Hi Pauline Can you tell me where you are located (NZ/Aus, state?), and I'll give you info based on that, and point you in the right direction. Having said that, most tile companies have bars that can transition between tiles (or tile supply companies). If I were you, I'd look into these first, before choosing tiles, as you may find the transition bars ugly, or unsuitable. Some people call them T bars. They come in many variations, colours etc, but this gives a cross section example. The T part goes between the tiles. The other thing to do would be to ask a tiler near you.

I would be upping the Kitchen Island out into that area - bar stools and heaps of prep space - if you don't need a formal dining room make it a party kitchen!!! don't be skinny with the storage use back to back cupboards and make the bench 1200mm wide with a fewset of 600mm deep drawers on the work side and some 300mm cupboards on the overhang side. Alternately you can hang a lower bench top which meets the island so its table height and steps up to bench height for a more informal dining space.

'misshayley' no not a question, but rather a statement, with our blog piece following on. Its a common question we get.

As I've stated time and time again in other posts, everything invariably comes down to money..........yes oklouise the process involves various parties (client, council, bank, builder etc) however IMO the designer is the executive expert in creatively negotiating and resolving the solution most effectively as they (should) have the knowledge and or connections/ across the many relevant areas in order to balance the needs of the project within the contextual conditions and nominated (financial) limitations........the issue I think is that when professionals fail to identify and manage the critical elements and priorities when proposing a solution, disappointment (of course) occurs and unfortunately the reputation of (the design service) "not being worth it" substantiated - I completely understand/see that following some (unfortunate) experiences you've become experienced/knowledgeable yourself in being able to achieve what you're seeking with your own skill, and that's great......but others (with less capacity/experience in that regard) can become caught/influenced going down the wrong path misinformed or limited to obtain the best solution for their particular needs because they don't understand what front end investment in the design process can achieve, and that is appropriate alignment of people's goals within budget - but for this to be successful services have to be performed in a particular (efficient) format and the designer needs to be able to (quickly) apply/project super accurate costings to specific proposals and that takes specific experience and skill..................this is right here is one of the significant challenges of our particular professional, as from where we stand, we can seriously help people, but people have to have the money, trust in, and commitment to the design process, which is not black and white, nor scientific, and be challenging on various levels.......you hit the nail with the comment "trust that their ideas can be converted to reality without any horrible surprises"........it seems to me, from experience, that the money conversation is often strategically avoided early in the professional relationship because the pro's are scared they'll possibly lose the job, when in fact it should be tackled head on assertively and realistically.........it's pretty simple, clear communication and honesty - more of that would go a fair way in avoiding the issues plaguing this game ;)