White Gloss Kitchen
Grimsby

The clients wanted a better kitchen and more usable space, and the garage offered a clear opportunity to get both. The existing arrangement was awkward: the kitchen sat where the dining area now is, and a partially converted section of the garage served as a utility of sorts, accessible only by going outside and back in again. The plan coming in was to keep the kitchen on the original side, add a small utility and create a dining area in the garage end. 

Sam looked at the space and disagreed with that approach. Moving the kitchen into the converted garage area and placing the dining table in front of the patio doors made far better use of the natural light and gave the household a layout that actually worked. The clients trusted him to get on with it, and that is what he did.

The kitchen runs along the former garage wall, with the window in the kitchen occupying what was originally the doorway into the back of the garage. The layout gives the main working run a clear, uninterrupted line: hob with canopy extractor above, oven and combination microwave oven, undermount sink with a slimline cupboard alongside for tea towels and everyday storage, and a pull-out larder next to the client-supplied American-style freestanding fridge freezer. Everything a busy kitchen needs is within a short, practical arc. 

The opposite side of the room was treated differently and deliberately so. Rather than extending the kitchen aesthetic all the way around, that run was designed to feel more like furniture than fitted units. It uses the same Häcker cabinetry and composite worktop, but with handles rather than the handleless detail of the main run, which softens the look and helps the space read as a living and dining area rather than a kitchen that has spilled into the room. Behind those doors sits the washing machine, the dryer and a dedicated broom and vacuum storage unit, all hidden in plain sight.

The cabinetry is Häcker Top Brilliant in Crystal White, a high-gloss door that reflects light well and suits the clean, contemporary direction of the design. The worktops are an LG composite surface (similar in performance to Corian, at a more practical price point for the scale of the project), which runs consistently across both the main kitchen and the furniture-style opposite run, tying the two sides of the room together. 

The glass splashback is matched to the hob and extractor, keeping the main wall clean and reflective. Appliances are Neff throughout (hob, angled glass-fronted extractor hood, oven, combination microwave oven and dishwasher), with the exception of the freestanding fridge freezer, which the clients sourced themselves. Feature lighting was also fitted in the kitchen side of the room, while the dining area in front of the patio doors benefits from the natural light that the repositioned layout was specifically designed to capture.

The conversion of two-thirds of the garage into a habitable, properly finished space involved considerably more than fitting a kitchen. Sam arranged and managed the full scope of works: a structural engineer and builder for the opening up and structural changes, a new floor, full wall and ceiling insulation, electrics, plumbing and plastering. The flooring finish was also coordinated as part of the wider project. 

This kind of joined-up project management is something Samuel Neal handles regularly, but it is worth noting here because it is central to why the project worked. A kitchen on its own would not have solved the problem. The space needed to be properly rebuilt first, and that required someone willing to take responsibility for the whole job rather than just the furniture.

The finished space is open, bright and considerably easier to live in than what was there before. The kitchen works efficiently, the dining area feels properly connected to it, and the utility function (washer, dryer and general household storage) is handled discreetly on the opposite wall without taking up a separate room. It is not a large or complicated project in the grand scheme of things, but it is a well-resolved one, and the improvement to the daily routine of the household was immediate and significant.