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Thanks @PeterW. I should clarify that I didn't mean "purist" in a negative sense. Fluid dynamics is ultimately the application of mathematics, which is ultimately the purist of sciences, so one needs to pay deference to the purists if you want the system to work well.

I have always preferred an extractor that actually extracts, rather than recirculates, but then the MVHR purists on this website gave me the impression that having an extracting hood would unbalance my MVHR system. Have I misunderstood that? I thought @joe90 you had gone for a recirculating hood for this very reason? @Mr Punter do you have MVHR?

Kitchen will be from DIY kitchens. We will use their taller 900mm wall units, and position them so that their tops are slightly higher than the fridge and oven unit that are on the same run. It will look a little bit like this:

Thanks @ryder72. I agree 500mm is too little space. I’m 6 foot and my wife is 5’8”, so 5’10” is our average. If we only had 560mm of space between the induction hob and the bottom of the wall units, are you saying this would be a problem for me! Our wall units are not very deep, only 300 plus 20 for the door. Which re-circulating fan do you recommend? I need it to be recirculating because I will have MVHR. Ideally, the quieter the better.

Maybe the companies I spoke to didn't have the expertise, but at the time I was told that wind issues prevented them from going there. I guess I could just brace the panels with something strong and rigid. We were originally going to get some through the Ikea/Solarcentury scheme, but then the government pulled the subsidies and Ikea pulled out of the joint venture with Solarcentury, which was a shame. Stupid government.

We aren't installing a heat pump or PV. In fact I enquired about installing PV on the flat roof and the companies I spoke to said they only install it on pitched roofs.

Just reviving this thread in case anybody had an answer to this? I have a fair bit of space in my roof, so trying to work out what is the best combination of build ups to keep it as cool as possible in the summer. Appreciate the comments made by others about importance of mitigating solar gain through glazing, and I am taking the steps I can in respect of that, but need to finalise the build up of my roof and this is quite important as i plan on working out of a home office there most summers.

Well both actually. For most of our toilets I want them wall hung, but we don’t have the thickness in the wall to do this with one toilet, so for that the pan will be floor mounted, but if possible I’d still like to conceal the cistern. How much wall thickness do I need just to conceal the cistern?

What’s the difference? I thought to mount on a wall, one needed a frame?

Prior to commencing my big refurb journey (more of a voyage really), I thought Geberit was the market leader in concealed cisterns. I had no evidence to base that on, it's just what I assumed. Chatting to a friend the other day who is a property developper, he told me to stay clear of Geberit because their design means that there is a greater risk of a mistake being made upon installation as they have a peculiar fitting at one end of the pipe that comes out below the cistern. Apparently, the same junction on the Grohe models is a traditional screw ring fitting which is idiot-proof as you just tighten it to fit it. He said he'd had a few of the Geberit models leak at that problematic fitting and advised going for Grohe cisterns, with any old company for the frame. In the showroom I visited today I asked the salesperson what she thought, and she said there's no difference between the two companies, they are both "just above entry level products" and that she recommends Tece "because that is what Toto specify for their toilets and Toto are the market leaders". No idea if this is evidence based either. Curious as to people's experience with any of these three companies' concealed cisterns. We already touched on this in the other thread on toilets I started, which had some very useful observations (not to mention the banter*), but I thought this merited its own thread. *Thanks @Onoff, @ToughButterCup, @PeterW, @SimonD and even @pocster.

Agreed. At today's showroom visit I managed to get around this my measuring a crucial dimension with my finger. It turns out that German made brands such as Duravit are much more spacious than their Italian equivalents (e.g. Catalano).

@joe90 and the salesperson I met* at a showroom today are at idem on this point. Apparently, i've been exposing myself to all sorts of dangerous fomites by not closing the lid before I flush all these years! Not sure I'll change a habbit of a lifetime now though... *thereby undoing the whole purpose of this thread! Turns out it is still possible to go to some showrooms as long as you make an appointment and cover yourself in protective gear.

Excellent, many thanks @Simon R and Helen!

We are getting a staircase with steel spindles. We were going to go with powder coated stainless steel spindles, but it's cheaper to get bright steel spindles and then finish them with a blacksmith's paste or wax to give them a nice patina, and as it's all internal, the blacksmith's paste will be sufficient protection. This Youtube video suggests making one's own: 1 part bees wax, 1 part turpentine, 1/2 part linseed oil but I would prefer something ready made. Has anyone got any experience with a blacksmith's wax, and can you recommend a brand that gives a nice oiled or rubbed look? @Simon R you mentioned in one thread that your daughter is a blacksmith. Perhaps she would know?

Yes, the extractor will be concealed.

The cabinets are shallow (300mm in depth, plus 20 for the door, makes 320). Not deep ones, so the only way to hit my head whilst cooking would be if I wanted to burn my face on the frying pan or, steam my face whilst steaming some broccoli. It's just not going to happen. We are having slightly deeper worktops , but even with standard depth worktops this wouldn't be an issue.

Because Because i want a straight run of cupboards above the hob, to achieve a certain design aesthetic, rather than one elevated cupboard above the hob that contains the extractor unit, i want all the cupboards on that side to be level (without having to raise them all to meet the 650mm height). I may have answered my own question in that this AEG model specifies the minimum should be 500mm; although many other models don't specify this in the installation manual. I wouldn't go that low, but i would keep it at around 540 or 550.

I know that for a gas hob, the hot zone needs to measure 75cm from the hob surface to the cooker hood, whilst electric hobs this only needs to be 65cm. But a kitchen designer told me that for an induction hob this distance can be even less because of the way it heats the pans (i swear she said something starting with a 5), but I can now not remember the exact amount. Does anybody know?

Thanks @Bitpipe. Unfortunately Velux didn't do the rooflight size I was after, so i've had to go bespoke. Got a good price on the rooflight from Sunsquare, including Sunguard Sn35/70 glass, but the quotes I've got so far on the blind are looking like almost double the cost of the actual rooflight!

@Jeremy Harris I don't suppose these were for a flat rooflight?

By way of update, the only quote I have for a motorised internal blackout blind which is 1800 by 900 in size, is an astronomical £2600 for a Shy blind with a somfy motor. Absurd! It shouldn't even cost half this. Can anyone recommend someone cheaper?

@Onoff thanks for sharing these photos. I like the little "niches" (if that's the right word) you've built for holding bottles of shampoo etc. Is there any special technique in the execution of these to stop them accumulating water and growing mould? I had this done at our last place and the tiler warned me that it would create a breeding ground for mould and he was partially right. I say partially because it took quite a while for this to happen and we were able to get it off easily with an anti-mould cleaning product, so just learnt to do this once a month.

I was just thinking about this further. My other half insist we get a shower with a rail (that can be varied in height) in addition to the rainwater shower head that comes out of the wall. But in that case, doesn’t it make sense to go exposed as that way the pipe for the rain shower can double up as a rail, a bit like this: https://www.lussostone.com/showers-c6/shower-sets-c24/elegance-brushed-gold-exposed-thermostatic-bar-shower-with-riser-p1857

What’s mixer bars?

My understanding, though I'm often wrong about these things, is that a standard stud wall is 125mm thick, being made up of a 100mm timber stud plus 12.5mm of plasterboard on either side. I'm aware that one can go thinner by either using a narrower timber stud or a metal one. I have in mind using a 70mm stud plus 12mm of hardie backer on one side and 12.5mm plasterboard on the other side, so 94.5mm in total, but my builder has suggested he could use a 50mm stud - I presume he means a metal one. What are the disadvantages of going thinner? I imagine predominantly it is a sound insulation issue in that the thinner the wall, the less mineral wool one can stuff it with, but would be interested in whether people have experience of building narrower studs, how you went about it and did you regret going narrower?