I have a white corian and love it. It brightened the kitchen so much. I think the Only thing you can set hot pots on is ceramic tile. I have made trivets out of pretty tiles. Go to the store and find a tile you love buy one or two and then cut felt slides that stick, like for the bottom of a chair leg or buy precut ones. These are great! I use them on lots of things. They are under my coffee pot, toaster, large cutting board, garbage bowl I keep on the counter, anything I move that's kind of big or heavy on the counter. Corian requires no sealing. Only thing that has thought about staining so far was grated carrots, or the skin gratings from carrots. But then I just worked on the spot lightly with a scotch bright pad. I saw somewhere that someone else tried a mr clean eraser n corian. Staining in my integrated white sink is zero. Installed in January 2013. I have had corian in a previous house with no problems also.

Sorry, yes, I didn't explain very well, did I... I meant that as your room seems to be quite light, floor included, a dark grey that matches the bird on your wallpaper would give you that wow factor (pic1 below). You could then work on the layering textures within the same colour palette too with the rest of your accessories (rugs, mirrors etc). Or if you're not too keen on greys, pick out one of the other colours if you prefer- you have a good selection of pink, blue, green or yellow. As long as you match the exact shade you can't go wrong, in my humble opinion. I've attached a few pics below to show you what I mean xx

I love the tall units but you need to go straight to the ceiling to prevent dust and dirt settling on the top. I would put a row of small up and over cupboards along the very top as an option. Very handy for unsightly bulky items. I don't like the end open shelves by sink very dated but what you could do is a long double shelf all the way along the island with a wine racking either side for balance vertically. I think shelving each side of the sink would be better. You have a lot of cupboards but no deep drawers which are highly valued these days. Good selling point. I Like your colour suggestions... The little Greene paint company have a lovely grey so does farrow and ball. Where are you sourcing your Quartz and what flooring? Do your ovens have easy open shelf doors ..handy as they retract so don't get in the way as you take food out..Neff offer best ones. If you want a better balance of tall you could always do fridge freezer one side and pull out pantry on the other with racking. Then on sink side don't go all the way along the wall just have it as centred space so you can pull out larder doors. On your island you will need your bin as this'll be prep area? What is the room opposite tall cupboards? Need the island to look good from that side as that is what you will see. Hope of help. I'm embarking on the same thing and have spent hours and hours researching!

Mr mdf painted black