new extension advice

Bulmers

Hi All,

We've started looking into building an extension out the back of our house. We're an end of terrace with some side access available.

We've started discussions with an architect who has given us a draft plan (attached) but have a couple of queries wondering if people might have advice one.

1. Our sitting room has double doors into the dining / kitchen area, at the moment we like the open plan style we have as can walk between rooms and suits us. We're currently discussing if we should close them up and build the kitchen around the back of that wall, or leave them open. Our main concern is if we block if off, we wont use the room again. Other builders we've had out have recommended blocking it up and have said double door sitting rooms are thing of past ( our house is 2003 ) - would anyone have any view on this or had similar decision to make in the past?

2. The architect recommended we build the utility room out the side of the house out to the boundary ( initially we thought it might be built next to the downstairs toilet )- he said makes sense to use that space and then have doors either side so can still walk through - I'm not sure about that idea as we're losing side garden, on other hand we don't have anything there and over the wall is field and hedgerow - anyone thoughts on this?

cheers

B

mrsWhippy

Bulmers wrote: »

Hi All,

We've started looking into building an extension out the back of our house. We're an end of terrace with some side access available.

We've started discussions with an architect who has given us a draft plan (attached) but have a couple of queries wondering if people might have advice one.

1. Our sitting room has double doors into the dining / kitchen area, at the moment we like the open plan style we have as can walk between rooms and suits us. We're currently discussing if we should close them up and build the kitchen around the back of that wall, or leave them open. Our main concern is if we block if off, we wont use the room again. Other builders we've had out have recommended blocking it up and have said double door sitting rooms are thing of past ( our house is 2003 ) - would anyone have any view on this or had similar decision to make in the past?

2. The architect recommended we build the utility room out the side of the house out to the boundary ( initially we thought it might be built next to the downstairs toilet )- he said makes sense to use that space and then have doors either side so can still walk through - I'm not sure about that idea as we're losing side garden, on other hand we don't have anything there and over the wall is field and hedgerow - anyone thoughts on this?

cheers

B

Personally I'd block up that room. Open plan is great, but equally you need a separate space, particularly when you have older kids. By removing the doors, you can then use that wall for kitchen units or furniture in your sitting room. I'd keep the utility is in the second option and either move the cabinets up so you could have an L shaped kitchen with door near dining area. It's a large enough extension that you probably wont ever have those doors open tbh.

Sarn

It’s all personal taste. Our home is a similar layout and currently has a double door opening (sans doors).

We viewed another house in our estate before we bought ours that had closed off the front sitting room and wrapped the kitchen around the other side of the wall and extended out the back. Personally, I didn’t like the layout. We had the same concern that the room would rarely be used. Our architect proposed the same approach, closing up the double doors but we chose to maintain the opening.

To me it will be nice to have the option of connecting the spaces up in the summer and closing them off in the winter. To do this we are going to put in some pocket doors.

raxy

If it was me I would go with the 3rd plan but block the doors & make an L shaped kitchen with a dining area on 1 side so the extension is only a living area. I dont like how there are units on both walls & entrance ways on both sides.
I doubt you'll get a consensus here as everyone would have a different opinion.
Your getting a living area in the extension so the other room could be nice separated. Have the main area for everyone & the old sitting room would be a kids room.
You haven't said who will be using the house, all adults, teenagers or young kids.

mickdw

raxy wrote: »

If it was me I would go with the 3rd plan but block the doors & make an L shaped kitchen with a dining area on 1 side so the extension is only a living area. I dont like how there are units on both walls & entrance ways on both sides.
I doubt you'll get a consensus here as everyone would have a different opinion.
Your getting a living area in the extension so the other room could be nice separated. Have the main area for everyone & the old sitting room would be a kids room.
You haven't said who will be using the house, all adults, teenagers or young kids.

I'd agree with this. No need at all to have an opening from sitting room considering the size of the kitchen diner. Closing those doors will greatly improve kitchen layout and useable space.

Calahonda52

1: what will be in the U/R? looks like an expensive passageway, loosing unfettered access to back.
2: D/Doors as is makes kitchen layout mad, sink one side cooker the other etc
3: What direction is North?
4: old design had sink looking at garden, new has sink at wall

mickdw

I think the utility is certainly required and the back and front doors will allow occassional pass through without appearing like a hallway if setup right.

mrsWhippy

I'd probably investigate the attached layout a bit further. What I didn't like from your original plan is the following:

-Main entryway into kitchen turns whole working space into a corridor.
- Don't like the hob being so far away from the sink

The new L shaped layout allows for more circulation space around the main entrance way and also makes a better working triangle in the kitchen.

mrsWhippy

Or this option with a peninsula. I've got a galley kitchen very similar to this layout. It works really well. I can send you photos if you like.

Kidkinobe

Utility room opening into the kitchen is far better than utility room opening into sitting/dining area, plus if you use the door in the utility that is to the front of the house for entrance/exit regularly, entering the ultlity and walking all the way through and then entering to sitting area to walk back into the kitchen would be a right royal pain with a couple of bags of shopping and a screaming toddler.
I would also keep the doors to the lounge. Of course I am a man and don't value a kitchen as much as a woman would.

db

Would you consider moving the kitchen to the extension? I prefer having as much light as possible in my kitchen and having it in the middle like on your plans it will be very dark.

abcabc123123

Op, I'd go with similar to Mrs Whippys first suggestion. See attached.

- smaller side extension. The bigger one will detract from the wow factor of the big glass windows in the rear extension, and reduce the light.
- block up access to the front room. More functional. It may not get used as much but I'd consider that kind of the point, it'll be a quieter space. Plus if you have TVs in both, then...
- L shaped kitchen. Keep your hob, food prep areas close together. You could put one of them in the island if you don't want to be facing the wall the whole time.
- full height storage across the wall to the right of the door into the kitchen. You could put your oven(s) here if you wanted.
- furnishing choice for later but Id go for an armchair rather than a couch, as you should try to keep a through space, so you can see right from the front door all the way through to the back.

Bulmers

hi All

tks for the responses and thoughts, appreciated.

mrsWhippy wrote: »

. By removing the doors, you can then use that wall for kitchen units or furniture in your sitting room. . It's a large enough extension that you probably wont ever have those doors open tbh.

Yes, i think these are good points.

Sarn wrote: »

To me it will be nice to have the option of connecting the spaces up in the summer and closing them off in the winter. To do this we are going to put in some pocket doors.

This was one way we were thinking as we'll get the sun in the new area in the summer so prob be a place to more hang around, in in winter prob use sitting room as it's more cosy etc..

raxy wrote: »

You haven't said who will be using the house, all adults, teenagers or young kids.

Two adults only, no kids.

Calahonda52 wrote: »

1: what will be in the U/R? looks like an expensive passageway, loosing unfettered access to back.
2: D/Doors as is makes kitchen layout mad, sink one side cooker the other etc
3: What direction is North?
4: old design had sink looking at garden, new has sink at wall

1. We discussed this, only two of us in the house , reality is a washing machine ( we dont have dryer )..jackets, runners..but i dont tthink we need such a space, nor even a util room being honest.
2. Agreed, yes..knocked that on the head, have asked arch to revise drawings
3. Tust through top right corner of plan as you look at it.
4. Yes, other option is L shape kitchen or knock a window in the side of the house

mrsWhippy wrote: »

The new L shaped layout allows for more circulation space around the main entrance way and also makes a better working triangle in the kitchen.

Yes agreed, this was a way we originally looked at.

mrsWhippy wrote: »

Or this option with a peninsula. I've got a galley kitchen very similar to this layout. It works really well. I can send you photos if you like.

Yes, that would be great if you dont mind, we're currently trawling around the net for ideas.. i think sometimes the problem is trying to visualize stuff. My wife ideally would like to keep the island free of hob or sink..

db wrote: »

Would you consider moving the kitchen to the extension? I prefer having as much light as possible in my kitchen and having it in the middle like on your plans it will be very dark.

Dont think so,the new part in the extension will be where the sun will come in so we think it would be a nice living area and having the kitchen in the old dining area, it creates a full new room as such at the end of the extension..

I think we're going to knock the idea of a util room, in reality all that would be going in there is washing machine ( dont have dryer etc ) and as only two of us, prob a press or two in kitchen would cover additional storage so have asked the arch to remove the side util.

The best layout seems to work with blocking the doors to sitting room, having the kitchen built onto the back of the wall.

Attached was a rough plan we done few months back ourselves ( top part is closing the double doors and building kitchen in an L shape ).

We also thought about the util room in the corner walking in the hall but i think we wont go with util.

We've asked the architect to do a few more sketches so will see what comes back.

Funny aswell, discussing it with friends over wend and friend of ours is knocking through a wall to create doors to a sitting room as they don't use..guess it prob is personal decision really.

cheers all.

B

doug82

If you aren’t going with the side utility I would advise putting a new window in the gable. As another poster mentioned, this part of the room can be quite dark. Natural light from the extension probably won’t reach parts of the kitchen

Bulmers

yes, i think if we go with that, we'll go with window in the gable and from a point further up, we could have the sink at the window aswell..while not as nice a view out the gable compared to current sink view over back garden, it's still looking out and we would have more light in aswell. Also the sun travels along that gable side in the summer.

wildlifeboy

how much was this costing with the utility at the side if you dont mind me asking?

Bulmers

wildlifeboy wrote: »

how much was this costing with the utility at the side if you dont mind me asking?

we haven't gone to builders yet for quotes from drawings, but we did have two builders out and without the side part, we had a quote of 50k to build ext that size.

Sausage dog

Bulmers wrote:

2. The architect recommended we build the utility room out the side of the house out to the boundary ( initially we thought it might be built next to the downstairs toilet )

Have you considered putting the washing machine in the kitchen, but accessed from the downstairs loo.

bri007

What size is the proposed extension, we are looking at doing similar to a house we have just gone sale agreed on.

We want to extend the back and side, did you require planning permission for the side utility room?

Thanks

Bulmers wrote: »

we haven't gone to builders yet for quotes from drawings, but we did have two builders out and without the side part, we had a quote of 50k to build ext that size.

Bulmers

Sausage dog wrote: »

Have you considered putting the washing machine in the kitchen, but accessed from the downstairs loo.

sort of, that was one idea we thought of the other night actually..main reason wife wanted util room was to move the washing machine out of the kitchen ( out of sight ) . That corner is a dead space now and would still be dead space in extension if we didn't build util room, but yes i thought maybe we put in a smaller press just for the washing machine..

never thought though about accessing it from the downstairs toilet..good point

Bulmers

bri007 wrote: »

What size is the proposed extension, we are looking at doing similar to a house we have just gone sale agreed on.

We want to extend the back and side, did you require planning permission for the side utility room?

Thanks

it will be roughly 18sq m..still not sure how far we'll go out.

Architect didn't think we would, i think he said if it's not changing the front elevation view it should be ok, but he was going to check that.. but we prob wont go down that road now.

Bulmers

decision made, we're going to close the doors and build kitchen onto the back of it. Will look into getting a window maybe into the side of the house over the sink, would also be good to have a window on that side as sun travels along side of the house so would let light in.

tks all for replies and suggestions.

mrsWhippy

Bulmers wrote: »

decision made, we're going to close the doors and build kitchen onto the back of it. Will look into getting a window maybe into the side of the house over the sink, would also be good to have a window on that side as sun travels along side of the house so would let light in.

tks all for replies and suggestions.

If it's in the budget, I'd definitely add the utility room. Not sure what age range ye are but if there's a chance of kids down the road, then it's a really really useful space to have!