Handmade Farmhouse Kitchen
Louth

The client had recently moved into the farmhouse and inherited a Wren kitchen that had been installed only a year or so before. It was not what she wanted for the house, and its quality was not what it should have been. Her original intention was modest: she wanted to add a range cooker and came to Samuel Neal to explore options.

It quickly became clear that modifying the existing kitchen to accommodate one was not straightforward. Sam pointed out that the Wren installation was not as well constructed as it appeared, and that making changes to it would create more problems than it solved. With that in mind, the conversation moved on. She looked at the handmade kitchen on display in the showroom, and the question shifted entirely: no longer how to improve what was there, but whether a proper replacement was within reach. Sam offered two options, the handmade bespoke range and the Häcker Hampton painted timber shaker, with a clear explanation of the difference in price and specification. She chose the handmade without hesitation.

The client wanted to retain the existing slate flooring, which had been installed after the Wren kitchen was fitted. This is not the approach Samuel Neal would typically recommend: tiled and stone floors work best when laid wall to wall before the kitchen goes in, which gives full flexibility over unit positioning and depth. Here, the existing floor set the boundaries. With only a small number of matching spare tiles available, there was no room for error. End panel positioning was carefully planned and individual unit depths were managed precisely to ensure every flooring edge was covered cleanly by the new cabinetry. It is the kind of constraint that is invisible in the finished kitchen, which is exactly as it should be.

One of the advantages of working with Samuel Neal, whether with a handmade range or Häcker cabinetry, is that unit sizes are not dictated by what a mass-market supplier happens to carry. The run under the window was built at approximately three-quarter depth rather than the standard 600mm, specified to suit the space. It is the kind of detail that keeps a layout feeling well resolved and is only possible when the supplier has the flexibility to build to the room.

The peninsula provides seating for two with large drawers below. One of the more specific client requests was a bespoke cupboard built into the back of the peninsula, next to the wall, to house a printer: a practical detail that reflects how the household actually uses the space, and an example of the kind of conversation we have early in the design process.

Wall units were not specified on the cooking wall, instead, the client sourced her own handmade tiles from France, and they look stunning between the Rangemaster and the burnished brass extractor above it, giving the cooking wall a genuinely individual quality that no standard splashback could replicate. The extractor itself is a feature: a burnished brass finish that ties naturally with the rest of the hardware and suits the warmth of the room.

The tall unit run on the opposite side was painted in a burgundy tone, chosen by the client to pick up the brick red of the exposed brickwork in the open pitch above.

The cabinetry is handmade in the UK, painted in a soft warm tone on the main runs and a deeper, more characterful colour on the tall unit run housing the two side-by-side fridge freezers. As with all Samuel Neal handmade kitchens, the cabinetry is installed primed and then hand-painted on site, so the colour is confirmed with the decorator once the room is seen in its actual context rather than committed to from a sample alone. 

The worktops are printed quartz with a marble look, an unusual specification for Samuel Neal but the right answer here: the client wanted the appearance of marble and the printed quartz delivers it without the maintenance demands of a natural stone surface. The cooking range is a Rangemaster which suits the farmhouse setting considerably better than a bank of integrated appliances would. The bespoke larder unit includes oak internal drawers, adding a natural material warmth to that part of the kitchen. Two integrated fridge freezers sit side by side in the tall unit run, giving the household the refrigeration capacity it needs without requiring a freestanding appliance in the room.

The sink is a Ribchester double-bowl farmhouse model with a ribbed front: a classic style that suits the character of the kitchen and the property well. It was the existing sink from the Wren kitchen, retained and reused because it was perfectly serviceable and already the right style for the space. There is no reason to replace something that works, and keeping it was both practical and consistent with the overall approach of the project. 

The bridge tap is not a style Samuel Neal specifies often, but it suits the farmhouse setting well, complements the sink and carries a classic quality that more contemporary tap styles would not. The T&G panelling on the cabinetry adds texture and depth, reinforcing the country feel without making the design feel overtly rustic. The handmade tiles on the splashback bring a genuine hand-crafted quality to the cooking area that mass-produced tiles simply cannot replicate.

The project involved a full removal of the existing Wren kitchen before the new one could be fitted. Sam was closely involved throughout, overseeing the installation of the handmade cabinetry, the Rangemaster, the worktops and the surrounding details to ensure everything was delivered to the standard the design required. The colour consultation for the painted finish was handled between the client and the decorator, as is standard with all Samuel Neal handmade kitchen projects.

This kitchen started as a request to modify an existing Wren unit and ended as a fully bespoke handmade replacement. The two-colour paint scheme, the open shelving, the T&G panelling, the farmhouse sink, the Rangemaster and the French handmade tiles all contribute to a stunning kitchen that has been built to last. It is the most traditional project in the Samuel Neal portfolio and still, in every detail, done with the same practical discipline that runs through all of the work.