Kitchen Extensions: The Ultimate Guide to Transforming Your Home
An addition to the kitchen ranks it among the best and most functional modifications of your house. If there is more room to cook or serve or perhaps entertain, the kitchen extension can adapt to your needs and greatly improve the value of your home. Thus, allow me to introduce this comprehensive kitchen extensions guide including design and planning considerations, budget, and finding the right people for the job to realize the kitchen of your dreams.
Why Do You Need a Kitchen Extension?
The kitchen is commonly known as the heart of any home. The perception of kitchens in homes certainly has changed with the changing trends. It is no longer just a place to cook meals, but where people congregate to socialize, have family get-togethers and even work during the day. Therefore, it is understandable why anyone would want to do the following and extend their kitchen.
Extra Room: The extension will offer more space if a family addition is on the way or if there is a need for some extra space for fitting in more storage or appliances.
Kitchens Expand Into Living Rooms: Kitchen extensions make it possible to have an open-plan design where the kitchen or dining area is connected to the living room on or more sides giving a more modern spacious look.
Increase In Property Value: Extending the kitchen the right way enhances the chances of increasing the market value of the house.
Your Own Layout: You can design the extension any way you want, so if you like a kitchen with an island or bi-fold doors or skylights, you can have it with the extension.
Trendy Kitchen Expansion Designs
Kitchen Diner: One of the most preferred of all designs, kitchen diners treat the cooking and dining spaces as one long uninterrupted area. Elements such as kitchen islands, breakfast hoods and large dinner tables can make this section ideal for leisure and family purposes.
Side Return Extension: As the name suggests, side return extensions are the additional protrusions where the kitchen is deepened at the side of the house. This type of extension is common in terraced houses and is intended to build the kitchen area significantly without going into the garden floor level.
Rear Kitchen Extension: A rear extension refers to an extension which pushes out the back of the building adding a concerted area in floor space. This type of design is useful in both small houses and in big housing units designed to give an open kitchen with a bigger room where children can play, guest areas for dining and even outdoor spaces with bi-fold doughs that connect to its inner rooms.
Wraparound Extension: When you require the most space possible, a wraparound extension adds a rear and side return extension together creating an L shaped extension, it is a more cohesive extension. This could give a dramatic change particularly with the kitchen space where it could accommodate the cooking, eating and even relaxing without difficulty.
Kitchen with Skylights: Natural light can be enhanced in the kitchen extension by the use of skylights. A skylight does not only light a room, it enables even the most compact of extensions to appear large and well ventilated.
Planning Permission for Kitchen Extensions
Most of the time, extensions to kitchens are permissible development that can be accomplished without the need for planning permission. However, there are some guidelines that you should follow in this case as well:
For attached houses, the extension should not exceed the rear wall of the house by 3 meters and for detached ones, by 4 meters.
The extension should not be over 4 meters in height.
The extension shall not exceed 50% of the land area surrounding the original house.
If your extension does not fall under these specific guidelines, you will be required to seek planning permission. Besides, if you reside in a conservation area or a listed building, you may have to seek permission to carry on.
Building Regulations for Kitchen Extensions
Kitchen Extensions are subject to building regulations which all concerned parties should comply with to make sure that the building in question is safe, energy efficient and conforms to the set standards of the country. Some of the aspects included in the building regulations include:
Structural Stability: This is to say that the foundation, walls and roof of the extension should be laid according to building standards.
Energy Efficiency: This relates to the provision of insulating materials and energy saving materials for windows, doors and heating systems installed within the building.
Ventilation: Putting ventilation facilities in place is very important, more so in the kitchen to control dampness and enhance circulation of air.
Electrical Safety: All installations utilizing electricity are expected to follow the standards provided for safety, especially in wet areas.
Most importantly, you need to engage qualified persons who are aware of the above rules and can help you ensure that your extension will be able to pass.
The rise of the kitchen at the heart of the house creates a very liveable home and a kitchen/dining/living space is easy to create with the rear extension.
A rear extension up to 8 metres (for a detached house)/6 meters (for a semi-detached/terraced house) from the original rear of the property can be typically achieved via Permitted Development. However, larger single-storey rear extensions are subject to the Neighbour Consultation Scheme.
How much does a kitchen extension cost?
The main governing factor of the cost of an extension is square footage or square meterage – how big it is. So, the bigger it is, the more it’s going to cost.
Typically if you worked out a square meter at £1500, that’s a good base price for basic quality; £1900 per square meter for good quality and £2200 per square meter for excellent quality.
For an average single storey extension of 20 square metres, the build cost would be from £30,000 for basic quality, from £38,000 for good quality and from £44,000 for excellent quality.
Bi-fold or Sliding Doors
Budget from £1,500 to £2,000 per linear metre
In addition to the build cost of the extension, are the interior fit-out costs. For a kitchen, you should budget from £7,000 to £15,000. The biggest cost factor is the appliances – the better the appliances, the higher the cost.
A single storey extension of 20 square metres of basic quality, will cost a minimum of £44,000 including most fees, but excluding interior fit-out costs.
Interior Fit-Out Costs
- Lighting
- Heating
- Flooring
- Painting/Tiling
Fixtures & Fittings
- Kitchen units – Budget from £350 per unit
- Cabinet doors and drawers
- Kitchen worktops
- Laminate – Budget from £50 per square metre
- Granite – Budget from £200 per square metre
- Stainless steel – Budget from £250 per square metre
- Marble, Quartz, composite stone – Budget from £350 per square metre
Appliances
- Oven / Range
- Hob
- Hood / Extractor
- Microwave
- Fridge / Freezer
- Sink and Tap
- Dishwasher
- Washing Machine / Tumble Dryer
Inside this easy to read free guide, discover how to design your home extension.
The Financial Implications of Expanding a Kitchen
You’ll also need to take into consideration professional, permission and agreement fees depending on your property and what you are planning.
Additional Costs
- Professional Fees (builders, architects, tradesmen)
An extension of 20 square metres at a build cost of £30,000 could potentially attract professional fees from £12,000 - Permission Fees (planning permission £206 /permitted development £103)
- Other (insurance, shared drains/walls, building regulations approval or specific environmental/ecological reports for your property)
All together, it’s worth setting aside at least £2,000 to cover any fees for permissions and sign off
A single storey extension of 20 square metres of basic quality, will cost a minimum of £44,000 including most fees, but excluding interior fit-out costs.
Locating the Right Professionals for Your Kitchen Extension
Finding the right builders and architects is imperative if your kitchen extension is to be done as intended. Here’s how Yoop Architects can be of help:
Design and Planning: Our architects will consult with you and ensure that the kitchen extension design is congruent with your tastes and way of life. All the applications for planning permission will be submitted by us together with adherence to building regulation services.
Construction Management: We managed the process of construction from start to finish and engaged the contractors that were able to do the job within considering quality, time and cost of the work.
Bespoke Solutions: Each and every kitchen extension that we design is made to your specifications, from the way the layouts are all the way to the finishes and fixtures.
Sustainability: Our emphasis will also be on green oriented designs and energy efficient measures; hence, you do not only achieve an extension but also an extension with an aesthetic value.
Considerations for Successfully Extending your Kitchen
Objective: Specify the intention of creating a new space. Will it be more for cooking, dining, entertaining, and in some cases a study?
Constraints: Create a plausible estimate and include a cushion for unexpected additional expenses.
Design and Flush Finish: Choose materials, shades and textures that match the existing design of your house whenever applicable but also depict your style.
Light and Air: Use large windows and skylights or bi fold doors to bring as much natural light as possible and good air circulation for comfort.
Future Proofing: How easy will it be to incorporate these changes in years to come, including the changes that are associated with how you raise your family, if you can earn more or do a lot less years down the line.
To calculate the cost of your extension, Yoop Architects take a measured survey of your property, which captures all the information. Then we draw it all up in 3D and create sketches to show sometimes five or six options if it’s not entirely clear how you want to achieve your brief.
A lot of the times there are different ways of achieving your desired result and the more you work with the building, the cheaper, easier and faster your build will be. Once you’ve got a favorite scheme or a couple of favorite schemes, we have a phase called ‘Meet the Builders’. That’s when we can introduce you to a couple of builders, they visit the property and they give you a ballpark figure.
Conclusion
Homeowners can benefit from kitchen extensions as more than just extra space. They also enhance the inner workings of the house and add a trendy area meant for food preparation, eating, and entertaining guests. Whether it is minimizing a small side return request or making provision for a big wrap around extension, enlisting the services of firms like Yoop Architects allows to provide very wide coverage detail and professionalism to every task at hand. Reach out to us now to share your thoughts about kitchen extension concepts and get the ball rolling on the processes of realizing your ideal kitchen.
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