Side return vs moving kitchen

5 years ago

Hello!
I have a semi detached Victorian terrace in London that I'm keen to get working more effectively for a family. The obvious answer is a side return extension but the initial feedback I've had is it's likely to cost in excess of £100,000, (as it's a reasonably large property) which as we don't know this is a forever home, is a huge commitment. We do expect to be here for a few more years.
I've seen heard of people either moving the kitchen to the middle 'dining' room, or taking out the hallway wall or the wall between the kitchen and 'dining' room as an alternative but I can't find many concrete examples. I'm not sure which profession I would even hire to help with this - an architect or an interior designer?
Can anyone help with more cost effective ways to make the most of a Victorian property's downstairs living space?
Appreciate your time
Thanks
V

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Comments (3)

minipie
5 years ago
If you have the money for a side return, do it - huge difference to your living space and you’re likely to get it back on selling IME.

I wouldn’t move the kitchen to the middle room as future buyers are likely to want it at the back so you could actually put people off.

Removing the little bit of wall between kitchen and middle room - doable but quite expensive for what it is (as that’s a major supporting wall) and gives you less wall space to put kitchen units. But could be a good idea depending on what you want to achieve.

What are the current problems with the space? Too little kitchen storage/bad layout? No room for table? Living rooms don’t get used?
Rowland
5 years ago
hi

I think either way can work well as long as it well thought out and flows correctly.

in terms of who to hire, I think that depends on what involvement you want in you overall design. if you hire a good architect you will end up with a well planned home and probably a better overall design than an interior designer will provide.

either way you will need to manage them to ensure that the design doesn't exceed the budget you have for the scheme.

make sure you get something that you want and be open to alternative options.

100k is not a huge sum to spend on this work and if designed well it can add more in terms of value back to your home plus you get the benefit of a nice home to live in and enjoy .

one last point, make sure you select a builder that is reliable. the construction period is the time when you will be und we r the most of stress and if you have a good builder you will have a pain free experience. choosing badly can result in lots if issues. if your money can stretch employ a Project Manager to safeguard your money and ensure you are not overcharged for things.

best

Rowland
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Thanks both! We’ve had the ‘small extensions aren’t worth it’ comment too - but still exploring whether it might be worth it to us if just grabbing a 1.5 metre by 2.72 metre bit of extra space at the end of the kitchen means we can run our kitchen table either (a) parallel to the new end wall patio doors with the kitchen units fitted galley style down both sides of the remaining kitchen or (b) parallel to the side return wall with kitchen units down the full length of the opposite side… Since our house is split level with steps down to our kitchen it’s not so feasible for us to build into the side return to any great extent since this then means the steel of the new roof over the side return slices through the middle of the window in the back living room… hence the only feasible alternative might be to build into half of the side return leaving a very small 1 metre by 1 metre courtyard adjoining that back living room window (or not building into the side return at all). Could we fit a kitchen table seating 6 people into a 2 metre by 2.72 metre space?
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Hi! It's really difficult to consider just the side extension alone. It's essential to consider it alongside the rest of the floorplan. It needs to work well with what you have, so you can get a complete home that works well for you. All the specific questions you have indicate that it's not yet clear to you how you'll be using the additional space. Once you are clear on this then you'll be able to answer those questions quickly and easily. Our random opinions on how your space should be doesn't really help you that much to get it right for you. It's a large footprint so there's going to be many options for you to redesign the space, but to get it right for you its necessary to have an in depth understanding of what you need to live happily in this house. How do you live your life now and what challenges does your home give you as you try to do that? How do you want to live your life and what changes do you need to make so that you can do that with ease and pleasure? When you have the answers to those questions all the rest will be clear. Get started with figuring this out with my free Design Your Home Vision Checklist. You can get that here: https://www.i-architect.co.uk/dyhvchecklist.html Hope this helps. Best wishes for your home designs! Jane award winning chartered architect eco-home and conservation area specialist www.i-architect.co.uk
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PRO
APT Renovation Limited
5 years ago
Hi Victoria

APT Renovation here, we are a design and build company that specialises in home extensions.

May I ask where the property is located as we operate in South London and if you are located in our area of operation and looking for designers and builders for your extension we could offer you a free consultation and advise the best way to move forward with your build.

If you would like to view our website and know more about what we do you can head to https://www.aptrenovation.co.uk/ or call us on 0207 223 6417.

I trust you are staying safe in these trying times and hope to hear from you soon :)

Kind regards,

APT Renovation Ltd

Side return vs moving kitchen

Comments (3)

minipie

Rowland

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