How about this: • Paint the cabinets, I love the farrow & ball colours so something along those lines but something light • Change the door handles • Add some cornice around the high cabinets and maybe change the end panels • Fix the freestanding units to the wall & add some 9" torus/ogee skirting all around • Minimise the gaps between the freestanding units by cutting down the worktops & adding fillers/pillars (around the cooker) • Sand down the worktops & stain a walnut type colour • Tile behind the cooker/under cabinets/under window • Add some window dressing - probable a venetian blind as it's quite a narrow window so a Roman blind might not work • Change the light fitting to a pendant style At this stage I was thinking of leaving the floor - however, all of the downstairs has a lovely parquet floor and the kitchen tile is raised in comparison to the hall floor. I'm wondering, and crossing my fingers, that there might be some parquet in the kitchen too. I think I'll move out a cabinet and investigate! What do you think to those changes?

Thanks Jonathan - the snip of the bay was from another room in the plan so is a different orientation - if you move the one in your plan 90 degrees clockwise so it starts in the bottom left corner and runs up to about where you have the sink in your plan. Measurements above are not including the recess. Thanks IO Y also - thats's similar to our current layout actually. Unfortunately the previous owners had to do a bit of a botch job with the window to get units in front of it and the kitchen is quite dark so would like to move units away from it if at all possible! It's a bit of a shame to lose the recess as a feature as well, they're pretty in our other rooms.

Do you really need a blind? The glass is opaque and from the green reflection outside I guess your bathroom is at the back of the house and not overlooked? You could try a freestanding mirror, and a large mirror would also block the ability of anyone being able to see in. If you really want a blind have a smaller free-standing mirror and when you pull the blind down, only have the blind halfway down.

Slide and pivot is a neater version of a bifold. Each pane is independent of the other and when you open the first like a door the others slide up to it and then turn outwards. they have much slimmer mullions than bifolds and give you more glass. I have been put off by the very mixed reviews on after sales service from some brands but they do look fantastic.