Conservatory full width of kitchen

[40somethingJBJ]

Hi. My kitchen is the full width of the back of my house and I’m contemplating a conservatory (or possibly extension) across the back. Obviously this is going to cover windows and there’s also drains etc to take into consideration.

Has anybody done this? Just curious how much light I would lose. It’s south facing so gets a lot of sun (and the blinds at the kitchen windows are generally half mast during summer to keep some of it out!). I want the extra space mainly as a dining room/home gym and somewhere I can safely let my parrot loose for a few hours each day away from the dog/kitchen etc.

Also with regard to drains - I have a drain under the kitchen window which the sink/dishwasher etc empty into. Can’t see where this could be relocated to, so how have people got around this?

Any pictures of a similar set up would be fab! Thanks.

Hopefully bumping :)

If you do decide to do it I would consider having a solid roof put on, otherwise with it being south facing you will essentially be bolting a greenhouse to your house. It will be unusable in the summer due to the heat, and potentially freezing in the winter unless you properly heat it with radiators.
I changed the roof in my conservatory and it has made it a usable room. Prior to that it was an expensive storage space as could only comfortably be used a few weeks of the year due to the issues stated above! The reduction in light hasn’t been a problem, although it didn’t cover the whole width of my house. The solid roofs can have velux windows in them though so that could be a solution.

With regards to the drains, that could be your stumbling point, drains can sometimes be moved but it isn’t cheap and I think in some instances you also need permission from the water company! I would consult a builder who has done that kind of work before.

If it’s going to be costly it might be better value long term to consider a proper extension.

Friend of ours put an extension on like you describe, completely took out the wall and put in a supporting steel along with some sky lights. Kitchen is light, bright and airy.

We put an extension in put didn't touch the original exterior wall or put skylights in. Our old living room is very dark and we use both a lamp and the fish tank on gloomy winter days to brighten it. The plan is to knock a window into its other external wall at some point, money permitting. We have the computer in there and use it as a dining room and it's perfectly usable as it is.

Yes, I was planning on a solid roof. I meant to put that in my OP. Velux windows sound like a good idea, I hadn’t thought of that.

As much as I like the idea of a big open plan room, I really need somewhere separate for the bird etc. I do have a side window on the kitchen, so there will be some natural light coming in, but it’s only a small one. I’m scouring Rightmove looking for houses with a similar set up to what I’m wanting so as I can see photos of the outlook from the kitchen, but I’m struggling to find one at the minute.

In regards to the drains - we recently had our old conservatory replaced with an extension. Our sink was on the kitchen wall under the window and the conservatory was on the other side to that. Our drain was redirected as we obviously was loosing that wall it was on and so we wanted the sink the other side of the new kitchen. The builders did it and it seemed a simple enough job.
At first we thought we'd require a building over agreement from the water company but the drain was classed as private as it linked on to the main sewer line from our property. We had our architect get the sewer maps from the water company and found out that way.
I personally am glad to see the back of the conservatory, we also looked at ways to keep it but make it warmer and it all worked out not far off the price of an actual extension anyways.

We have a similar extension. We have a solid pitched roof with velux skylights . The drain moving was done by our builder without any problems . Definitely go for a solid roof to make it usable year round.

Not sure if you were planning to leave the existing windows across the back but I think internal windows look very odd and would really put me off a house
But if you’re planning to stay there for ages then no need to worry quite so much about devaluing

Yes I’m planning on staying here for the foreseeable, so not overly concerned, but I want to see a picture of the type of thing I’m looking at to decide if it’s what I’m after. I think the main reason I’m erring towards a conservatory instead of an extension is just purely the time and amount of work needed. Not sure I can cope with living on a building site!

We have a conservatory on the back of our full width kitchen. Glass roof and poorly heated. It was installed before we moved in. It's north facing but still like an oven in our (granted, Northern) summers and freezing in our winters.

I definitely have a love/hate relationship with it!

Apologies for the mess (we're in the post-school decompress) but this should give you an idea of our set up.

The wall on the other side is all windows.

@MaidofKent78

Apologies for the mess (we're in the post-school decompress) but this should give you an idea of our set up.

Ah that’s the kind of thing I’m after. Does it sap all the light from the kitchen?

Our conservatory is the whole width of the house. The kitchen is half of that, the original kitchen had a big double window which is now an opening and then a small window which we've kept. The sink is under the small window, draining didn't seem to be a problem.
It's just been moved along and comes out at the side of the house.
We've lost a lot of light to the sitting room but honestly we only use it in the evenings anyway so it's not an issue for us. The kitchen is fine light wise, we have a glass roof on the conservatory and the light comes from there into the kitchen.

Our conservatory faces east it is fine in summer and winter, we have underfloor heating and just open the doors in warmer weather. It's the most use room in the house.

We've had an extension attached to full length of kitchen. Left half the wall on from kitchen as wanted the extension to feel a little bit separate. Had two sky lights and big double doors and side windows on the extension. We have a garden that gets sunlight all day from around 1030 and we have lost a little light on the morning but it's still very light and breezy.

We bought a house with a conservatory off the kitchen. (Only half width though)

There was nowhere to move the drain to, so it now sits in the conservatory. Boxed in and hidden by plants - no problem with smells.

The original back wall was replaced by patio doors leading into the conservatory, and there is also a large window in the other half of the kitchen directly onto the garden.
I very rarely can do anything in the kitchen without putting the lights on, except in the middle of Summer.
My kitchen is always freezing cold in Winter, especially if the patio doors are left open, not overly hot in Summer though.
If I could afford it, I would replace it with a proper extension.
We use the conservatory a lot in Summer as a sitting room, and it’s nice that it’s just off the kitchen, for getting drinks etc and easy access into the garden.

I personally would put the money into an extension and move the kitchen forward into the extension, otherwise you'll find your kitchen is dark. My mother has a south facing conservatory which runs the length of the dining room. The dining room is miserably dark and the conservatory is either unbearably hot in summer or freezing cold in winter. Conservatories are best on west facing walls.

We have a full width conservatory across the back of our house - it attaches to our living room rather than the kitchen, and is south facing.

It's very much a greenhouse (we didn't put it in); it does have one roof vent which definitely helps, so consider several!

It does affect the light in the living room, which is sadly a bit dark, despite having a glass roof. We've considered roofing it properly, but that would only make it (much) worse. You may have other windows into your kitchen, which might help.

It has electric heaters in it (the rest of the house has gas fired central heating). They are nowhere near sufficient in winter; they would be OK in spring/autumn.

We find it a very useful porch, but don't use it much beyond that. I definitely wouldn't build it if we didn't have it. Sorry not to be more encouraging, but I guess you want to know the difficulties before you start.

Thanks all. I do want the pluses and minuses as I’m really unsure what to do. I’m really not fancying living through a proper extension if I’m honest, and I really don’t want one big open plan room. Hmm... it’s a difficult one!

Probably totally outing but this is my old kitchen. There is a full length conservatory at the back and it was chilly in the winter, but we heated ours with a little portable heater and it was fine (the conservatory in our new house is absolutely freezing in the winter!) It was a little gloomy but that pic was taken in December and our garden was north facing so not too bad. We did keep every (kitchen cabinets, walls, furniture etc) in there very light colours which I think helped!

@Crazycatlady83

Probably totally outing but this is my old kitchen. There is a full length conservatory at the back and it was chilly in the winter, but we heated ours with a little portable heater and it was fine (the conservatory in our new house is absolutely freezing in the winter!) It was a little gloomy but that pic was taken in December and our garden was north facing so not too bad. We did keep every (kitchen cabinets, walls, furniture etc) in there very light colours which I think helped!

Now that’s very similar to the layout of my kitchen, and I’m replacing the units with cream ones, so keeping it nice and light. I’m just so nervous if making a decision I’m going to live to regret!

Our garden was north facing so if you have a south facing garden, it will probably be lighter. Plus it was an older conservatory so had sort of opaque roof, i think it would have been better with a glass roof. But it wasn’t dark and we didn’t need lights on during the day etc. It was actually a really nice room. We did use special “light and space” paint (from dulux) so that might have helped. But we moved in with the conservatory so don’t know what it was like before hand!

Yes it can get a bit gloomy, especially now around the winter solstice! There is a window on the side of the kitchen, which helps, but the dark grey units are a bit draining (though do hide the dirt when the dog rubs himself along them...!).

I’ve just been looking on Google Earth and spotted someone up my street, with an identical house, who’s got a full width conservatory :) I think it’s someone I vaguely know, so I might have to ask for a nosey once we’re not in tier 3!

Sorry, this is an old thread, but I just wondered if you ever did take the plunge on the conservatory, OP!