Q&A with Emma and Jonathan

The windows were hugely expensive when you compare them to our finished kitchen for example. And we wouldn’t of gotten large windows if it hadn’t been for Aisling’s guidance but we’re so glad we did. The flush glazing brings so much light in, going up and over.

Aisling was right in saying you’re better off pushing your budget on glazing because at the end of the day the kitchen might only last a few years but the bones of it is what really makes the room. I’d say whatever window you think you can afford, try and get as much glass as you can.

We’d done our two upstairs bathrooms a few years before, and we had a lovely big family bathroom. When we did the back of the house, the building work shook the house and with the vibrations, everything moved. As a result, there was quite a lot of tile breakage up in the beautiful new bathroom.

The builder was slightly cursing us, why do people always do this, they do their bathroom before they do the extension, it always causes problems. But he fixed it all – retiling, tidying up the upstairs, the plumbing was affected too. We didn’t pay anything additional for that.

We moved the gas boiler to the garage. The flue for it is sticking out of the side of the garage and you can see if from the window. If it were on the other side of the garage, we wouldn’t see it.

“There was space on the plans for a decent sized island with stools around,” says Jonathan. “There was an area for a big dining table so that was all worked out beforehand. Then we went to the kitchen companies with those plans. We did the naughty thing of getting ideas from the more expensive manufacturers.”

“All the kitchen places were selling that kitchen island living concept with the hob on the island,” adds Emma. “We quickly realised we couldn’t have that because we couldn’t vent it, as it was in the centre of the room and we didn’t have the ducting in place for it. So the idea of island cooking got

You need a builder and an architect that you get on well with on a personal level. That’s really really important. No matter what happens it will be a stressful time and you need people you can sit down with and say “how are we going to get around this, what are we going to do?”.

So go ahead and meet the builder. There are always problems and snags, you have to expect that, factor that into your timeframe. Things will go wrong but if you have a supportive team you’ll find a way to fix it.

quashed by ventilation.”

“We’re pleased that’s the way it worked out in hindsight, having the sink at the island. And this might sound really silly but I love that we stuck to our guns for how to configure it. Aisling and the kitchen company felt we should have a neat line of chairs on the island because it’s aesthetically pleasing.”

“But I didn’t want us to eat beside one another and not see each other so I had this idea of sitting around the corner at right angles, two and two. It’s much more conducive to family conversation.”

“It does work,” says Jonathan, “when it’s just the four of us we always eat at the island, it’s only when we have people over that we use the big dining table.”

Practical as ever, Jonathan and Emma made sure there would be nothing on the countertops. “We have a hot water tap so no need for a kettle and we put in a toaster drawer. It pulls out when it’s in use and is hidden away when not.” They also have two ovens for entertaining, including a warming oven.

But it’s the pull-out bins that Jonathan likes the most. In particular, doing away with the compost caddy. “I love having compartmentalised bins: recycling, food waste, all hidden away in a drawer.” Despite all of this, their kitchen came in under £10k all in. “Aisling couldn’t’ believe that, but we went with a keenly priced basic kitchen. We wanted it to be simple.”

The verdict? “From an insulation point of view it’s hard to know how much we’re saving with recent price increases, but in terms of daily living it’s fantastic,” says Jonathan. “Before this one of us might have been making dinner in the cold kitchen, with someone watching tv in another room. We can now all do that together, which is brilliant.”

“And it means we’ve become a hub of entertainment for our family. We comfortably had 18 for Christmas dinner, in there all in one room. We do have very big family group, and it’s the perfect entertaining space.”