Hi Tom, Jonathan and Mrs Kain - a belated thank you very much for your comments. Great spot about the shiny ceiling - I hadn't realised that was having an impact. I was going to go for grey kitchen cupboards, and then the kitchen fitter came over the other day and suggested a corner bench seat (where the white unit is) and a dresser where the table currently is, to tie both ends of the room together better - they would be the same style and colour wood as the kitchen units will be after revamping. I was thinking white walls - a Farrow and Ball white, if you have any suggestions of which might look best? Agree about the lights - they are ugly and I've purposefully not added new bulbs as bulbs are quite expensive and I don't like them so didn't want to invest more. I was thinking something like these below to throw light out (and ceiling is low so can't really have anything pendant). Do you think I could also do a pendant over the corner bench/table area or would that look odd in a room with low ceiling with these flush lights too? Would love to hear your thoughts, thanks again for commenting!

Daylight! Install a sun tunnel to add plenty of natural light. This will make the spaces feel cosy and less reliant on light bulbs. The daylight will reflect off the light decor to make the area feel more spacious. I've attached photos one of our customers sent to us to show you what a difference a sun tunnel made to their landing. If you have any questions, please feel free to get in touch with our team. We'll happily give advice without the hard sell :) 01304 219922. ^Emma

Thanks everyone for weighing in, lots of food for thought. I'm more bothered about looks than functionality (!) so think I'll stick with the shorter handles horizontal in the middle of the doors. Looks less cluttered. Still debating about the mix on wall 1 though! @ Hazel Kindley I think I got the idea for the brass plinth from Houzz! Not 100% sure how I'm going to do it yet. Will order standard plinths with my kitchen and possibly get them wrapped in brass sheet, or I may see if I can get a fabricator to make new ones. The problem is that I need two 4m lengths and don't want too many joins in them.

I don't think you need an architect or home designer. It seems a fairly straight forward thing to want done. As long as you're quite clear about what you want to come out at the other end with from the start. I think you need a good, reliable multi skilled builder who could do the work. Any competent and time served builder should be able to do what you need, maybe you have friends who can recommend a good one?. Obviously for such a big job, you'd need to take references and preferably visit some similar work they've done and of course get a quote for the work. It's ideal to get a few for comparison. Whichever builder you ultimately choose, always bear in mind if they are the sort of person you could work with on a long project. I recently had my kitchen totally re-done over 3+months and I can honestly say the builders we had were literally a joy to have in the house, but some other tradespeople I've had have been an nightmare - not from a work quality perspective, but from a sheer bloody mindedness perspective, lack of consideration, simple carelessness or unreliable. You may need some sort structural engineer to advise on removing walls or windows, we've hired a couple in the past, who have just charged for their visit, their time and the advice and it's never been overly expensive or onerous. As Huw Buckley says it's worth approaching your local council about intended building work, even before you start, talking to builders etc. Once you have the basics covered (building control, builder etc) and a clear idea of what you want and what the area will look like, you can then look at companies that supply and or fit patio doors/bifolds etc. The company we chose for our doors (Panoramic) did the supply and installation for us, we just had to provide them with a suitable, prepared opening. Similarly, you can approach a kitchen designer if you're not confident enough yourself. Depending on your budget and level of knowledge you could go with companies that just do kitchens like Wren for instance, or you builder may have a relationship with someone like Howdens or you could go to the mainstream B&Q, Wickes etc who supposedly have kitchen "designers". Bear in mind the likes of B&Q and Wickes (and Howdens to an extent) will design your kitchen to fit their cupboards, which is not necessarily the best use of your space or the most suited to how you will use it. But there are also the independent kitchen companies - smaller businesses who may be able to deliver you the service and product you'd prefer, tailored more to your needs - some are very reasonable - others can be eyewateringly expensive. Alternatively, you could approach a totally independent planner like OnePlan (a fellow Houzz'er), who is not affiliated to any supplier or fitter and just work with you to design exactly what you want. You could then perhaps buy the kitchen on-line or visit somewhere like Ikea and your builder would probably fit it for you. The kitchen and utility plan needs to be roughly agreed (obviously you don't need to know exactly how many knobs or drawers you're having - but a general plan ) before the building work gets too far ahead, because they'll need to make provision for services - plumbing, drainage and power. Similarly you need to make the decision about where you want patio/bifold doors and things like whether you want of need underfloor heating (what type?), central heating, other heating. Once you start looking into things and speaking to a few people it will seem a lot less daunting.