Hi Daniel What a lovely light kitchen! I see you have decided to change the worktop which is a good idea if you don't like the existing (temporary fixes always seem to stay forever in my house, much better to go for a permanent solution if it's within budget!) if you like colours I think the suggested mustard yellow would be good, or teal works really well with white and wood. Also, you mentioned tiled wallpaper, how about some real tiles? I have a new kitchen too, it has very pale grey gloss units and a white quartz worktop and white walls (at the moment, eventually I'm planning to paint them dark grey). It's lovely but a little plain like yours. I found some lovely tiles which are white and grey which sounds very dull. It they introduce pattern which really ties it all together. I think you could choose some tiles with a nice pattern (they don't have to be brightly coloured if that's not your thing). You'd only need 2 rows, not all the way up to the upper units, introducing some pattern could really bring it to life. And perhaps some coloured chairs when you get round to thinking about furniture? Also, how about hanging a picture on the wall below the wall unit above the washing machine? I love a picture in a kitchen! Hope this helps, enjoy decorating your new home!

Hi Sara. If you want doors at the end I'd go for a galley with built in seating similar to this. Opposite way round for yours though with tall units (with appliances) and banquette on right. I'd just have base units on the left and stop them where the tall units opposite end if you want to keep the side door. I would look at moving the boiler though and you may have to change the dining room window as it looks low although there may be other ways to deal with this. I think french doors would be nice, perhaps painted in a dark shade?

One way to lighten the appearance of your peninsular but still keep the work space is to adjust the size of the cupboard area underneath, so that the worktop overhangs. Even a 15 centimetre overhang would make a visual difference as it frees up that amount of floor. Rounding the end, or even just the corners of the worktop will not only make moving round it easier but more importantly result in fewer bruises from bashing into the corners when in a hurry.

I’ve used the Blum design ideas on several kitchens and they are brilliant in terms of where to put everything in the kitchen: https://www.blum.com/gb/en/ideas/overview/ There’s a design on there for an island kitchen with tall units to one side, worktop to the right (great for coffee making and toaster) with the hob and sink on the island) which we used and it’s the most practical layout ever! I would think about whether you want the dining table to sit right across your access to the garden. Your doors are 3m wide and even an 8-seater table would be about 2.4m so it might look a bit lost in the middle of the space. I would play about with rotating the table to one side of the dining area so that only the head of the table has their back to the garden. Perhaps even look at a table with a built-in bench seat on one side to reduce the number of chair legs. Then, on the other side of the dining space you could have something like a small seating area or bookshelves for a ‘library’ with a view of the garden or a study area etc. I also think at least a couple of bar stools at the island or peninsula are worth considering as they’re so useful for a quick coffee, or glass of wine for a guest while someone cooks. I would also have breakfast cereals, table mats etc in a cupboard facing the dining/ breakfast bar area for easy access in the morning. Good luck!