As a landlord myself, it's difficult to strike the balance with what is logical, affordable etc to put in to a property and what someone would pick for a forever home. I agree the light is really dated and isn't helping, so i'd agree for that to be changed, stored and put back or the new one left behind when you move on. The clutter in there isn't helping. There's a big mixture of cannisters and appliances on the worktop, which i'm presuming are all the previous tenant's, therefore, these can all come off, the cannisters ( new matching ones ) should go on the grey shelves by the window. It's a small kitchen, so knives in the drawer ( keep a knife block off the counter top. You don't need a coffee maker really, unless you can't live without one. Buy a kettle and cannisters that all match, the toaster too. I'd go with a pale cream or grey. Stuff piled on the fridge obviously doesn't help, the white plastic drainer on top of the stainless steel one also doesn't help. I think once it's cleared out, you'll be able to see the wood for the trees. It's just cluttered with all the wrong stuff. I can just see that there's no plynth on the kitchen, this makes it look cheaper, so i'm sure the landlord wouldn't mind you purchasing one of those. Go for Grey again, and ask if you can paint the walls the same colour. Bringing colour schemes together helps the eye. There's a nice grey in the tile to match it to. In short, grey walls, grey plynth, nicer light fitting, You could either go for grey again with the small appliances and the storage cannisters or inject a little colour with maybe a turquoise, Turquoise oven gloves, tea towels and a blind.?? I personally think the plainer the better and that uniformity is all that's missing. Good luck!

Hi Getty Welty What a shame about the worktop but I think it's almost a blessing in disguise. Once you have settled on the worktop my advice would be to take samples of the cupboards & worktop to a tile shop and look at them altogether. You really need to see a large tile together with the other samples to appreciate the overall look. A 10 x 10 sample is only a representation of the whole tile and the colour changes on a larger scale. We always advise our customers to do that if possible as its really important to make sure the overall tones work well together. Good luck with it all Karen

Hi NYC, I have seen this problem before. Is the floor on joists or is it a solid concrete floor? If it's on joists you may have a real problem as it sounds as if the joists are bouncing under the weight. This is a very large island therefore very heavy. If the island is on joists and these are moving you need to underpin the floor by adding steel underneath or building up brick piers under the joists to stop the flexing. I would suggest you address this urgently. I would advise you to have a structural engineer look at it. If it's on concrete this shouldn't be such an issue (Hope you're on concrete) Assuming concrete there should not be any movement on the floor so the issue is with the flooring material. Check to see if it has been laid tight to the walls if so the flooring material will expand with any changes in temperature or moisture absorbed from the concrete. The floor should be laid with a gap between it and the wall then the skirting boards fitted over the top to cover the expansion gap. This way the floor can expand and contract without creaking or buckling. Hope that helps, Martin www.ange-martin.com

You're the customer so have it how you want. Its more expensive to tile wall to wall which is why lots of kitchens are only tiled up to the legs, but its getting more and more popular to have the kitchen fully tiled before fitting like they do on the continent. When we have a kitchen to fit and its been tiled we lay hardboard over the floor to protect it, so it is an extra small cost. Accidents can happen though like dropping the oven but that could of been an old existing tiled floor that could be chipped and no replacement tiles available. Also its harder for your fitter to install as he has to scribe and seal all your decor panels to the floor when its been tiled is another reason installers prefer it to be tiled afterwards.