I absolutely love the look of shelves in a kitchen - they help to create a really light and simple feel to the space, and create a stage for all your favourite things. However, they do provide less storage. So if you dont have the luxury of plenty of storage, I would suggest going for wall cabinets instead, or having a mixture of the two. There is something to be said for keeping the walls open too - it can be tempting to fill every possible space, but don't be afraid of leaving space for your cabinets to breath. This might mean having a clear out, but it will make your room feel much more open. Charlie

Hi, I have just finished repainting my kitchen myself. Overall I am happy with the new look, but I think the final verdict is only possible after some time (to see if the paint hardens enough). I have used Ammonite Farrow and Ball which is very warm grey colour. It looks nice in dark corners as well. Had to apply 4 coats of paint after 3 coats of FB primer. So be aware of the quantities. I must say that the process of repainting was not an easy ride. I spent overall three weeks (full time weekends and doing some smaller works in the evenings). Preparation is the hardest part (sanding, sanding and sanding), while painting is also a vey delicate process). If you are not afraid of hard work do it yourself! Otherwise, a professional is always a good option. Check traditionalpainter.com website they have a number of good instructions on repainting the cabinets.

It's wooden for me! Aluminium are great for being practical but you can get some really hard-wearing wooden ones, too!

You're really looking at either a hi end kitchen company who supply a more traditional style kitchen ie inframe, or as @Daisy England says, go to an independent, but as you're planning on having this sitting on your worktop, depending on the design of the rest of the kitchen ie if you have towers, the counter level bi fold doors would be to a special size (as most tall doors are designed for tower use). The easiest way to do this would be to have an extra wide larder (800 or 900), fit an internal drawer unit at the bottom, then a piece of worktop, have power points inside and 2 or 3 shelves above. Depending on where the doors come from it may 2x 1965 doors or 2x 1245 doors at the top and 2x 715 doors at the bottom, all standard stuff. Bearing in mind the appliances your trying to hide would be too big to fit inside a 'standard' 300 deep dresser type unit, the counter top option might not be the most suitable. But for a budget of 20K, i could design and supply a larger than average kitchen that has some bespoke made to measure doors and specially designed rigid cabinets and all to a high spec.