Luckily for the couple, a neighbour, noticing that there had been building activity at the cottage, put a note in their letterbox mentioning that her son ran a kitchen design company, Simon Taylor Furniture Ltd. "We both loved the designs in the brochure and went along to the showroom the next day. It was perfect timing, as the extension was nearing completion, and we so liked what we saw that we didn't feel the need to look anywhere else," they recall.

Joan readily admits that she initially chose a design that would have been too fussy. "It's such a good thing that Simon persuaded me to change my mind and go with the Waddesdon range, which is much simpler and more in keeping with the style of the cottage," she explains, pointing to the hand-painted furniture with chestnut dovetailed drawer boxes, and the oak island unit topped with a sleek 30mm-thick Emerald Pearl granite worksurface. Simon's cabinetry background