Graphite Shaker Kitchen
Holton-le-Clay

The client was a returning customer: Samuel Neal Kitchens had fitted a kitchen for them in a previous home, so when they moved into this property they came straight back. The brief was modest to begin with: the existing kitchen, fitted by a local bespoke company, looked fine from the front, but the worktops were not what they wanted and they asked Sam to replace them. 

When Sam looked more closely at the existing installation, it became clear that the construction behind the doors was considerably less solid than its appearance suggested. He had encountered this before with kitchens of this type, and he knew that lifting the worktops was likely to reveal problems that would make a like-for-like swap impractical. He explained this clearly. The clients came into the showroom, saw the graphite Hampton door and decided that a full replacement was the right answer. 

The project was turned around quickly given the timeline, but the trust built from the previous project made that straightforward. They knew exactly what Samuel Neal's involvement looked like, and they were confident in the process from day one.

The kitchen is a very long room that opens out into an extension at one end. The main working run spans the full length of one wall and features the ovens and sink. A large peninsula sits under the skylight at the extension end, providing both the main prep area and the seating and entertaining zone: its position under the skylight is not incidental, it is the best-lit spot in the room and the natural heart of the kitchen. 

On the long back wall, the design introduced a breakfront (a section of the run that steps forward slightly from the rest) which does two things simultaneously. First, it adds visual interest and structure to what would otherwise be a very uniform elevation. Second, it controls where the quartz worktop joint falls: at this run length, a join in the Silestone was unavoidable, and by designing the breakfront to include it, the join is placed deliberately rather than wherever the slab dimensions happen to land. 

The tall unit section behind the peninsula mirrors the same proportions on both sides, with two XL integrated fridge freezers on the left, a central wine cooler bar area, and the breakfast pantry (same proportions as the fridge freezer units) on the right. The symmetry gives that end of the kitchen a calm, organised feel even though it is doing a great deal of functional work. Open shelving above keeps the room light and airy, which matters in a kitchen that does not have masses of natural light on that side.

The cabinetry is Häcker Hampton in graphite, the most popular shaker door in the Samuel Neal range. To match the cabinetry the handles are in graphite too, to give the kitchen a more modern feel to its classic design. The worktops are Silestone Miami White quartz: predominantly white with a subtle veining that gives the surface just enough movement to read as stone without being a strong pattern. The 1.5 bowl undermount ceramic sink in white ties in with the worktop tone. The Quooker boiling-water tap in gunmetal was chosen to match the graphite door colour, keeping the hardware consistent across the sink area. 

The ovens are a double arrangement built under the hob, which is an unusual position by current standards (most modern kitchen designs have ovens at chest height) but was specifically what the client wanted. The hidden extractor sits in the wall unit directly above the hob. An ex-display Siemens induction hob was specified at a significant saving without compromising on performance. The wine cooler in the bar area and the two XL fridge freezers provide the refrigeration and drinks storage a large family household needs.

Some months after the kitchen was completed, the client returned with one further request: the dryer that had been sitting in a corner of the extension needed a proper home. We created a bespoke unit to suit the space exactly, with a shelved area for shoes at the lower level, a housing for the dryer and storage above for laundry baskets and sundries. The unit was finished in the same graphite Hampton door as the kitchen, so the addition ties in completely with the existing design.

The project was managed as a full replacement, with the original kitchen removed before the new one was installed. Sam remained closely involved throughout, attending key stages including delivery, worktop templating and installation. The timeline was tighter than a typical Samuel Neal project but the returning-client relationship meant communication was straightforward and efficient throughout.

The finished kitchen is warm, well-organised and built for the way the household actually lives. The graphite and white palette creates a homely monochrome that works well with the LVT wood-look flooring Sam advised to bring warmth back into the space. The peninsula under the skylight, the bar and pantry arrangement, the breakfront run and the bespoke utility cupboard all came out of conversations about how this particular family uses its home every day. That is what gives the kitchen its character, and why it works as well as it does.