Dear Bronwyn: thanks - I am an anthropologist - took a lot of linguistics and LOVE identifying regional names - I seem to do pretty well. However, yours is such a classical name - would be hard to mis-identify! :-) I am SO glad you have fallen in love with your beautiful home. I assume you are in England ?, not US, definitely go to flea-markets, swap sales and find an old stove replacement if this your concept. I don't know how big any of your bathrooms are, but we placed our double-stack in the bathroom! I also then made a very "small" partition - about 15 inches framed- which provides the idea of separatness from the bathing area. However, our bath is a rather large space - as it was the original back porch. This could free up some space in your pantry? And you might consider framing in and doing a cabinet finish for the fridge - then it would not stick out like a sore thumb. Please check out on line: Rusteoleim (paints) - they have entire new kits for refinishing cabinets -and countertops? Since you are a re-doer - perhaps having wooden countertops made would better suit your home? I would certainly NOT use granite, or something of this ilk - I think this would detract from the feel of the home. This also might give you an opportunity to save some pennies and wait to get what you really want to have - I actually did NOT have a kitchen sink for 15 years - it was in the bathroom [(one of those long old porcelain kitchen sinks (country)] because this was the only place in the home which was plumbed - OUCH! I guess the moral of the story is: I could be worse! :-)

Samantha B I just completed my kitchen Reno in Perth. My pantry was also bricked up like yours. Literally doubled the space by getting rid of it but we found out after that the pantry was structural & we had to put an extra support beam in the roof instead ($800) so be careful of that! We completely moved the plumbing, gas & electrics & it only cost a few hundred! So don't be afraid to do that as long as u know decent priced tradies! We ended up doing nearly everything ourselves & went with a masters flat packed kitchen & sourced our own stone benchtops dirt cheap ($2500 installed for a 2m bench & a 1.5m island each with one waterfall edge.). Heres before & after pics.

Bravo to all these amazing creative minds. I hate wasting stuff that still has life in it. By the way, though I have read that some pallets are treated with a fumigant which is toxic. Generally, make sure pallets are stamped with “HT”, which means they haven’t been exposed to chemicals (at least not in the treating process.) Avoid unmarked pallets or those with “MB” for methyl bromide. Well, if anyone wants some really nice, bargain 2nd hand windows we just pulled out of our 12 y-o house to make way for a sliding door, and you live around Melbourne Australia, please check them out here: http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/112070272414?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1586.l2649

Second attempt was with Windex and same paper towel, which cleaned the two honed surfaces up pretty well. The lighter Raw Concrete seems to have been easier than the Sleek Concrete. And finally, to get rid of that pot scratch I used a non-scratching Scotch brite pad (what we usually use on dishes) with some diluted Soft Scrub. This one took a little more elbow grease but I'm satisfied with the results. My opinion is that comparing the two surfaces (honed vs. glossy) there is a marked difference. That being said, I currently have tile from 1978 and grout lines that are so deep and narrow I have to scrub them out with a toothbrush. I guess it's all a matter of perspective. We decided to go with the Raw Concrete after all, and like others have said, just expect that it'll take a little more work and show a few more stains. But then again, isn't that the whole point of concrete? That it looks industrial? I hope this has helped someone. If anyone is interested I'll try to post some more photos and real life feedback in a couple of weeks once ours is installed.