Hi minnie101, Thanks so much for your detailed reply. Great to know what colour that grey is. It may be a little dark with our floor. We will definitely update the handles - I hate the current ones. We'll probably go with wood to keep within budget. Your non-tiles pic is lovely. We'll probably keep some tiles and try to keep the kitchen a little more modern than country kitchen, which might be a challenge with wood. The room faces south. I like your idea of dividing it with paint. We probably will go with white in the kitchen and then 1/2 slightly darker tones in the tv-couch area. The 'other' entrance into the dining area is narrowed by a non-structural wall, so we should remove this to open it properly or like you say, close it off. Maybe not close it off entirely as we'd lose a lot of light, but maybe put in a counter or breakfast bar if space allowed. I love your pendant light suggestions over the dining table. Details like this and a rug in the couch area will really help divide the room as at the moment it is one big cavernous space. I really can't decide yet what way the couches should face - into a tv in the corner, or out into the room like you suggest. We'll have to draw out some chalk outlines on the floor and see how much space there actually is. Colour-wise we like the idea of keeping walls and cabinets quite stark, the wood counter will add a bit of warmth, and then adding colour with couches, rugs and possibly dining chairs. I've attached a couple of pieces of furniture I like. Some may not work, but we'll figure it out.

I do love drainpipe grey but particularly love it with the contrast of white marble countertop and a white Belfast sink. With wooden countertops I love the blue greys and greys with a hint of green. Your kitchen is already looking gorgeous so maybe you'd prefer a lighter grey like Farrow and Ball French gray, lamp room gray or blue gray as the photos below. I think you can't go wrong with Farrow and Ball greys, we went for 'light gray' in our kitchen and we love it.

I am installing a new kitchen in corn forth white. I would like some advice on suitable colour for worktop and splash back. I was thinking of white silestone Lyra but am unsure if this is too bland. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.

A medium color floor is easier to keep looking clean than a dark or light floor. For an open floor plan, I would choose planks. One of the main features in the design of an open floor plan is to draw the eye through the space. A herringbone pattern would be confusing to the eye. Use herringbone in a small room.