Robyn and Rod Gifford

Robyn Gifford and her husband Rod originally owned a single flat in a converted Fulham house. But when the building came up for sale, they jumped at the opportunity to buy it.

"It consisted of unmodernised bedsits, but when it came to doing the kitchen on the ground floor, we didn't have to change too much; we just knocked through a bathroom and a bedroom," says Robyn.

The result was a large, light-filled space. Robyn then tracked down a professional kitchen company, Roundhouse, which created a contemporary, Shaker-style look.

"I had very strong ideas about the room," she says. "It was a key part of the whole house, the most important room to get right. I spent ages trying to hunt down the right kitchen company, and I hadn't really found anyone until I came across Roundhouse. I liked the look of their work and the people were really great." Working around Robyn's ideas, it took a couple of weeks for the company to come up with a set of plans, while the work itself took about three weeks.

The design, which cost £20,000, included slate and wood work surfaces, cherry wood and painted wood units, a free-standing Smeg oven and a stainlesssteel fridge.

"I love the results. We do not use any other rooms; it is a room for living and entertaining in. Having lived with it, I would do it pretty much the same again. Perhaps I would have taken Roundhouse's advice not to use slate work surfaces, but that was my choice," Robyn says.

In fact, Robyn was so pleased with the results that she has started working for Roundhouse - which just goes to prove how life-changing a new kitchen can be.