any decision. Looking at the rest of the space, the brick does only look a small part of it, it breaks up the timber on the other walls in a natural way. Looking at the whole of the area too, I do note you have a lot of really beautiful timber with furniture and fittings in the adjoining room and the ceilings. Everything is so cohesive, I'm wondering if even painting the timber is the right thing to do. I would certainly never paint the window frames or the door for example when everything else through the whole house is stained. Looking at the other photos you have posted now, the only thing I would be confident about changing are the splashback tiles - maybe that is a place to put some vibrant colour to change the whole effect of the room. A painted glass spashback in a brighter shade of the bluish tones in the brick could really add some life to the room, and the glass will not add another texture, it will more add some bling. I think you actually need to be in your home to really get a feel for everything and for this reason, I would call some interior designers to give you professional opinions before you do anything with the cupboards. Someone mentioned above about giving them a scrub - I have timber panelling and about every 5 years I use steel wool to rub oil into the grain to protect the timber and give it a whole new lease of life. It really makes a difference.

Here's a video of an area of water damaged bamboo being removed and replaced Joyzzz. Maybe you'll consider replacing the area in front of your fridge. Like you I also have bamboo in the kitchen (and pot plants throughout the house), but haven't had any issues with spills marking the floor. It's a shame there's so much variation in the manufacturing process resulting in some floors tolerating spills and others not at all. I do have a damaged board though thanks to a guest leaving a tap running causing an overflow...that I wasn't told about until days later, grrr. Fortunately the damage is in a shadowed corner and the sealer is still intact, so it isn't noticeable, just a wrinkled surface to the touch. Which is lucky, because our home is earth-covered and there is nowhere for water to drain out of the sub-floor as we "tanked" it with a sealer to ensure no moisture can make its way in. That board sat there in a puddle for days! I still wonder why only one board suffered damage, very strange...

Spotted Gum is a great hard wearing timber with a Janka rating of 11. This means it is high density timber and won't dent as easily as softer timbers like American Oak. A polyurethane finish is the hardest and most durable timber floor coating and it comes in gloss satin and mat. The lower sheen's are more forgiving if you you have pets and young children. Bamboo is another hard product but only comes in short lengths so you would need to take that look into consideration when selecting. Some clients don't like the look of the short boards and consider it a cheap look. Others prefer the longer floor boards of timber. If you do choose bamboo make sure that you find out the coating used and whether it can be sanded and re coated down the track, as all timber and bamboo floors will need a touch up especially if you have pets. Some bamboo floors can not be sanded due the coating used. Hope this helps. Our website may offer some inspiration. Good Luck http://budgetfloorsanding.com.au/

It looks best varnished , and if you are wanting to use what is there , I can see a few problems . Firstly , the carpet and underlay has probably been laid with those strip nails , and in some cases glue ( especially if its that silver insulated underlay ) , so it may not come up cleanly . So you run a sander or rotary planer over it , can't get close to the edges , damage things as you strike nails and screws . The skirtings are too high , so do you try and take them off and re-use , or use new ones ? Try and match wall paint , or skirting colours , have to add bits to the door surrounds and things . Good in theory , but as oklou says , and other potential problems , it may be as cheap to just re-carpet -- at least you know what you've got . Having said that , I guess once you've pulled up the carpet you'll have a better idea but that makes planning really hard . I realise you want to try something different , but I'd say on a practical level , either re-carpetting or doing fake timber slats over the chipboard are the safest bets .