My comment may be a little too late but I have designed many kitchens where it improvement in isolation would solve nothing so I would alwYs recommend thinking about and addressing the entire open space you are in when wanting to improve it. Your comments lead me to think perhaps you want to spend as little as possible while getting he biggest impact possible. I agree with many comments and think Ain't it the first answer. The kitchen cabinetry call all be painted easily as they are timber, the oven drew my attention, and would need to be a priority upgrade if ever to sell, it looks very old. So if nothing else, take. It out and the under cabinet and replace it with a freestanding, source online auctions, eBay or clearance warehouses you will find many to choose from, and a 900mm oven will make life easier, it will also give you an in line bench top height and expose some more backsplash, which is my next point of consideration. The brick here dominates your eyeliner, so using adhesive, apply fibre cement sheeting to the splash back and tile it in a light tile, if you use led lighting, under the top cupboards would be great as they would illuminate the bench top and splash back instantly making your kitchen feel brighter and ambient. Secondly, this new brightness your kitchen will have will contrast with the darker adjoining room, which will only make the dark seem darker, so you need to gradually address the adjoining room with something from the kitchen, and horizontal surfaces are a great place to start as the cover the entire area like a blanket, so the floor is tile, and difficult to change without major time or money, so on the ceiling, your beams are a beautiful feature and every room has a part of the architecture that will work to your advantage, here are yours, although th ceiling in between agreed is not great. You can buy timber battens from hardware stores very cheaply per mtr, the pine 45mm x 18mm will do, fix them to the inside of the beams along the longest sides, and then either nail to those lining boards, which I would paint white or the same as the kitchen cabinets. Or you can buy lining board sheets, it may be the single biggest cost, but will be the single biggest improvement thT you Nd future buyers will appreciate. Leave the beams timber to work with what you have. Lastly, the brick wall that comes from th kitchen onto the lounge area, I would paint them also, not in a white again the contrast will be too strong, perhaps in a warmer shade, like a coffee tone. This cladding I mention would also look great along the back of the kitchen breakfast bar, and you will double the size with these improvements. I know it involves cost, but with structural elements and big spaces, it always will cost you, just choose where improving will have the biggest impact and go for it. These are things you can do yourself, or use a handy person, so no real trades are needed to complete- save that for later! Good luck. ML Design

Thank you all for your timely responses. I too have always enjoyed the convenience of my two ovens which can be used independently of each other, which is why I am seriously considering the 1.5 double oven option. I have also researched the idea of two compact ovens which include microwave and steam options, (Bosch, Miele, Smeg AEG etc) and was all excited about that idea, but to install two of these is far too expensive. ($5000+ minimum) The freestanding convection microwave options all stipulate minimum 10-20cm airflow at the top of the unit, and the ones that do come with trim kits still all end up being too large for the space...frustratingly, often by only 2 or 3 cm! And yes, I've also lusted after an induction cooktop, but the expense of chasing wiring down a solid brick wall and disrupting backsplash tiling has put the kybosh on that idea. Anyhow, I have slept on this (again!) and have come to the conclusion that a 1.5 oven without an integrated microwave is the only way available at a reasonable cost.... A small microwave inside a cupboard might just work.... It's both interesting and noteworthy that convection/microwave +/- steam, with regular multifunction oven combinations although expensive, are readily available in several brands in the US......I'm jealous!

Jason: Thanks for the sketches and the the suggestions of storage cabinetry that I can put next to the fridge. Sirius: We do have a large piece of land, and our designer with lots of experience has said this would be a design that's appropriate but we have asked about the size of the house. We have put everything on 2 stories, and have not dug a basement like many places these days. So we are mindful of the space and effective use of it. I do appreciate your markup on island bench cabinet orientation and helped me understand cabinet orientation. 10anp: I do like a big bench which can be used for practical purposes (cleaning up ), but can also seat a number of people on 2 sides when entertaining, and allow deeper undercabinet storage as you said: 600mm both with still 300 overhang. I may even offset the living room side cabinet so that can have 300mm overhang for potential sitting space as well ( guess I lose the convenience of have a cabinet door facing that way that is easier to store things with the overhang). I like Sirius challenging of putting the cooktop on the island: but that is such a radical change for me: I'll think about it! Thanks all for the help - Im happy the changes have come so far! MB

Yes it’s done now. It will be easy to match the upper ones later on as I picked a neutral white. If I have the bottom cabinets removed, the new cabinets will be a different size to the existing ones, meaning tiles will have to be removed. Removing titles often causes tiles to be damaged and I cannot find the same tiles I have in the kitchen anywhere and they extend throughout the whole house with the exceptions of the bedrooms. Regardless, the upper cabinets are useful whether I find a way to repair the bottom cabinets or replace them. I have had two seperate tradesmen say it’s not possible to remove the shelves of the lower cabinet without replacing the whole cabinet.