The original kitchen put everyone off. Inconvenient, tiny and in a very unpleasant shade of puppy poo, a new space had to be found for Jackie's dream kitchen which is why Laurence had designs on the dark and rather unused dining room. As the house is Grade II listed, a planning submission needed detailed information on Laurence's intentions relating to the reconfiguration of any original architecture.

Rather than remove the wall between the proposed kitchen and the pretty Garden Hall he saw as a drawing room cum breakfast room, a large double door case was created with plenty of shelves on the kitchen side for storage. The existing local stone floors were lifted and kept to then be re-laid jumbled amongst newly quarried flagstones in random sizes.

Jackie wanted a centrally positioned island where she could cook and feel the social pivot of the busy heart of the home. This required an unusual solution for extracting cooking smells hence The Naked Extract system nestling in the white enamelled chandelier.

Jackie had set her heart on a green kitchen but let's face it there are greens and there are greens and Laurence's design antennae started vibrating at the idea of avocado but Jackie's childhood home boasted a particularly 'avocado' avocado bathroom suite so she would need a lot of persuading.

The finished effect is elegant but very easy to use and can be dressed up for more formal dinner parties as well as being a warming easy going family space during the day.

The units came from local supplier Howdens and then had simple routed MDF panel doors that were sprayed gloss green. Pyrolav, an extremely durable work surface made from volcanic rock French enamelled was cut to suit the largely freestanding layout.