A couple of weeks ago I sat down with our builder’s cabinet maker to make some final changes to the kitchen, pantry and laundry designs and choose our finishes.

The island bench will be red gum with the Ikea ceramic sink. We moved the sink away from the centre and closer to the outside edge of the bench, creating a more usable bench space close to the family area. The bench on either side of the stove will be marble.

The profile on the drawers and cupboard doors is a pretty standard one, with cast iron drawer pulls and cupboard handles we found at Period Details.

In the Butler’s Pantry we are continuing the marble theme, with Duropal laminate bench tops in marble design and Karaboard in “carbide” on the drawers. The same drawer and cupboard handles as the kitchen will also be used here.

The laundry will be the same as the pantry: “marble” tops, “carbide” doors and cast iron handles.