I am not sure that sort of thing should be overlooked as easily as it appears to have been. As these refurbs are more about passenger comfort than mechanical upgrade it would be nice to think that the starting point for the assessment of options is.... passenger comfort... and that clearly includes having a suitable size space to shove your legs in!
The whole refurb gravy train appears to be lowering its game, and when it comes to Northern, just not bothering at all. A shame really, it should be something we could take pride in as a largely internal UK opportunity to develop skilled planners and implementers.