I'm not a pro, but thick curtains for the bifold doors in winter could help (in the evening). You can also get quite attractive plug in electric heaters as a temporary measure. It's a gorgeous kitchen btw

I can well imagine how worried you must feel, particularly as you believed all bases had been covered. You haven’t mentioned the aspect of the kitchen and whether there is an opportunity for solar gain on sunny days.

As far as I can see there are a few things you could do.

1. Add a door between the hallway and kitchen, even a fully glazed one should help.

2, Consider adding Luxaflex Architella Duette blinds to all windows, they stack back into discreet cassettes so it won’t impact the clean lines.

3. Find out from your plumber whether a plumbed in plinth heater can be retrofitted at the other end of the kitchen. If it can’t then your electrician should be able to retrofit an electrical one.

i hope this helps.

The BTU you selected should be more than enough, so obviously the heat is escaping somewhere. I agree that the kitchen door will help. We have to have very, very thick curtains. The difference they have made is tremendous. We also have a small wall mounted ceramic radiator as a back up for the main one, it's set to quite low, just to help keep the chill off. . That has helped to, so the idea of the plynth heater above is excellent.

You don't state what's above the kitchen, is it an extension? I wonder if the insulation in the roof is sufficient?. It won't change what you need to do about it though.

Hi Sara, yes, being north facing with no daytime solar gain ( I was thinking natural rather than solar PV) will be adding to the problem. ‘Architella’ Duette blinds really assist with insulation so are definitely worth considering. I do not think they will pose a hygiene issue, they are well away from the sink and hob and you have an extractor. I personally would not choose curtains. You’ll need to ask a plumber’s advice about whether the existing radiator is undersized. My vote would still be to install a plinth heater and a door.

Hope all goes well.

Hi Sara,

As others have said a relatively easy and cost-effective way of reducing heat loss is with curtains. Make sure you're choosing a thermal lining.

Alternatively, shutters are also a really good way of keeping the heat in. Research by the English Heritage and Glasgow Caledonian University shows that shutters can reduce the amount of heat lost through windows by 62%.

Good luck with your search and don't let this minor blip dampen your spirits,

Zoe

My house has an open plan kitchen/living room but the kitchen part is in a single storey 'out-rig' (victorian terrace). My dad persuaded me to install a plinth heater as the only rad is a wide double one in the living area. It really takes the edge off the cold in the kitchen area. I just flick it on when I'm in that area if needed. So I'd agree with the above and see if you can get one fitted.

i calculated the BTU for the space and it's less than the output of your radiator, so it should in theory be fine. Obviously it isn't. Therefore, the plinth heaters are great, but if you want that heat in the dining room, then another radiator would be possibly better at that end. I'd put a door on from kitchen to Hallway, as that will affect the BTU requirements. If that doesn't make enough of a difference, why not try a cheap space heater, or borrow one, see if that makes a difference when you have put the door on , then you'll know if you need more heat and where.

Would it be possible to have a tiny Scandi log burner? I think they can go on an outside wall and it is possible to get very clean ones.

The first thing I did in our new house (and last one) was install a log burner. We went with a Contura stove both times. Really efficient and clean.

If this was my dilema I would go with a stove for sure, you can have a pipe on the outside, so no need for chimney etc. Not only it will look good, will keep you toasty warm <3 Good luck

I'm sure the cat would love it too :)

Hello Sara,

thought we´d contribute with a suggestion of Wood weave blinds that could add some warmth to the room and light too. The wood weave blinds will allow you to see the garden outside and makes the garden feel as it´s part of the home.

Thermal blinds or curtain liners will definitely reduce heat loss but will also make the room feel darker and your room is already north facing.

In terms of decor, i would suggest bringing in some nice big plants into your room, to add some colour and ambiance. The idea of a log burner is great or as an alternative there are some ecological gel and ethanol fireplaces

If you don't have one I would get a thermometer and monitor the temperature of the room. Windows tend to be the coldest part of the room. I would also check for draughts around the bifolds.

My kitchen is the coldest room in the house as part of it is single story with two windows but closing the kitchen door doesn't make the room warmer. It is always about 3 degrees colder than elsewhere and just happens to be the part of the house where I am the most, at the kitchen sink! I think it is warmer with the door open and allowing heat to circulate the house so I would advise before fitting a door to the hall that you put up a temporary door first and monitor the temperature.

You could also tape blankets up at the doors to somewhat mimic the effect of interlined (blanket sandwiched between fabric and lining) curtains, to see if they are worth investing in. The downside of curtains are that fabric is not practical with grease and smells in the kitchen and it doesn't necessarily go with that lovely bifold look you have. If you do fit them, I would put the pole high and have the curtains floor to ceiling and wide, so they are housed in the space either side of the doors when open. Interlined curtains are not cheap but for heat insulation I would not use anything else.

The only thing that helps my kitchen is underfloor heating, probably not want you want to consider now you have done your kitchen floor but the UFH just takes the chill off the room and means that I don't have to have the heat on in the rest of the house to try to heat up the kitchen. It would mean putting insulation on the concrete then something like a Devi mat and maybe some overlay and then the flooring. It can be used with vinyl flooring but I am not sure whether you could reuse what has already been glued down. It would probably also involve removing skirtings and plinths, so not a cheap but perhaps a long term solution.

Some excellent ideas from JO there. Our kitchen / diner / snug is open plan, it also incorporates a glass roofed conservatory and despite having the heat in / heat out glass ( piffle ), it can be very cold. We had to move the room thermostat from that room to another in order to keep the rest of the house at a constant temperature. The only way it stays warm, as I said before is with the really thick curtains otherwise we'd freeze. My wife literally hates them, but it's the only way to keep warm and save on the heat loss.

I think putting a log burner in, as a constant source of heat is a last resort. They take a lot of looking after and create a lot of mess. Our log burner goes on at around 4pm in the winter and runs until we go to bed, otherwise we'd freeze in the lounge also.

( it's an old cottage, so the thermal qualities are crap ) - It is what it is. Plus with a log burner - and I appreciate we use ours as a constant heat source, is that you need kindling and logs - which they eat for breakfast, lunch and dinner. They're lovely and a nice idea, but I personally don't think they are the most practical solution to a heat loss problem.

I don't think curtains in the dining area will be funny, in the kitchen part yes, but we're talking about the dining area. There is plenty of room either side of the door for unobtrusive curtains. If you buy them a similar colour to the walls then you'll hardly notice them.

We've got the same issue, however we have a south facing garden, and have a bay window style patio door.

I'm convinced this is the issue as it's always cold by them. We've got conservatory blinds up that are supposed to help with insulation. I can say that they do, but not that much!

My kitchen is freezing in the cold weather despite having the boiler in a cupboard. We put in a thermostat controlled plinth heater which works a treat. Clicks on and off and takes away the chill. Easy to adjust if you want a little more heat. relatively cheap and quick solution. bought from Screwfix.

Hi Sara,

Its a gorgeous kitchen. Must be really frustrating to enjoy how it looks but not feel comfortable in there.

Retrofitting for improved thermal efficiency / comfort is quite a specialised area. I would suggest that you find out where you are losing heat before spending money trying to fix it. Ideally you want to explore this with something that is not going to cause damage.

One option would be with thermal images - this would be good for your current situation because it is completely non-invasive. One company that I've come across that does this in quite an innovative way is iRed - who you could google to get in contact with. You can now buy relatively cheap thermal imaging cameras that attach to a smartphone, but doing it yourself will miss out on an experts ability to interpret the images correctly, as they can be quite misleading. The images would be taken internally and externally and help to identify points of heat loss. Then when you know where all your heat is going it should be possible to figure out what to do to prevent the loss.

A kitchen door could help.

It is possible to get electric mat underfloor heating underneath a vinyl floor finish, which is very slim. It is quite expensive to run and not really very energy efficient, but would give a relatively quick warm up and keep your feet warm, which would make you feel a lot more comfortable. You could just switch that on for short periods of time when you want to sit in the kitchen during the winter as an extra heat source. Doing this would mean replacing your floor finish but shouldn't need any work done to the concrete underneath.

As Chris said, check your radiator is bled properly. Vertical rads are really good at trapping air (I have had them in 3 properties now, so am pretty used to them) and will need bleeding repeatedly until they are properly full, allowing hot water to circulate properly. Hopefully this is your problem - it would be the easiest solution if so!

Chefs use those pendant lights to keep plates warm. Going to be a very expensive and ineffective way to try to heat a large space!

I think the door will make a huge difference. We live in an early Victorian house. Our living room wasn't unbearably cold but not comfortable when it was freezing out. After getting a puppy a few months ago we now shut the door when we're in there in the evening and it's like a sauna! I would try that first anyway

You say there's no cavity wall insulation. Did the builder offer to batton out the walls and put in cellotex insulation? Not sure if this is normally done, but I've just converted my garage into a studio and after doing this it's really warm. Is there anything above the ceiling or is it a flat roof? it must be miserable for you.

We had a similar problem. Had two rads and two plinth heaters, but they weren't working properly and we were freezing. Had the plumber in and he adjusted them and now we're toasty in a matter of minutes. Get one plinth heater put in and plug in a small electric coal or log effect stove ( cheap enough) to bridge the gap. If your windows are thermally bridged have you thought about contacting the window installer to complain , about the problems you are having? The builder, too , as he should have ensured your extension was properly insulated. The suggestion about thermal lined curtains that pull right back during the day is spot on as it will help insulate the room and the kitchen will be warmer in the mornings to come down to. Finally the door is essential as both the hall and front door area are most likely sucking away any warmth from the kitchen area, especially if there is a stairwell. I now think if I was doing mine again I would dig up the floor and put in underfoot heating but this is way too disruptive to consider now. Best of luck.

Hi, I'm having Schuco bi folds fitted next week and after reading this am scared! However, I wanted to mention, I literally saw an advert for a retro fit underfloor heating today, came through on a Grand designs email, http://www.jk-gb.com/ 

Hi Sara.

Your new kitchen is great and we understand your frustration.

Ideally new radiators should be plug and play devices. however this is not always the case after having a radiator installed. There is a chance it was not setup according to manufacturers specifications, hence the problem you are having.

Liability for this fault should be held by the contractor who installed the device. We suggest having the radiator inspected by a plumber to rule out your possible issue with the way the space is heated.

How’s the kitchen Sara?

She may well have moved house as it was 2 YEARS AGO!

Extractor Fan? I have discovered that the extractor fan which is behind the units is my culprit. When I put my hand under the where the air draws up above the cooker freezing air is coming in to my kitchen. When I checked above it is a flimsy paper thing that goes through the wall so I am guessing in two places there are issues, one is where the air draws up above the cooker and the other through the paper thin flu thingy

Just saw your photo it looks like yours is quite solid. Might help others though

Hi,

As a quick fix you could put a rug under your table so at least your feet feel a little warmer.

Good luck finding the right solution, I sympathise....we moved into a new house in Oct last year and have had a very cold winter talking about it constantly.

does this home have basement or crawl space cause it would either way been my first stepnto be sure that whatever cavity youe plumbing runs in and out from/to was insulated or boxed into wall ceiling whatever .. lots of cold air comes in from sink cabinets wouldd be an easy indicator