Hi, it would be useful to see the entire floor plan of your house, so we can see how the kitchen works in relation to the rest and perhaps someone has a brilliant idea of how to incorporate a utility space somewhere. Another idea for you would be to contact a concept planner. First one here who springs to mind (because she did the drawings for our own kitchen) is Karen from OnePlan. If you look OnePlan up in the pro section, you'll see examples of the work a concept planner can do.

Hi Kollol, Yes - it's not as straightforward as that seems to suggest. This is why planning can seem such a minefield because sometimes it is subject to quite a lot of interpretation of the law. Best to refer to the full legislation as well as the amendments linked to via that planning portal guidance, because that's a bit misleading: The Town and Country Planning (Permitted Development, Advertisement and Compensation Amendments) (England) Regulations 2019 PARAGRAPH 3 OF EXPLANATORY NOTE Regulation 4 makes permanent the existing temporary right to enlarge a dwellinghouse by up to 8 metres in the case of a detached dwellinghouse or by 6 metres in the case of any other dwellinghouse, as permitted by Class A of Part 1 of Schedule 2 to the Order. It removes the time limiting date of 30th May 2019, as well as conditions which required development to be completed by that date. CLARIFICATION So this means that, as you understood, there is a right to enlarge a detached house by up to 8 meters and this no longer has a time limit... but you then need to refer to the original legislation - where it tells you that you have to apply for approval for this because it is subject to consultation with neighbours. Also take into account the 50% area limit. Then you need to look at the original legislation which the above is an amendment of (this is why planning law is so complex - because there are layers of amendments and original legislation that you need to go through to dig out what you can and can't do - and there are often contradictory clauses which you can then use to justify things that you really want to do but may seem on the face of it to be impossible. This is where it is worth going deep into legislation if you're looking to do something that might be controversial or simply opposed by the planners. Often you can argue for what you want - but it takes a thorough knowledge of the planning landscape to do this well. It also costs more to get someone to do the work for you who is going to have to do this - your average plan drawer won't do this, they'll just do what they know they can easily get approval for. ORIGINAL LEGISLATION http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2015/596/pdfs/uksi_20150596_en.pdf refer to schedule 2, permitted development rights, and to part 1 - development within the curtilage of a dwelling house. Here is the relevant section to this conversation: A.4—(1) The following conditions apply to development permitted by Class A which exceeds the limits in paragraph A.1(f) but is allowed by paragraph A.1(g). (2) Before beginning the development the developer must provide the following information to the local planning authority— (a) a written description of the proposed development including— (i) how far the enlarged part of the dwellinghouse extends beyond the rear wall of the original dwellinghouse; (ii) the maximum height of the enlarged part of the dwellinghouse; and (iii) the height of the eaves of the enlarged part of the dwellinghouse; (b) a plan indicating the site and showing the proposed development; (c) the addresses of any adjoining premises; (d) the developer’s contact address; and 18 (e) the developer’s email address if the developer is content to receive communications electronically. (3) The local planning authority may refuse an application where, in the opinion of the authority— (a) the proposed development does not comply with, or (b) the developer has provided insufficient information to enable the authority to establish whether the proposed development complies with, the conditions, limitations or restrictions applicable to development permitted by Class A which exceeds the limits in paragraph A.1(f) but is allowed by paragraph A.1(g). CLARIFICATION What this basically means is that you can build up to 4 meters depth to a maximum height of 4 meters to the rear of a detached house with no planning application at all (as long as it complies with all the other limitations), but if you want to extend further back than this you do have to apply for planning permission to extend the development rights by the extra amount - so up to 8 meters for a detached dwelling. This is called extended permitted development. SUMMARY The permitted development is 4 meters for detached and 3 meters for any other house. The extended permitted development, for which you are required to submit a planning application, allows you to extend up to 8 meters for detached and 6 meters for any other house, but they will be checking that it complies with all the other elements, such as the 50% rule, etc therefore it is not guaranteed that you will be allowed to do this, and they will take into account impact on neighbours and the neighbours will be consulted so if they object it can also affect your ability to do this. Does this help?!! :) I hope so. Jane, iarchitect limited

@arc3d I dug out the very first design we had drawn up for the ground floor and interestingly the kitchen space isn't too dissimilar from your proposal, with some adjustment to door placement. It would be very nice to have enough room to clearly separate seating from dining furniture and I'm not sure it's possible in the current plans without doing as you suggest. Referring to our existing plans, my thinking was to move bench seating with dining table (extendable 6-8 person) to the party wall and seating to bay window area as @rinked suggested. Hopefully that would free up space for a small 2-seater sofa facing windows and couple of chairs with a side/coffee table. Note, the reason we introduced a double step-in to the external wall was because although not captured in the plans, the passageway tapers towards the house and we want to maintain a 700mm to run bicycles and wheelie bins to the rear. I think a side window in the kitchen wall was omitted because it faces our neighbours brick wall; maybe we could add one retrospectively at head height to the planning application, to reflect the side window in the extension: @rosemonde Below are the submitted plans for the other floors and external elevations for comparison to your house (- ignore the stair direction on 1st floor; this will be flipped but there's a separate application for the loft under PD so the plan here shows the current stairs). I should also add that we plan to change the walk-in wardrobe in 2nd floor plans so that the entrance is opposite the en-suit, with drawers along length of eaves and wardrobes along length of partition; we feel this will give us more bed placement options (e.g. facing the rear window) and make the walk-in section less cluttered. Our current layout is awful (we recently purchased the house knowing we'd do this work); the kitchen is where utility is planned, there's a horrible lean-to conservatory where extension is planned and a similarly nasty lean-to utility to the side, the current bathroom is oddly split into a bath and separate shower room (with two adjacent toilets split by the partition) and loft space is a bedroom with non-reg stairs, floor joists and ropey dormer window. We're making the study 2m wide as well to make it a more practical size (it's currently 1.4m) and potentially use it as an overspill 5th single bedroom if necessary: Hope this helps you with your own plans and feel free to PM me if you want further info :-)

Hello, you have some really good options now. Personally what struck me was how many doors there are in this area/area's. It seems to inhibit flow. As you said you seems to always be going "around" items. In the new proposed design I was wondering why you need a table next to a bench with there also being a table in the dining room? As someone else mentioned the powder and utility room seem overly large in comparison to the kitchen and what you want to achieve. Forgive my crude alterations, I had about 5 minutes to spare, here are some other thoughts to the above, but, the best option will really depend on how you want to live in this new area and the functional flow you are after. You can easily keep the wall between the kitchen and dining in place. Or, you can remove all or part of it. If part is structural and small lintel can easily be added (generally). Opening it up will allow more natural light and help with overall flow, however, retaining some of the wall also maintains a degree of privacy and can allow for hanging of art or positioning of other furniture against the retained wall. You could also add a sliding door between the kitchen and dining if you wished, however, this could be a compromise if you can create a cavity slider. The central island bench has an overhang so can easily accommodate breakfast, family dinners, homework in view (put in lots of USB and power outlets in this island). You could also make the bench a bit wide and drop part of the height to a normal table height, although I believe this would compromise the flow. Options also exist to remove some of the dining wall to the hall. But, not knowing the house dynamics this could impact on required noise control and heat/cooling requirements. Again sliders to the dining room/hall way can increase the effective space in both areas. They could be hung externally on the hall side.. Slot windows above the main kitchen bench can also bring in light. WM and Dryer can be incorporated in the kitchen cupboards. So many options. Good luck! Julie An idea of how slot windows can look.