The layout of your new kitchen will depend on a number of factors, not least where the waste water from your sink, dishwasher and any other appliance that uses water, enters the drainage system. Moving any of these is not normally a problem but you may be restricted as to where certain appliances need to be positioned in the kitchen because of where the drains are. The usual method of planning a kitchen is to design the layout making sure you keep the distance between the key elements to a minimum. Having the food preparation area close to the sink, cooker and fridge will ensure you don't wear yourself out, running from one side of the room to the other. Without seeing the size and current layout of your kitchen, it is impossible to make any further, useful, suggestions. Choose your kitchen fitting company vary carefully and don't be shy in asking lots of questions, if they are any good, they should answer all your questions in detail. Hope this helps.

Check list for kitchen planning may help. Planning a Fitted Kitchens Step 1: Getting Started Designing the most important room in your home requires careful planning. So, before you do anything else there are some key questions to ask yourself. As you do so keep a record of your ideas so you can refer back to them as your project progresses. Step 2: How and when you want to use the space What do you and don’t like about your existing kitchen. What really works for you in the current kitchen layout and what frustrates you? The negatives are just as important as the positives as they can help you form a clear idea of what you do or don’t need in your new fitted kitchen. Step 3: Key areas of the kitchen There are four vital zones that will create a natural and efficient flow to your kitchen design; cooking, food preparation, sink and storage. However, increasingly kitchens are used for all types of activity. Do you need a room that can cope with the rigours of a busy family? Are you going to dine in your kitchen? If so, plan enough room for a dining table, breakfast bar or island is a great place to congregate. You may be a keen cook and if your cooking for a large family a range cooker may figure in your plans along with plenty of worktop space. You may want turn your kitchen into a open-plan design in which case a area to relax, and room for a sofa and TV may be important. Ultimately, it’s your kitchen, and the most important thing is how you and your family are going to use the space. Design the space and features (must have items) around the activities that will take place in your kitchen, and most of all ensure you match your kitchen to your lifestyle. Step 4: Finer details As you become clear on the demands you will be placing on your new kitchen make a wish-list of your preferred products and materials. From a practical perspective consider what you will require from you appliances, worktops, storage solutions and sink and tap. You may already have a look in mind of the kitchen in terms of colour, style and finish, but it’s a great idea to gather ideas from magazines or websites. Enjoy creating a scrap-book with cuttings of furniture, flooring, taps, even paint finishes, crockery or vases- anything that inspires you. Even just images with right ‘feel’. Step 5: Budget With a kitchen the cost of key elements such as appliances, units and worktops can vary dramatically. For instance, appliances may account for a considerable percentage of the total cost of the kitchen, however if branded top-end ovens, hobs and extractors are specified this percentage can escalate dramatically to become the most expensive element of the project. Similarly the choice of worktops materials and door material may increase the budget substantially. There may be areas of the project where you may have to be prepared to consider a compromise to stay within your budget. Step 6: Layout As a rule of thumb this will be dictated by the existing dimensions of you room, or you may be lucky enough to be planning to extend. If you are extending you amy wish to consider an open-plan kitchen to seamlessly link through to the living area. Whatever the shape there are clever design options that will ensure you can make the most of the space available to you. Even in a tight space a clever designer can still work miracles.

Hiya, We are just in the process of completely renovating our downstairs and have gone for pale grey walls (F&B Ammonite) and navy / Inky blue Shaker units (Como from Zoffany) with a white marble look Quartz (Bianco Carrera from Unistone) After a huge amount of indecision, more samples than we knew what do with and a lot of help from our designer, we nervously selected some Seasoned Limestone tiles, which we are using with a wet underfloor heating system. The kitchen isn't finished yet but you can see some pictures of the flooring which has just been laid- the pictures really don't do it justice! It's definitely my favourite bit of the renovation so far, they are great big tiles at random sizes between 60 x 60cm and 60 x 90cm and they really make the room. Whatever flooring you pick I highly recommend you pay lots of attention to the texture; we found a lot of colours looked quite similar but it was the quality of the finish, thickness of the tile, the texture and finish of the edges that made a huge difference to how the stones looked and the quality of the overall feel. Good luck whatever you decide and hope this helps

Mixed unit colours can look good with a modern kitchen, but I would leave yours one colour. Something simple and neutral like white, pale grey or taupe is easy to live with. I have a wooden worktop and I will be changing it. It needs oiling every few months, and even with that it is not hardwearing. Mine is covered in dents, has faded in places and gone black in places near the sink. Water and wood just don't mix. Your worktop looks pretty good, so fix the end piece on the left where the chipboard is showing. You can get iron on end pieces. So I would paint the units. Lots of people have done this so search “Repainted kitchens” on Advice. Change the knobs, loads for sale online, and change the tap for something more classic like a swan neck one. There are companies who sell replacements doors and drawers, as E D suggests, so that may be an option too. Below are a couple of pics of my deteriorating wooden worktop. it is 10 years old and not fared well. Second pic is a tap that may suit your sink. Is the sink ceramic?