When Emma and her family moved into their new house, it was obvious that it needed some serious renovation. 'It really needed a lot of structural work done, rewiring and replumbing,' Emma says. 'The kitchen was only a small thin strip and it was so small that I couldn't even turn round in it when I was pregnant!'

The couple decided that, as they had three children, it would be sensible to start with a blank canvas and design a new kitchen from scratch, so they built an extension specifically. 'I had ideas of what I wanted and I spent a lot of time on it. Some friends had recommended Hogan's, so I already had them on my list but I made sure I did a lot of ground work first. I shopped around extensively, from the top of the range designs such as Mark Wilkinson, right to the bottom of the price range. I wanted to get it exactly right.'

Having finally gone for Hogan Kitchens, John Hogan worked closely on the design brief with Emma, who had lots of thoughts on the style of the design. In particular, she knew she wanted a traditional, hand painted, cream wood kitchen with great attention to detail. She also wanted an island unit which she hadn't had in her previous home. 'Other than that, I'd no idea as to where I wanted everything put or the overall layout. John carefully took me in hand and guided me through the various options, showing me different layouts until I decided on this one. He was enormously patient and always very flexible.'

The design seemed to indicate space for a range cooker below the mantel but Emma preferred to go for a Smeg 70cm hob and a Siemens double oven. 'I'm not a cook or a baker, so I really had no need for an Aga! I'm more of a microwave girl to tell the truth. I did want the eye-level Siemens double oven, as I had a bad back after three kids!'

The family also have a massive Liebherr side-by-side fridge freezer, as they got used to that when they were living in the USA. It was the one major appliance Emma did want. The freezer has loads of room which is fantastic for the kids' purées and baby food. 'They love frozen spaghetti bolognese and we're all great fans of frozen pizza! Some work does need to be done with the ducting on the roof. The dishwasher just purrs along but the extractor's a little noisy. I think it's something to do with the way the roof is shaped but they're working on that.'

The worktop is black granite with oak on the island unit which beautifully complements the oak floor from Scott's Flooring. The kithen is very spacious and this is emphasised by the abundance of light which floods in through the glass roof and the numerous large windows. The space also allowed John to go for the extra high wall cabinets and the spacious island unit.

'The island unit has some brilliant decorative drawers. When I saw them, I just loved them. I never thought they'd be a practical feature, but now I use them for all the junk which always ends up in one drawer. You know the things like sellotape, birthday candles, drawing pins. Now all my junk is organised junk, with drawers allocated to each thing!'

There's loads of storage and the larder has a very useful herb rack. There are very few fancy gadgets popping out of hidden drawers and cupboards. 'I like that simplicity. Although there's one thing in particular I love, and that's the fact that we've one bin under the sink, and a second in the island. That means you don't have to walk all round the island to get to the bin every time you need to throw something out. There's also a handy plug on the island for the blender or the juicer.'

One of the only things that Emma would change is the colour of the units, as she initially wanted cream but was terrified of them being too yellow and chose something that she now feels is perhaps too white. 'But I've nothing but praise for John and Hogan Kitchens. When you're renovating a house, you become so used to broken promises, builders not turning up on time. The rest of the project was a nightmare but Hogan's were wonderful and if I had to do it all over, the only people I would definitely use again would be Hogan's.'