How small is small? And what do you consider essential appliances? Apart from fridge, cooker, sink?

Definitely. My original kitchen was developer’s kitchen —ie, it photographed well but did not function. The only place to put a table in the kitchen itself would have been in front of the back door, which is itself a natural thoroughfare from the open plan living room. Now I have a lovely breakfast bar/peninsula facing the brightest part of the kitchen, and I can easily spend hours there over breakfast, brunch or coffee. Dinner I tend to eat in front of the tv, and when I’ve visitors the main table in the dining room is used.

Love your kitchen, you’ve done a great job, not only does the kitchen look good, it’s totally practical, drawers are the way forward, even if they are more expensive than cupboards. I’ve just redone a kitchen in a house we rent out, the old one was finally falling apart. I was going to go to Howdens and use the joiner etc we knew, but in the end we used a small local company, which cost us £300 more, but the quality of their interior cabinets and doors was so outstanding, plus they could do everything, including tiling, we went with them. We didn’t change the floor, but did everything necessary, I’m hoping it lasts well and our tenants look after it!

We just repainted some doors in a rustoleum kitchen cupboard paint which is a darker colour but it was painted on with a short hair roller and you can't tell its been painted by hand ie so they might not use a brush as such but still a roller would be classed as hand painted vs spray painted (if that makes sense). Nightmare re the scratches though!  I would have expected them to send new units/doors to replace the ones you have now and then the old ones get sent back once the new ones are ready. That's what happened with our old kitchen ie the company we bought off got the manufacturer to send new ones as they had someone come and inspect them and agreed that they hadn't been prepped properly as the paint came off the edges. That way we weren't left without kitchen doors for months!