Just wanted to say what a fantastic kitchen. So pleased you're keeping it! Formica would be the period correct work surface and can still be bought but may not fit with your budget? I would also look at having a carpenter produce your cabinets. They can be cheaper than off the shelf and would be better build. To save some money you could buy cheap plain carcasses and have a carpenter make doors to match the existing ones that you can then paint. That's what i'd do!

I think you should be able to paint some ikea doors as they do a couple of styles in wood (with some veneers, I think). They have also started doing very vibrant blue wardrobes so who knows what you might find in the kitchen department. Another suggestion would be to get some plainer units but buy a second hand dresser that could be painted any colour. You might also find that some bespoke units might be affordable - I imagine that with your style you might go for open shelving and freestanding appliances so you'd need to purchase very few units ( for our last kitchen we literally only purchased 3 base units + a wooden trolley from ikea).

It's Schuller and the designer only drew what I wanted. He hasn't given me any alternative layouts yet. Do you think they will make another design for me before I sign the contract? To be honest, It's been so so hard for choosing a kitchen brand because of people's attitude in the North East. I went to Howdens and Wren as well as Bespoke but the owner of Howdens wasn't nice and didn't give me any information because I asked for a business account and mentioned about my builder who has a very good partnership with him. So he didn't want to give me any prices. Wren's designer was very rude and had a terrible attitude but I quite liked Wren's true handleless design only if I had a well mannered designer. Bespoke designer was very experienced and quite liked but they don't make true handleless. Also he said I have to be committed other than that he wouldn't give me any quote and if I am not buying it's wasting his time. I couldn't believe he said that. Lastly, I went to Schuller and I expected that it will be very expensive but it was actually a lot less than Wren and designer and the owner was so polite and quality in my eyes was very good. All in all quite happy with them except they don't make custom sizes.

Tall units up to the ceiling can look very nice, although would function as displays mostly. Honestly standard height kitchen wall units wouldn't concern me, they might accentuate the height which is not a bad thing at all. Alternatively if you have enough storage in the base units why not skip wall units altogether? Open shelves or even nothing, just a stunning splashback