Thanks for the comment Mary. Completely agree with you, the shelves are quite narrow (not sure whether jugs would fit?). We have a lot of red appliances so would you recommend red? If you have any idea pics that would be really useful. Thanks again :)

We had a similar project and gutted the house. Rewire replaster all walls and ceilings. We restored the original parquet flooring and then new carpets everywhere else. Knocked through between kitchen and dining room, new garage roof. New doors and work surface but kept the original kitchen units. Kept the bathroom but put in a new floor. Did this for about £10k. Now 18 months later we're looking at extending the kitchen diner into a big open plan room going out the back as you have suggested but also out to the side. Our neighbours have done similar and we think we can get it done for about 30-40k not including the kitchen. The side extension means a fair bit of structural steel so if you don't do this then it saves a fair bit - our other neighbours have done this. We want an open but defined space so we're looking at keeping a pillar (also cheaper) then having an L shaped kitchen diner around a more relaxed sitting and entertaining area. The idea being that for dinner parties you mill around and have drinks in here before going to eat. Also can have friends round for coffee etc while the front living room remains the primary TV watching area. We'd keep a small boot room off the back for the dog, a pantry in the middle and a toilet at the front. See below for some pictures that illustrate our plans. These are mine and just awaiting our architects plans. In summary I'd get it up to a basic standard until you've got a bit more then go big, although as you say with your cheap labour you might get what you want for the money!

How’s the artificial lighting? Have you considered a mirrored splashback behind the oven? I’d put a normal mirror there (whilst the oven isn’t on!) to see what a difference it makes. The curtains and coats also look as if they’re blocking light. Maybe you could remove everything temporarily to see what the light is like? You could also consider something like Dulux light and space on your ceiling which reflects a lot more light than standard paints or I have little Greene intelligent eggshell on my kitchen walls which has a sheen level of 15% (not good for any imperfections in the plaster though!).The wood doesn’t seem to be reflecting much light at all so I’m sure painting them is probably going to help anyway unless you go really matt. Stunning kitchen btw!

To get the most bang for your buck I would leave the cabinets unpainted (because it’s hard to get a great finish as a DIYer and you could end up cheapening the look). Instead I would get rid of the orange tones by painting the walls a grey with a green quality, replacing the worktops with a laminate that looks like stone, a patterned lino will be a nice upgrade for the floor- again choosing grey and stone colours. Lastly I would get rid of the strip light and replace it with inset ceiling spots and under cabinet lights. Expect to pay £600 to have the worktop done (more expensive as the sink and hob have to be disconnected and reconnected), £300 for fitting lights and £200 for an inexpensive lino and laying. Painting the wall is a job you might well feel confident doing and you shouldn’t spend much on paint.