if you are planning for duco/pu paints or membrane finishes, you should use external grade MDF. This will give a better finish. Tandem/innotech drawers are anytime better than steel wire baskets if you are going for drawers more than 2ft wide. Wire baskets will sagg over a period of time. Tandem/Innotech comes with soft close as default.

Going with professional has its own advantages. Afterall he is pro, so he has studied more and has more experience. However is this person from the kitchen shoppee, which is giving you quotation of kitchen installation? In such cases, I have experienced that they just make boxy kitchens where they add lotsa fittings, that increases your budget. Open shelves does not need such fittings, so such are omitted...Normal door wali cabinets are less and number of drawers increased. Going on own is not a bad idea, provided you need to study it well. Note down the requirements, classify work areas and so on... In this approach , you have to go bit slower and carefully. Allow some flexibility in design, so that in future , you can alter as per the need. Sometimes we come to know the problems after few months/ years and we cant change it later. Ultimately compare between [your time+ efforts+ study+ error chances] Vs Hiring professional and go ahead accordingly.

The kitchen sink should go towards the corner next to the stove area since the plumbing would be easier due to the bathroom pipeline on that wall. The stove should be moved from there to the basin area but more central. I couldn't zoom in but what is loft above. Anyway, I think you could get rid of that wall and make it a half wall, and include a counter with 2 -3 bar chairs like for quick meals. Puja area, I think would be better elsewhere since there is non-veg food and sometimes alcohol consumption. You could have more like a partition shelf wall between dining and living, need to think more on moving the puja area somewhere else. Also, since the common bathroom is right there, you would not need another basin next to the dining area, its just not a good sight . You could mail me the floor plan and we could work on it more elaborately, but this is simply a skimmed review of the layout. Hope I was helpful .

So i’m guessing you’re saying that oil paint/enamel paint looks cheap? That makes sense cause whilst i was growing up, the govt quarters came with oil painted doors and it chipped off in a few years in a sorry state. Don’t want that. So oil paint is out? What I’m gathering is that PU paint is not just paint. It’s a process? So you prime and paint(?) first and then do a protective coating of PU with the thinners and the additives? Am I getting this right? :P