Please tell me how to survive in a West facing kitchen

What about Night and Day Blinds?

Also, most of our bedroom windows are West facing too 😓

I feel for you OP! We have blinds and yes they block the sunlight but it doesn't feel any cooler. I believe it's due to the sun still hitting the glass on our windows & doors which magnifies it, so out of desperation (& budget!) I found a huge white tarpaulin sheet in the shed and have hung it over the glass doors (trapped it in the top of the doors when you close it so no hooks needed), it hangs down fully covering the doors & this keeps the sun completely off all the glass!

On the smaller windows I've even used sheets of white printer paper sellotaped together & blue tac'd them on the outsides to cover all glass.

No it doesn't look great, but at this point it's about surviving this heat, not being house proud. I'll have to look into the shade sails PP mentioned, as shutters, installed awnings or AC is too expensive.

Thanks very useful.

@Sunsetsarehellinmyhouse roller blinds are a great solution. I have them and they work well as I also have a lot of glass in the kitchen. You can get sunshade and full light block out ones on the same roll and have one or the other down. I actually keep the sunshade ones down all the time. I can see out but it stops the glare. Aircon is also necessary at the hottest time of the year.

Your are panicking as you cant see a solution but an awning will keep the room cooler until the evening, when you can pull.down blinds if the sun is very low

Air conditioning unit will help

Air conditioning unit,plus awning plus blinds will together make it much much more bearable

I had this for 6 months when we were getting a new kitchen built - horribly hot summer. The temporary kitchen was a tiny windowless room next to the boiler that still came on for hot water. It was absolute hell. You have my every sympathy. We spent a lot of that summer BBq-ing outside.

Best of luck OP! 😇

OP - similar issue with creating shade in my garden - we built a thin brick planter and then planted bamboo in it - creates a lot of shade! Brick planter around 1.2 meters tall! Also helped!

we got a handyman that was an ex bricky locally - not as expensive as I thought!

AC and awning.
AC will make a difference to the room temp.
Awning for shade/not being blinded.

Hi OP, 👋
I haven't read TFT, just your replies, so not sure if this has been said but...
I still use my slow cooker in summer, for this very reason! 🥵
I get too hot, so I will either pop it all in the night before, so it's done for the next day
Or I prep everything the night before, so its ready to plonk in the slow cooker the next morning. 🙌
Think pulled pork, bolognese, and my pal in work always does salmon (which I'm yet to try in the SC).
Hope that helps 💐

ETA: BBC good food do some nice slow-cooker summer recipes 😋
https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/collection/summer-slow-cooker-recipes

@Sunsetsarehellinmyhouse

It's not very pretty, but will get you through the next few days: spray your windows with water and put foil against them. It's something I saw on social media from Paris when temp was over 40 degrees. I've done this on two windows which are not double glazed (rest are), and it does make a difference. It is giving a drug farm vibe, but it does stop the heat.

Get some heat reflecting film on your bifold doors and the windows, they're on permanently so you don't need to faff with opening and closing etc also for hood measure get an awning, it will make a huge difference.

as a long term solution, plant some trees which will eventually make your garden shady and therefore possibly cool your kitchen down somewhat

im in the same position as you except with a south facing garden, I'm looking to get all this stuff done.

Already been said, but put blinds up if nothing else.

When I know it's going to be really hot, I get up early on the first day and cook chicken, salmon, boil eggs and cook something like potato/pasta/coucous all in one go, maybe a homemade quiche if not in a rush. That way, I can avoid cooking anything for a couple of days as we've got plenty of cold options.

If hot weather goes on a while and we need other options, it'll be something like pizzas don't take too long to cook, and you can prepare

We are in a new house and our architects were clear that the heat needed to be stopped before it penetrated the glass and therefore exterior blinds were the answer.

They sound really good, it’s amazing how many architects design houses and extensions without adequately considering the heat/light.

We are in a new house and our architects were clear that the heat needed to be stopped before it penetrated the glass and therefore exterior blinds were the answer. We had them fitted to some windows during build but once we moved in had them fitted to all windows. They are amazing, they stop heat coming is so during heatwaves our house is cooler than outside. We have a lot of glass and it’s all floor to ceiling. They allow light in so it’s not dark in house. They also do not allow people to look in so allow privacy. They are pricey but worth every penny. They make the house really comfortable. We have solar sensors so blinds come down when sun out / we are away and so house is cool when we get home. We also have in an app so we can control while we are away. I was worried about wind but apparently they can withstand a hurricane wind! They are sleek and look lovely outside as well. There are various companies doing these - we used a company called Kensington Blinds. If you go on the website you will see case studies.

Yes, this is key. You need to keep the sun from reaching the glass. Interior blinds even UV or blackout don’t work as well as the glass is hot.

Exactly this. If you shade your outside wall and patio during the hottest part of the day, the evening will be cooler as a result - even when the sun is lower and shining through your windows.

You want to stop the outside concrete patio and your exterior wall acting like a big hot radiator that heats your room in the evening as the heat transfers inside.

Heat travels by radiation (the sun), conduction (heat moving through materials) and convection (heat moving through the air). Visible light is only one method by which heat moves. It’s possible to let sunlight into the room in the evening AND have a much cooler space if you shade the exterior patio, windows and wall during the hottest part of the day.

Shading the windows from the exterior cuts out 80% of solar gain, shading windows using interior blinds cuts out only 10% of solar heat gain.

Further cooling strategies are:

1. evaporative cooling (water outside the windows like a paddling pool, spraying the patio with the hose pipe periodically etc).
2. evapotranspiration: lots of greenery outside the window also cools the air locally outside. Large pot plants on the patio will shade both the patio and your house. A hot patio will act like a radiator storing heat throughout the day that’s then released into the air later on in the evening and can make a west facing space much hotter.
3. shading the exterior of the building as well as the exterior of the windows will also help. A large sun sail where you can change the angle rather than just window shading would help a west facing room.

You could also plug in an air fryer and use it in a shaded space outside to stop heat from cooking warming the kitchen even more.

Do proper research before you discount an awning. We had a ridiculously hot south west facing glass wall. Popped a very expensive automatic awing just above the ground floor windows and the whole house was cooler. Amazing.

Having lived in a south facing house for 25 years - everyone on my block put orangery style kitchen extensions on the back and then one by one everyone took then down again and rebuilt them as full brick extensions as they were too bloody hot.

So I had long experience of just how hot glass can be. I look at all these glass extensions and wonder “do builders/buyers not know how unbearable that will be”. I guess the answer is no & that something that is only learnt from personal experience.

In the short term you need exterior blinds that stop the sun hitting the glass and heating it up, and well as obviously aircon. But from my neighbours experience you need an awful lot of aircon to counteract the heat. And then there’s still the light.

If you’re staying long term the answer is unfortunately simply to rebuild it.

take some concrete or slabs up, put a pergola in and put a vine or wisteria on it. Big, really big, containers and silvery birch.

They’re expensive, but we have internal blinds within the bi-fold doors, so in between the 2 panes of glass. They have been a life saver in keeping the room cool especially with the lower early evening sun.
Also planning to buy a big tilting parasol on wheels.

I’ve currently got duvet covers over my west facing kitchen windows. It does help. Looks awful though so next year I’ll have to do something different
my parents have a stripy wind out awning. Very retro but works