Hi Lee, No problem : ) With the LED tape, it depends upon how happy you are with soldering : / The tape can be cut at set marked places. It is then possible to solder wires on at these points and then extend the tape. Personally, in your case, I wouldn't cut the tape yet but wait until the integrated dishwasher arrives. Depending upon the model of the dishwasher, it may be possible to fit the aluminium extrusion to the underside of the units and run it past the dishwasher without the door catching. If this isn't possible, you may need to cut the tape and use a joint to fit the extrusion to the plinth under the dishwasher. If you use a slightly deeper extrusion, you can mount the extrusion onto the plinth under the dishwasher by putting the double sided tape onto the side of the extrusion. I think that I probably need to do you a drawing of this to show you what I mean! Do you know which model of integrated dishwasher you're going to fit? Can you remind me where in the country you're based? With the projectors, I've heard of Benq but haven't seen either of the models in the flesh. Are you going to be using a screen with them or just beaming onto a wall? With a screen, the brightness of the projector isn't as important as the screens have a higher 'gain' than a white painted wall - meaning more of the light is reflected back to you. You will also need some way of blackening the room out as this will improve the image quite a bit. We have a projector at home after getting rid of the TV. We found that it totally changed our viewing and gaming habits. The lounge is now dark purple (with the white room we had before, the reflections off the side walls were quite noticeable) and we have thick curtains over the window. You won't regret gaming on a projector : ) We use ours mainly for Skyrim : ) Projectors don't hold their value very well, (we bought ours used), but there should still be bargains to be had with new ones. If you can't get to see one in the flesh, then try to find one that's reviewed well and buy from a shop that will either let you demo the unit or has a good returns policy. We have a JVC X-7 which we are very pleased with. For a surround sound system, do you want the speakers too or just the processor? It may be easier to go through this on the phone. My numbers on my profile : ) Thanks Peter

Not sure whether they are making a comeback, but we have recent experience of both and think it just depends on the house. Our old house was a 1960s build, split level (built into the hill) with a kitchen off the dining room, and the sitting room up three steps from the opposite side of the dining room. From the sitting room one could look down onto the dining room and through to the kitchen. When we refitted the kitchen about fifteen years ago we knocked out the units which divided the kitchen from the dining room and put an island in the space. It worked fantastically well for us; a great place to sit and catch up with the kids when they came in from school, and many times their friends joined us in chat and banter around the island. The house was perfect for entertaining and for our family, even though there was no separate (able to be closed off) sitting room. Although now both adults and left home, our kids were very sad when we moved away and sold the house, as were many of their friends. (Maybe because it was party-central at times...!) We now have an Edwardian semi with a fairly large kitchen at the back, accessed through the dining room, and we have a kitchen table and chairs plus the computer in there. The dining room is for when we have guests, and Sunday lunch when I do a roast, even if it's just the two of us. The kitchen gets the rising sun and is lovely first thing in the morning. Our sitting room is at the front of the house and is smaller and cosy, ideal for snuggling up in front of the log burner at this time of year. And it gets the setting sun which is nice in the afternoon/evening. We can still seat plenty of people though. We thought we had to have open plan as that's what we'd had for so long, in fact what we have now is working perfectly for us. We still have plenty of entertaining space and have pre dinner nibbles in the kitchen before eating in the dining room. In the summer we mostly eat outside as we had the garden landscaped this year and we love it out there. A well designed garden with comfortable seating has proved to be the best thing we've done with a house! Angie

Hi Dynamo, I'm responsible for the design in your photo and delighted you like the look of this room. You would only need a few square meters of the split mosaic tiles which are available of sheets, so not expensive for a striking feature. Also, easy to keep free of dust with a quick once over with a dust pan brush, or brush attachment on your vacuum cleaner . WC's are often overlooked but when you consider its a room you use every day and your guests use too, why not make it an enjoyable experience! An alternative and very inexpensive idea for your walls and my signature in practically every home I renovate, is installing 6mm MDF panelling with a 10mm shadow gap in between each panel, apply with Pink Gripfil adhesive. 600mm x 600mm square or horizontal panels of any height add a sense of depth and soul to boring flat, painted walls. A sheet of MDF is cheap as chips, just make sure you prime and undercoat thoroughly with a mini roller before applying eggshell finish or acrylic paint. It's not a main bathroom so not susceptible to humidity, therefore emulsion paint in a contrast shade will work well too. To see an example of panelling on a larger scale (Wenge stained Oak veneered MDF), take a look at the sitting room wall in the Chelsea Harbour apartment featured on my profile page.

Okay, so here are my concerns with the current layout: with no space to the other side of the sink, where will the dirty/clean dishes go. In our house, we put dirty dishes on one side and when unloading the dishwasher, put stuff that still needs to be dried off on the other side. But you may well have another system of loading/unloading. Also, items that can't go into the dishwasher need to be somewhere when dirty and then put somewhere when clean. So, in my experience a sink needs counterspace on two sides. You do need somewhere to put appliances, like the toaster/kettle, coffee machine or maybe a stand mixer? If they are behind doors that aren't pocket doors, you'll be working in a 'confined space', which doesn't seem very practical. I've been through the whole thought process recently and we've decided to do without doors in front of the breakfast counter. Very happy with that decision. I'll post pics so you can see how it looks. We also have kitchen doors that lead to the pantry behind the tall bank of cupboards. We've put the ovens above each other, because one oven we already had and the other one is new and a slightly different design. This left space for two pull out larders, one either side of the ovens. Then we have a tall freezer, tall fridge, double doors to the pantry. We also have a separate coffee corner. Hope this helps.