From formulating your design to hiring the best build team, these are the stages you need to consider to get your project on the right track
Akitchen extension is one of the best ways to transform a kitchen from a cramped and awkward space to somewhere that the whole family can use. Modern kitchens aren’t confined just to cooking —they’re spaces for living, dining, socialising, doing homework, playing and more. Building an extension allows you to create the right proportions for a multifunctional space that can integrate all these areas into one.
Building a kitchen extension can typically be a more cost-effective alternative to moving house, allowing you to design additional living space with a layout that suits how you use your home.
By incorporating glazing, it can also provide you with the opportunity to create a light-filled space that’s seamlessly linked with the garden. Whether you want to create a more free-flowing open-plan downstairs or you want to push out the walls of your kitchen to form a bigger kitchen-diner, building an extension can allow you to reconfigure a space that will transform how you live in your home.
It’s important to remember that a kitchen extension is a big project to undertake, no matter what size or style you choose. The cost implications means it’s important you get your design right.
1 FORMULATE YOUR IDEAS
Whether you’re working with an architect, designer or doing the planning on a DIY basis, hunt around to find ideas, designs and styles that inspire you. Looking at the ways your existing home isn’t fulfilling expectations or requirements is also a good starting point to work out a priority list and design brief, as well as focusing your inspiration.
“The first question we ask a client is why they’re undertaking their particular project,” explains Helena Myers, director of The Myers Touch Design Studio. “This really gets you thinking about what it is you want and will help you and the designer to begin exploring what outcome you hope a new kitchen space will bring.”
Are you extending because you need to create space for a utility room and downstairs WC? Is it the need for a large kitchen, dining and living area that you’ll spend most of your time in? Or do you want to create a better connection between your kitchen and outdoor space? It could, of course, be all of the above!
Try to consider what the new kitchen space will be used for, too. Kitchens are rarely used just for cooking in nowadays, so considering family seating, a small home office space or a children’s play area will help kick start the layout.
2 DO YOU NEED PLANNING PERMISSION?
Small additions to a property, like a singlestorey extension, can often be built under Permitted Development (PD), which avoids going through the planning permission process, as
