If you're a cook and are happy to cater for 150 people, then your kitchen is an important place. In fact, to those who take their cooking seriously, a kitchen is a Very Important Place. Which is why, when Jill Hart wanted an extension to her Harrow home, she decided to go all out for a new kitchen. The original in her Middlesex terraced house was just 10ft by 6ft, small by anyone's standards except possibly the ship's cook. These days, her neighbours call her new addition the "Baptist Church" and her conservatory kitchen is something that gives her great pleasure, not just because of its airy spaciousness, but also because it brings her second most favourite place, the garden, closer too.

"It has become the fulcrum of the house. Everybody congregates in the kitchen," she says.

Jill, who has lived at the house for 31 years, had often contemplated the idea of extending the kitchen and was clear she really wanted a conservatory rather than a brick-built addition. But she had never followed up initial consultations because co-ordinating the work had seemed too complicated. A speculative telephone call from Anglian Home Improvements came at just the right time. And the follow-up appointment with sales man Michael Duffy was a breath of fresh air, according to Jill.

"He became like part of the family," she jokes, adding that other companies had not measured up to the AHI approach.

"I decided I was going with Anglian and that was that," says Jill. "I didn't feel pressurised at all, which was good - it's a scary thing to go ahead with, it's a lot of money to find."

Indeed, Jill found all the workmen very professional in their approach, from the people who planned the conservatory, to those who dug the footings and the plasterer who came back on a day off to finish some unforeseen work.

"At every stage the workmen were smashing," she says.

There were hiccups, but the sort of attention to detail she appreciated included the friendliness of all the contractors and their consideration of her home, especially as there is no rear access to her property.

"Everything had to come through the hall. They even got smaller wheelbarrows," she says, obviously impressed.

Because both Jill and her husband Peter enjoy their garden they were keen the conservatory shouldn't encroach on it too much, though, with hindsight, Jill wishes they had gone the whole hog and made the conservatory run the full width of the house. Even so, she is pleased with the outcome.

"The extension is alongside the back of the house. It's only Peter and I living here and we've got a through lounge-diner and didn't need any more living space as such," explains Jill. She didn't want an ordinary extension, either.

"I wanted the garden to come in," she says adding that it will be restored to its full glory in the spring after a bit of winter recuperation.

Jill was so impressed by AHI she decided to make use of the Finishing Touches service for her flooring and her blinds. After that, she decided to investigate the installation of a porch to the front of the house. She wanted salesman Michael Duffy to return to talk her through the purchase and entertained no thoughts of using a different home improvements company, though she knew Anglian would not put in the cheapest quote for the work. She had quite specific ideas about her requirements because she and Peter own two dogs which had to be let in the front door after walks, making wet outings and subsequent returns a messy business, especially as the door opened into the lounge.

"I didn't want a square porch and I wanted a pitched roof with tiles," says Jill. "And I wanted to maximise the space we gained without planning permission being needed."

The Anglian Home Improvements planner who visited her came up with just the right combination and one of the additional benefits of the porch has been how much warmer the house has become as a result. It means she can leave the original front door open too, bringing more light in and making the lounge seem more spacious.

The original purpose of the porch has been fulfilled as well.

"Now we can clean the dogs off before we bring them in," she says.

Jill was so impressed with the whole AHI approach that she decided to go an extra step and have all the fascias, soffits, guttering and windows on the house replaced. Having lived there for three decades, Jill had had to repaint the woodwork several times.

"I didn't really believe in double glazing. Then I thought, 'I'm getting older, I am not painting these windows again'," she says by way of explanation. The windows have not only eliminated draughts but have also reduced the amount of outside noise she now hears.

So the final test is would Jill go back to Anglian Home Improvements again? She laughs and says she hopes she doesn't need to now, but if she ever moved house she would certainly use the company to carry out any work needed.

"It's very rare to have all that work done and not have a few things to iron out. The major part of all the work went so smoothly. I would definitely re-use them. I don't think it was just my sausage and bacon sandwiches that proved an incentive to their hard work!" she quips.