Side extension ideas for kitchen, utility, playroom and bedroom

3 years ago

Hi
We bought the house with an extension in mind to meet our family needs. More than a year later and after a few awkward consultations with a couple of architects and builders... we are no nearer to any solutions. It feels like we’re living in limbo and that’s starting to affect us all in the family.

The dilemma we face is that we need an extension that gives us

a bigger kitchen ( with some living space for young children)
a utility/second kitchen ( for big extended family reasons)
playroom/office
another bedroom with en-suite

We have a U shaped garden. This is making the design very problematic. The only side that we can extend is unfortunately the only private side that we constantly use as a family.

Would appreciate any help or ideas that anyone might have. Please let me know if you need any more information or pictures.

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Comments (7)

PRO
The Kitchen Lady UK
3 years ago
Hi, humm, it's a big wishlist (which is great because why dream small) but it will be about smart thinking to try and use as little of your private garden as possible.

A few solutions jump to mind which will depend on which walls are solid etc as by the layout, it looks as though there has been extensions in the past etc. Are any of these feasible?
1. The garage side of the house looks like it has a lot of underused space available. Could some of this be converted to give you some of the functional space you need?
2. Could the conservatory be rebuilt as a more functional room, maybe a little bigger, maybe double height to put the extra bedroom upstairs?
3. Can any other sections of the garden be made more private with planting, garden structures or fencing?
I love a puzzle like this!

Emily x
Maggie Toop
3 years ago
Hello,

Could I make a suggestion, for you to get help from anyone your drawing/plan needs to be amended
You do not show doorways or access routes into your rooms from the hallway so that could be a start.
Your conservatory is wasted space in view of your specific requirements and could be replaced with a more useable room ie study or second kitchen/utility. I am sure you will have thought about a master bedroom in your loft or your Architect will have! Is this not possible? I do agree with Emily on changing room uses which leads me on to your garage is it used as one or a hoarding area? Sometimes unfortunately families to outgrow their home, perhaps you should think about making some alterations to improve yours and see how you go before going to whole hog, spending large amount of money and out pricing your homes value in your area may not help you in the long run,the things you are looking for will be very disruptive for some time and I know to my cost you need reliable builders because they will become an integral part of your lives during the build changes. Why not view properties that can give you what you are looking for to start off with if you have not already done so as our famous duo in Love it or List would advise. I wish you well in the coming months, and not to put too finer point on it would suggest if you are going to stay start the work now.
The cost of any building works and materials are rising rapidly and your budget may have to be re thought. Good luck!

Maggie
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Living888. Option 2 for me. I like that you have the room for a large wardrobe space in the bedroom and a small hanging area for coats when you come in the back door (in front of you) but also the main point for me, is that the pantry is part of the kitchen and not a separate space where you pass the bedroom and back door. I personally prefer the layout to option three as, although the pantry is still off the kitchen, the bedroom has a much smaller feeling to it for relatively less gain. I hope this helps. I look forward to hearing which you go for. Thank you.
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Hi there, it will be hard to achieve an open floor plan with this side extension . In fact, it seems it would just complicate things in a very expensive way. If you don't need a 4th bedroom every day, but just occasionally for in-laws, can you make the garage into a small, compact guesthouse? If your kitchen feels too small, you might just want to relocate it to the room with the fireplace. I hope this helps, please let me know if you have any further questions, I will be more than happy to help. just drop me a line to service@betterspace.co
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I'd put the sofabed in the bottom right hand corner, with TV on the wall opposite. So sofa and TV are on opposite sides of the window. Then desk can tuck in to the space left over on the right hand wall. There will be a few years when your child is small when there will be child clobber all over your open plan room (before they are old enough to use a playroom) and you won't always have the energy to tidy it up. At those times I think you will value a separate tv snug to escape to - so it's important to have a sofa and TV in there.. Should be room for a desk as well. The desk can't be huge but it doesn't need to be. Coat storage is a good idea, maximise storage here eg coat hooks but also shelves above with boxes for gloves and hats and shelves below for shoes.
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Hi Deni, From your plans it appears the Utility Area must have been a Garage a while ago; I would turn this space into a Playroom with a WC next to it (you have a couple of unnamed small rooms before you get to your Utility Room at the moment), then convert your existing Kitchen into a Utility and have a single storey rear extension to accommodate an open plan Kitchen / Dining / Living area; and to gain another bedroom, try the loft if height is not an issue....Without seeing pictures of your house from outside, difficult to gauge how would a double storey side extension work for your house. Irina
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rinked
3 years ago
Could you post a screenshot of the house on Google maps satellite? To see what the house+plot looks like. And you can't extend forward?
saimarashid
Original Author
3 years ago
Hi everyone thank you for thoughts so far.

Emily- I do agree that the design requires smart thinking. This is the original layout of the house since it’s been built in the 70’s.

The other gardens will become private hopefully once we replace the fences on all sides. At the minute there’s chicken wire as a fence at the back garden.

Initially we thought of rebuilding the conservatory as a bedroom (incorporating unused space from garage side) with a wet room which in future might be needed as my mother in law lives with us. But all builders and architects advised against it due to alignment issues with garage roof. But with that I’m still losing out on my kitchen and utility.
The playroom/office is something that I can sacrifice but the others are necessities that in the long run we won’t be able to do with out.
saimarashid
Original Author
3 years ago
Hi Maggie.

Sorry I didn’t even realise that my husband hadn’t added all the doors and windows on when I posted it.

Your comment about starting work now made me pause and think. We hadn’t even thought of that side yet as we had been completely focused on the design side. But it’s true. We better get the ball rolling and start looking at builders.

I’ll attach the right move drawings which have all the entryways on. Also I’ll post a diagram that my husband came up with yesterday. Basically extending on the side by 2.5m up to the conservatory.

Would love your feed back on that
saimarashid
Original Author
3 years ago
Here are the pictures. The shape of the plot, the right move original floor map and lastly my husbands idea of extending on the side by 2.5m all the way up to the conservatory.
rinked
3 years ago
last modified: 3 years ago
Thanks for the pictures. How is the current roofline? (hence the question for a satellite shot)

A full extension on the kitchen side of the house seems logic for the house, but would eat up the entire garden.. Ideal could be to move the garage over to the left and place a new build on the front of the plot. But I don't know how it currently looks and what planning permission (and neighbours) would allow.

Mad idea perhaps.

Side extension ideas for kitchen, utility, playroom and bedroom

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The Kitchen Lady UK

Maggie Toop

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Side extension ideas for kitchen, utility, playroom and bedroom

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Maggie Toop

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