Victorian House Side Return Extention
Victoria Needs
5 years ago
Hi all,
I'm going around and around in circles trying to figure this one out... See attached floor plan. Looking for a cost effective way to create a kitchen with living room space suitable for children but struggling with how best to do it.
Any thoughts would be much appreciated or examples of people who have done similar. The things I'm keen to achieve, get light into the back of the house via bi folds/crittal or similar, family space so all can be together and to keep costs as effective as possible. Drains currently in side return but could be boxed.
Thank you for your time.
I'm going around and around in circles trying to figure this one out... See attached floor plan. Looking for a cost effective way to create a kitchen with living room space suitable for children but struggling with how best to do it.
Any thoughts would be much appreciated or examples of people who have done similar. The things I'm keen to achieve, get light into the back of the house via bi folds/crittal or similar, family space so all can be together and to keep costs as effective as possible. Drains currently in side return but could be boxed.
Thank you for your time.
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ianthy
5 years agolast modified: 5 years agoVictoria Needs
5 years agoRelated Discussions
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Comments (1)We have done a few of these, more than happy to advise if you wish....See MoreVictorian side-return extension help needed!
Comments (14)Sorry I can't see the photos you are referring to - my comments are limited without pictures/plans. I agree with Man about the House - pricing seems to be top end. We live in Highgate, North London (not a cheap area) and our house is approx. 3,000 sq ft. Prices for work on period homes are not in this range unless you have opted for a very high end fit out. Our side return costs £55k and that included all professional fees, lighting, underfloor heating, bi-fold doors, domestic appliances and lovely leather sofa from Habitat. Admittedly, we kept our existing Britannia range cooker and dining table and chairs. Yes we got many quotes for £140-£200k+ but decided to use professionals for planning and some visits during key stages only. The rest of the project was managed by us. There are many ways to create value in a project - Ikea Voxtorp handleless kitchens are great with a quartz worktop. You can even get the doors sprayed with a F&B colour, it's a fraction of the price and visually compares well to Roundhouse kitchens - which I love but simply can't afford. We got endless quotes for quartz worktops - the costs varied by more than 50% for exactly the same material. We needed 13 steels in total and paid a total £4.8k inclu vat and £3k installation costs. Remember you should be negotiating on all elements of your project. I can also compare to a similar house/project in a nearby road, not a high end finish but inexperienced home owners who paid £140k for a pretty average side return turnkey solution. Keep researching and talking to home owners that have actually completed projects on their homes to get a really good view about the costs and where you want to spend your budget....See Moreside return - north or west facing?!
Comments (8)Thanks for your comment. THat looks wonderful. I think he smaller house is winning. Even tho it does not have a south aspect I think west/north is better than plain north! Even if we do loose space.Out of interest do you find the kitchen can get too hot?! That was my other issue (nice issue to have I know!) but I was thinking if the sun is shining for hours would it be awfully hot? We would plan bifold doors/sliding and velux windows....See MoreAdvice needed on side return extension and connecting room layout!
Comments (3)Hey Andrei, Thanks for your advice - I should have mentioned that yes we are getting the proper advice, we are choosing an architect at the moment and I will make a note to ask them specifically about the stairs/kitchen fire risk aspect. I totally agree that if the kitchen was moved to the middle room (ie next to the open stairs) it would be ok to have it as the 'passage' to other rooms, however if it isn't a kitchen and is used as living space I'm more concerned about this. I guess because in a kitchen you're probably busy, whereas if you're in living area you're more likely to be relaxing and regular disturbance isnt great? We're not keen on moving the kitchen to another room, I feel it would look really out of place in either the front room with bay window, or the middle room with the open stairs (cooking smells/smoke/noise would travel upstairs easily etc). Equally, we're keen to avoid closing off the stairs too - worried it would make them pretty dark and would also affect the light to the middle room! I think I've narrowed down my worries to being basically that if the current dining room becomes living space, and has a large entrance to the kitchen where the current window is (plus maybe an additional entrance where the current doorway is), it makes the room really hard to use in terms of layout and furniture etc. It won't have much usable wall space and I'm struggling to think of how we could layout anything like storage/some seating, maybe a desk etc. Does that make more sense?...See MoreJonathan
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