The kitchen is the heart of the house. With family and friends instinctively gathering in the kitchen during social events, this room has quickly become more than just a cooking station. With this in mind, more and more people are adding to the kitchen to open it up to a larger, more open living space.
Being able to cook, drink, dine and socialize comfortably in one room has its advantages. When cooking for family and friends, it means that the chef can have fun and join in the fun while cooking dinner.
So when it comes to planning a room that has several functions, you want everything to be right. These 4 tips will help you plan for the perfect kitchen extension.
A large open plan kitchen is great, but a kitchen that uses space wisely is even better. Making an extension as big as possible is not always the smartest move, because when you pay per square meter, it can mean you’re paying for unnecessary space.
Before deciding on the size of your attachment, think carefully about the purpose it will serve and what you want to fit into it. Then work in the opposite direction from there.
Your architect should be able to draw your extension with furniture in it for scaling to give you a good idea of the ideal size for you. Or conversely, there are many free online tools that let you play with it yourself.
When looking at an open plan kitchen, one of the topics that sometimes comes to people’s mind is the cooking smells. If ventilation is good enough, it should not be a problem. Planning ahead for additional ventilation of the annex, such as adding an open roof, ensures that you don’t regret cooking odours.
Adding an opening roof will also help dissipate steam and heat during cooking, keeping the room warm and the air fresh.
Natural light helps make the room lighter, brighter and gives a sense of more space. While windows and glazed garden doors will definitely help, the choice of a steering light ensures that your kitchen annex is flooded with light.
Choosing a frameless design over a traditional wooden frame design will help maximize the amount of natural light in your room. This is because the frameless roof lights let in up to 49% more light.
There are several options when it comes to the type of kitchen extension you may have. All that is best for you will depend on the design of the original home and your budget.
The extension at the back stretches your house into an alley or space on the side of the house, making the room wider. This is good for extending the narrow kitchen so that it can also accommodate the dining area. This type of extension looks stunning with a sloping wing.
If the side return sounds good to you but you also want to include more living space, then the wrapping extension can offer a good alternative. This type of extension is built on a side return, so the extension will literally wrap around the side and back of your home.
If you don’t have room on the side of your house for extension, you can still choose between tilting or flat rear extension. A sloping roof rear extension will last longer and require less maintenance than a flat roof extension, which typically requires a couple of decades to change the roof.
