I had no intention of diverting from Porthos's initial post ... but I thank you all for your contributions towards helping me resolve my kitchen dilemmas.
Final note: As an interim solution I have been seriously contemplating using 2 72" long cedar Veg Trugs I have never managed to get set up in my back yard. They are still brand new in the boxes so not 'dirty' yet. I don't have quite enough room to put them end to end along the empty wall next to the kitchen (due to a cabinet that opens onto that space at one end and a radiator too close to the wall at the other) however so I may set them one up along the wall and use the other as an 'island' (which will. for now, have to be positioned under the huge ugly metal 'chandelier' which I bump my head on every time I go to that part of the room if something is not under it to remind me - that is not where I want my dining area but I have to keep a table there for now to prevent permanent concussion). Electricians are scarce around these parts.
I cut some birch plywood to fit the top of the trugs a while back as makeshift 'countertops', just in case. I am pretty sure this idea will do the trick for me but it certainly will look a bit eclectic (or is that eccentric?). The good thing about that solution though is that if I go to sell and move some day, the room will essentially be as it was when I bought it - and won't have to be redone too much for the average consumer's taste (other than I will have to repaint because right now I have a very large 'test patch' of deep teal paint on the otherwise blah sage green wall and fully intend to repaint the entire room in that colour soon) .. and I am sure that colour will be a shock to some people's more traditional sense of aesthetics. 
You are all invited up to help me wrestle the pieces of the trugs out of the boxes and assemble them ... and then we will celebrate with a glass or three and an equally interesting dinner. Bring your winter jackets.
