We have a 900x900 shower and it's plenty big enough. Neither of your proposed layouts looks that great, to be perfectly honest, sorry! In the first layout, you could improve it quite a lot by swapping the toilet and vanity (centre the toilet under the window on the bottom right of the picture if possible), and having the shower door on the other wall (beside the door). Then, you could have a towel rail on the wall beside the door (i.e. behind the door when it's open), which would be accessible from the shower but hidden when the door was open. An 800x1200 shower might be a good size for your space. You'd have to choose a toilet that doesn't protrude too far, plus a narrow vanity. With that layout, you could have a long but narrow wall-hung vanity, with a big mirror covering the wall between the windows, which would make the room feel bigger and would give a good amount of storage. Also, you may find this helpful: http://www.houseplanshelper.com/small-bathroom-floor-plans.html?utm_content=buffer4aa20&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_campaign=buffer

I agree you probably need to centre the vanity and the cabinet on the wall or they could look a bit odd! You don't say why you don't want a space between the window and the vanity - just my opinion, but I would think 300mm could be quite useful for a bin, a clothes basket or box, or a small stool for putting clothes on? The only alternative to leaving a space, is to fill it with something as the response above suggested. To avoid it interfering with the window, you could make this something lower, so it sits level with the top of the vanity. This could be built in and the wall lining put over it to create a single "shelf" level with the underside of the vanity top, or if you can find some freestanding open shelving of the correct width, which could also be cut to the correct height, you could wedge that between the wall and the vanity side when fitting the vanity. Just bear in mind also, that you'll lose some of your towel hanging space if you put something too high in the space.

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 guys. Any advice GREATLY appreciated.I have a 2 storey 1970s townhouse. It's one of two, attached by a concrete block wall. It had a roof replaced (cathedral ceiling) and since then cracks (gaps?) have appeared between the ceiling and wall seam. Just here and there, not everywhere. Also a gap between the concrete block and wooden trim of the drywall down the length of the house in one corner. This has led me to notice that the upper floor/lower ceiling in that corner isn't straight! You can see in the photos that the cinder block is higher in the corner! All the window frames, doors and the rest of the walls/ floor in the two rooms are level. I have looked under the house at the foundation and can't see anything scary. Could the house have been built like this? Or has something occurred? I can't see any cracks in the cinder block wall. And any advice regarding the gaps that have appeared?