My message was'nt 'to you' De Hagan - but was merely justification of the sizes, in response to you saying my idea wouldn't work - when, in my 29years of experience within the kitchen designing industry, I can clearly see that my suggestion would work, if the poster chose to go with this idea, but that is their choice , not mine, yours or anyone else's ! Ultimately I'm just a design professional offering a possible solution to this posters dilemma - I'm not looking to recruit an engineer or plumber ! But thank you for the offer !!!

I had a similar situation in a house I moved into years ago. I did a quick fix of painting all of the walls, woodword and the cupboards the same shade of cream. Sounds a bit OTT but it really knocked back the cupboards, which in all honesty are not something you want to make a feature out of, and created a calmness to the whole space. In your case, I would go for an off white so that the gang plug wires, radiator pipes and covers hiding the wires for the extractor fan etc., are disguised as much as possible -- that will tie in with the palest of the tiles in the splash back, and then you will have a pretty basic colour scheme of a very place colour and the dark worktop, fireplace and floor, which will stand out more. I think you need more storage with doors -- that bookshelf isn't doing anything for the kitchen. If you could get something in there that could hide lots of clutter -- even if just something cheap from IKEA, that would help greatly. Or work something around the filing cabinet that you have? A huge cheap mirror over the fireplace would bounce some light around too. If you don't want to go for undercupboard lighting, and if you have enough plug points, how about some lamps on the worktop, especially at the FF end with a floor standing lamp at the end with the chair. For the table, I would go for a table cloth and reupholster the chairs if they are not to your taste. A new blind in a much fresher colour would be great. Depending on the colour of your filing cabinet (if you use it), I think a petrol blue could add a nice vintage vibe to the chimney breast, and make more of a feature of it. I would try and go down a vintage/slightly industrial route rather than country. You may have some stuff lurking around that you could use, once you have got the base colours right -- currently it just feels a little cluttered and a bit of a mish mash. Best of luck. Looking forward to seeing some after shots :)

Had a play with this for you .... No idea of your family size or anything - so truly a generic simple plan with laundry /pet room and space for dining and casual to area etc ... But regular Houzzers probably realise we pick a project occasionally to do a free example with ... And today it was yours ! [ marketing note - this is an example of the basic 3D iPad consult service OnePlan provide... We happily provided this for free to this Houzzer, on this occasion . Normal rates would be £35 p/h. Full CAD images available too, at either an hourly rate or fixed room rate. We are freelance concept planners, selling only design !]

Firstly Congratulations on your first home, well done! got to say I don’t really understand why there are two radiators in that room as big one will be enough I think…small room. put small folding extending dining table and chairs at bottom of stairs by window tucked away. Extra chairs can live in the cupboard and then extend table if you need too in the room. TV and computer desk could become a multi purpose unit…think bookcase with arm for extendable TV and computer in same place? Or knock out under the stairs as complete wasted space now and put your desk etc under there. TV on wall with a multi positional arm saves floor space. Can see TV from wherever you sit/eat then if you can afford it and don't really need a computer then get an ipad. Go on Pintrest for ideas and look at Ikea layouts , they have small spaces and make it work. Sofas are up to taste but keep a tape measure with you always… Lots of luck