I had a similar situation in a house I moved into years ago. I did a quick fix of painting all of the walls, woodword and the cupboards the same shade of cream. Sounds a bit OTT but it really knocked back the cupboards, which in all honesty are not something you want to make a feature out of, and created a calmness to the whole space. In your case, I would go for an off white so that the gang plug wires, radiator pipes and covers hiding the wires for the extractor fan etc., are disguised as much as possible -- that will tie in with the palest of the tiles in the splash back, and then you will have a pretty basic colour scheme of a very place colour and the dark worktop, fireplace and floor, which will stand out more. I think you need more storage with doors -- that bookshelf isn't doing anything for the kitchen. If you could get something in there that could hide lots of clutter -- even if just something cheap from IKEA, that would help greatly. Or work something around the filing cabinet that you have? A huge cheap mirror over the fireplace would bounce some light around too. If you don't want to go for undercupboard lighting, and if you have enough plug points, how about some lamps on the worktop, especially at the FF end with a floor standing lamp at the end with the chair. For the table, I would go for a table cloth and reupholster the chairs if they are not to your taste. A new blind in a much fresher colour would be great. Depending on the colour of your filing cabinet (if you use it), I think a petrol blue could add a nice vintage vibe to the chimney breast, and make more of a feature of it. I would try and go down a vintage/slightly industrial route rather than country. You may have some stuff lurking around that you could use, once you have got the base colours right -- currently it just feels a little cluttered and a bit of a mish mash. Best of luck. Looking forward to seeing some after shots :)

Update - alabaster painted oak units, oak worktop, (curved end units and worktop corners) belfast sink, 1100 stainless steel rangemaster porcelain large high gloss ivory 600x600 floor tiles, ivory grout - please see attached look book just still to decide on shade of sage on walls - deciding between F&B Mizzle, Vert De Terre, Ball Green and Cooking Apple Green... Also metro sub/way tiles on walls - whether to go for a sage tile or cream/white... The dining room area off the kitchen will have oak parquet floor which will follow through from hall and will also be in the lounge but Im thinking of following the wall colour in the kitchen through to the dining room for continuity and potentially painting the chimney brest or wall furthest away from and facing the kitchen a darker green complementary colour... Thoughts please

Tiles are one way to introduce some pops of colour in your kitchen. If you are worried about the grout discolouring, use epoxy grout which is more resilient to liquid staining. Also, if you use a coloured grout, discolouration will be less noticeable. If you choose textured tiles with rectilinear edges, grout lines are almost invisible. Using tiles can look more traditional compared to glass or stainless steel. The problem with stainless steel is keeping it looking good. Drip marks and grease are instantly noticeable. Glass is less obvious when splashed. They are both more industrial and modern looking. What about using the same material that makes up your worktop as the splashback? Most manufacturers of manmade worktops also do an 11mm thick splashback and upstand.

If it was me - and considering the tiles are unnecessary (because I’m presuming there is no bath or shower in this room and there is just a wc and sink??) and you want to update it without ripping them all out ... I would look at panelling the bottom half of the walls under the sink and around the room in a wood - painted with a suitable washable paint in a colour that works with the pale pink. That will take off the impact of all the walls being tiled. Then by the time you have added in some shelving and mirrors (heck, you could even have a mirror fitted all the way around the room if you wanted to!) the tiles won’t be that bad. Super pale pink is very fashionable at the moment and at least it’s not 50’s pink which we had, ha ha. Either going navy as a contrast or a rich grey would work or keep it all light woodwork with white and add in metallic shelves and mirrors in gold to compliment the pink. Cladding would work in the thin marine plywood and it looks great painted. It’s not a huge room so shouldn’t cost that much and you can get all the panel sections pre-cut at a diy store if you don’t have the room/facilities to chop them down yourself. There is T&G panels although they are more work and can be a bit dated with your tiles perhaps. re painting tiles.... the paints have come a long way these days to be fair and as they won’t necessarily get wet (add some feature tiles around your sink) then they shouldn’t wear out easily. The trick is to apply it correctly and don’t cut corners. Watch loads of videos on how to do it. I don’t think painting them will make a massive difference unless you were going to go with a dark paint though so seems little point.