Found this pic on Houzz of great looking corner shelving. The wallpaper detailing makes it sing! If you kept the bench height shelf for the kettle and toaster (still a tight fit!) you could start the display shelves (for mugs etc) up higher (leaving enough room for heat/steam to escape. Ideally you'd put a little cupboard (as in with doors to close it off/hide it from view) for the appliances. Doing that, you might be able to make some sort of pull out bench arrangement to give you more space, but probably not generally recommended where heat/hot water are involved…

Hi Mike and Emma Hope you are slowly but surely getting there... may I make some comments/suggestions that you may or not take on board, but hopefully it may at least give you some ideas/options... Going through a new build ourselves at the moment, and for what it's worth, here's what I personally think: A. Work with what you've got: - additional plumbing work, gas work etc may not be necessary and (particularly gas) can be costly when you're trying to work around existing walls, floors, etc, and as much as possible utilise the existing connections... after whatever you can save here and there, you can spend on nicer cabinetery, gadgets, finishes, etc :) B. Avoid unnecessry structural work: - removing the kitchen/living wall is a must (more space, light, etc) but removing the laundry wall is an unncessary added cost (may even require costly additional strutural support) - putting up a plastered wall on the other hand is inexpensive, allows you to redefine different zones and relocate doors/openings where required (*note: avoid hinged doors in small spaces as you have to allow for wasted space to open door - suggest cavity sliding doors, easy to incorporate in a new wall) C. Don't sacrifice functionality and natural light for design - love full height floor to ceiling cabinets, very much on trend... but they also tend to bring the walls in, which you want to avoid in an already small space... they will also block out more natural ligtht from the only window to the living and breakfast bench (meals area)... not to mention seated guests would be staring at a cabinet tower and fridge - on the other hand a walk in pantry (not that much of a walk in a small space) is also very much on trend, provides more storage and... as entertaining guests in open plan livings tends to happen more in the kitchen... it provides a good hiding place for unsightly items, including frigges... (an underbench bar fridge in the kitchen can easily keep those beers cold... though do consider that means sacrificing some cabinet space) - constantly wiping off the floors from dripping wet dishes across the kictchen from the sink to the dishwaser on the other side bench would personally drive me mad after a while... the dishwasher can easily be connected to the existing sink water and waste points through the cabinerty... any half decent plumber should be able to do that... ON THAT NOTE... or should I say those notes... I know I got a bit carried away :) ... if it were me, here's an idea of what I would try to achieve ...

I love the colours you suggest and they would really make the corner pop. Make it personal. Be brave. Options; Wall mounted boxes or floating shelves to display some colourful treasures above toddler height. Pinterest search 'Wall display Boxes" The next 2 sound a bit hippie but you can do them with your toddler and if they get pulled down noone gets hurt. - Fabric collage on a sore bought canvas with pieces of velvet, satin, silk in your favourite colours. Finding some vintage fabrics or op shop clothes to cut up is a cheap activity and add you can even add some bling or go with a geometric art deco style.Again Pinterest has great images. - Patchwork quilt style wall hanging eg.https://www.instagram.com/jenkingwell/?hl=en

Check out the following link, unfortunately like us everything eventually shows signs of wear and tear,although not too much tearing action will make things last longer. https://elraco.com.au/index.php/corner-storage-unit-c-30_901