The wood effect tiles tend to only come in quite large sizes, saying that, it might do the trick. I'm going for a smoked limed oak LVT flooring through a very large portion of the house which butts up to the kitchen doorway, so I'm not sure if I could see that sort of amount of wood effect going well. I could get a hold of some more blonde/warm samples but I'm guessing what HIS answer will be already although its certainly worth a look. Perhaps Cornish driftwood? http://www.toppstiles.co.uk/tprod45453/cornish-driftwood-dark-tile.html ... but we are back to the problem of finding sensible sized tiles as wood effect is generally only made suitable for floors... The herringbone is a glossy tile, but also textured ripped and pitted, it is however £333/square metre so oven splash maybe but not as a main on both the kitchen and laundry! I'm operating on a budget of £600 to £1000 for tiles supply only, plus trims, adhesive, etc. If I tile regular splashback heights, its square metres, plus nearly another metre behind the oven up to the extractor. I hear what youre saying about being careful not to detract from the lights. As we see the window directly from where we sit in the living room, we found we quite like that the wires disappear into the black background so the globes kind of float there. Thats mainly why I liked the marbled effect paper rather than a strong pattern or light colour there. / Here is a better view of the Terra pearl that I am waiting on (less than £50/m), and as you can see, youre all spot on that I'm looking for texture / a more tactile finish. The thought is that it may go very well as the main splash, tying in with the light strip in the floor as well as putting a bit more light into the room I was dead set on the metallic steel linear mosaic for some time, below is the copper version nobody seems to have a sample of, However, once the granite went in, the screen printed effect on the tiles look absolutely awful Painting the wall the same colour of the cupboards.... I actually painted the laundry a similar colour, although I know its a bit more vibrant than the cupboards (totally teal) I think I'll find it a but much

I have a very similar kitchen, only I have a peninsula and I have a small worktop in the full wall with two cabinets below and upper cabinets above, where I keep the toaster and breakfast stuff. The plan was to have doors that fold away there, but we decided against that in the end and are happy with it as it is. I find that I have plenty of worktop space on the island, but I do have a full cabinet (60 cm) on the left side of the sink too (the side between sink and end of island). Dirty dishes go there until they go into the dishwasher, so I have the part between sink and cooktop as prep space and to put the clean stuff that comes out of the dishwasher. Do think about where you'll have sockets. And where do you want to keep utensils, dishes, bowls, forks, knives etc. It really helps to pretend you're cooking something and see what would be useful places to have the items you need. If you know what I mean.

@Jonathan thanks for the excellent ideas. You are right that the actual space in the kitchen is not much bigger than the existing one, but as it is currently, the flow isn't good and we all end up falling over each other. I should say we have a 2 year old, and planning for another. That's actually why we wanted the extra reception room as well - we aren't so keen on having the full open plan thing so we can all have our own spaces downstairs, and the plan we have seemed a good balance, with spaces for storage as well. We had a plan previously like your 3rd one, but it just seemed like it would need too much steelwork and the SVP moving around. Your 2nd one is a great idea, but again we'd just be living amongst toys and mess all the time! Would definitely have loved a much bigger island like in your plans, but something has to give, and I think 2m x 1m will be enough for us (but need to sacrifice the bar area). @User those tiles look great, thanks! Will have a look for them. @tamp75 your advice is very sensible about not having a door to the kitchen. I was beginning to think this might be an issue (and cooking smells around the house), so will definitely give some thought to what we could put there. I would love Critall doors (who doesn't), into the kitchen and out onto the patio, but our budget won't allow this!

It is going to look lovely, I have two thoughts - first one is something similar to that of a capiz shell cluster pendant? It would add really nice texture to the space however, you would need to be careful on size. If you want to keep with the 'moody' theme, something like this could be quite nice above the table: Good luck!