Hard to say without knowing your taste and budget. All sorts of amazing stuff for retiling if that's an option. To be honest I don't find them that offensive - I'd do something cheap like painting the odd one here and there a bright neon to make it a bit less 'standard'. Have seen it done with parquet and it looks great

I've been there. The shower had square white tiles. I made a panel of rectangular tiles in matt cream, of matching width and new shower plumbed in. It looks like a design decision as removed only the tiles needed to fit the shape required. A bold colour would work as well but first check the look of your 'panel' by using a paper template on the wall.

Thanks so much for all the comments, really appreciate them! Sometimes I feel you get used to things and don't see them the way other people might. Well, my partner is definitely not very keen on re-tiling, understandably, I guess, having done all the work himself, but wouldn't rule it out completely, and in turn I promised to give it at least another year without changing anything and see how strongly I feel about it then. A S, we did indeed repaint the dining room not long ago in a much whiter shade (the first two pictures are from before so do look yellow) The kitchen walls are a light mushroom shade, can't be white as the cabinets are cream. The under-cabinet lighting isn't quite so intensely yellow in real life, but definitely on a warm spectrum as I don't find cool white very cosy, just personal preference. Jen P, yep, that's my achilles heel=) Finding something you like more than what you've got and getting worked up about it questioning your choices.

I initially felt it would be worth tiling the whole thing but the dimensions of the room are such that there's not really any other way I'd configure it. I might get some budget tiles of the same size and use them for the bit that's out of sight, so the appliances etc are all level. Good point about being able to slide them out easily if need be (although they're all integrated so it'll be a pain in the back side regardless) Thanks for the speedy responses!