You only need to open a leading interiors magazine – like Kitchens Bedrooms & Bathrooms – to realise that open-plan kitchens are less a trend and now more a way of living. With this in mind, surely the ultimate hub of the home is a kitchen-living-dining-garden room? We explore how to bring the outside in by creating a link between the outdoors and indoors so you can enjoy some alfresco living whatever the weather.

No less than three of our beautiful real homes showcase indoor-outdoor kitchens, with various solutions from classic French doors to resplendent roof lights. We have a cook’s kitchen in Richmond, Chiswick is the location for a contemporary kitchen with floor-to-ceiling sliding doors and we head to Devon for a light-filled holiday home.

To keep this tentative link to warmer weather alive, we’ve devoted our Shopping pages this month to a beautiful summery take on metallics, teaming copper and brass with soft pinks and peaches on furniture, accessories and linen. And we’ve got the usual mix of in-depth advice and inspirational ideas with features on buying bedroom furniture, shower trays and enclosures, and hobs.

Ruth Bell, Editor