These houses were designed to look good from the street, regardless of what the orientation was for the Sun. Everything depends on your budget and how far your prepared to go. A friend's house in Queenstown faced the street, the toilet and bathroom had the best view of the lake and the Sun. They got a house removal Coy in, jacked it up put it on the truck drove out and turned it around and reconnected all the services. It then faced the North and West great views and warmth, doubled its value in 3 days!. I replaced my storage water cylinder with a outside gas one, picked up enormous space in our laundry. Another tip is to draw up your "dream" plan, then overlay it over the existing and see what you can really do, your then not influenced by what is already there, and often get a much better insight and removed from the existing. Good luck, its very rewarding and make it fun!

Thanks for your comments everyone. We've taken your advice (Luke and NH) and changed the island to a rectangle (1200 x 3000). We lose one breakfast bar seat but gain storage and dining room space plus it shortens the distances from the island to the cooktops. It also removes the need for a corner carousel. We're much happier with this result. Dairy_maid, we've done what you suggested and walked through some common tasks. Overall it works reasonably well although we may keep some coffee spoons and butter knives in the scullery drawers for morning toast and coffee. We've also invested in a "silent" rangehood which has the motor on the outside of the house behind the fridge and we've upgraded the scullery sink to one that is 600 x 400 (internal size). Fabrication starts tomorrow. Woohoo. Once again, thanks so much for taking the time to respond. The design has been significantly improved with your input.

Hi other Houzzies out there, my question is... are there any cons of not putting the oven under the induction cook top, as I don't want to sit at my breakfast bar and look across to the oven, but I also can't have the induction top on my breakfast bar as frying could be a bit dangerous, for people sitting there, so that's where I thought I should separate them.

Hi Jules, Blum has been researching kitchens around the world for years. Check out practical storage ideas here : https://www.blum.com/nz/en/ideas/overview/ or flick your address/phone in private message for a free copy of our Kitchen Inspirations Magazine You can also look for a local Kitchen Designer or Manufacturer on our Directory here : https://www.blum.com/nz/en/contact/how-to-buy/ All the best for your project, Blum NZ Team