Extensions take many different forms but, often make all the difference connecting inside living spaces to exterior gardens. Here are a few we have done recently: side and back extension... double height extension... Rear extension... roof top extension...

We are a bespoke kitchen wardrobe and furniture design and manufacturer. We are based in Regent Street NW10, I would love to get involved. Please let me know if we can be of any assistance. Nicholas Goldman

This comment is a bit late, but we bought a house last year that was extended in 1992 over not one, but two, manhole covers (kitchen and cloakroom). Both had been tiled over but with sealed hatches that could be lifted in case of emergency. In 25 years this was never necessary but the idea of leaving them in tact was a little unpleasant. It's a public sewer that includes several neighbouring houses. We just undertook an extensive house refurb and moved the manhole access points outdoors and permanently sealed the internal ones. It wasn't as complicated as we originally thought. What you want to do as a starting point is get a drain surveyor to come and inspect the routes and flow of waste. We used Power Rod (we are based in Hertfordshire) and they came with their camera on a hose reel and mapped out our plumbing routes all the way to the mains in every direction. Then your builder will be able to take it from there, or you can hire a specialist grounds company to sort it out. If it's any help, in your head you may have this idea that raw sewage is just gushing under your floorboards but in reality, when I looked down the hatches, it's really just a matter of a few pipes several meters down. It was surprisingly more sanitary than I expected and I found that reassuring.

Personally I think you need to bin the idea to put the kitchen there because it divides the space in such a way that there are four areas that have no apparent purpose and are not really big enough to do anything with. I suggest you blank out the kitchen cabinet position and the utility room on the plan and give the blank space to a kitchen professional to show where they would put the cabinets.