Do you have a lantern type roof light eg in the kitchen? Do you have any shades/blinds on it?

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We’re planning an extension, and will have a large eat in kitchen with a sitting area with a tv. About 8m x 6m, with large sliding doors to the south west and to the north west, plus a lantern.

Im thinking of putting an outdoor awning type thing outside the doors to the south west to stop the glare, but I’m concerned that there will be too much heat and glare coming in through the lantern (and maybe the doors too really) at certain times of day/the year. We’re having UFH.

if anyone has any experience of reducing glare and heat in a similar room, I’d be grateful to know what you tried.

This bought back memories! I was a housekeeper in a house with a huge kitchen/dining room/seating area that sounds very similar..
There was a huge Aga in there too. And I used to melt! Even with the patio doors open as wide as they could go. I really wished the skylight had blinds I could have closed.

Will you be able to access the roof? Nigel slater puts pot plants next to his on the roof to shade it in summer, I thought that was clever!

Yes, we have a very large lantern. We have a solar powered thermal blind which retracts by remote control. Its essential for keeping the heat in in the winter and for keeping out the heat and reducing glare on the tv in the summer.

thank you for your response. Please would you be willing to share a photo and details of where you purchased the blind? Is it one blind (so a flat one under the space) or many?

Yes, it is a flat roof around the lantern that I can walk out towards if I crawl out of the sash window in the bedroom above!

Indeed, I don’t want to melt! I overheat easily.

Deliberately didn’t put lantern or roof lights in my kitchen because of this reason!
Some friends’ kitchens are surrounded by glazing and are hotter than the surface of the sun, not to mention the glare. Would have to wear sunglasses indoors in some of them.

We need a lantern or roof lights for light purposes, so not including one isn’t an option. But I am very keen to mitigate the glare and extra heat in summer that having one will involve.

This is mine. It’s a larger lantern (4m x 2m). It’s on my south facing kitchen which is cool today despite being 32 outside. It’s remote control accessed and has a solar panel which provides the power

Would help if I attached the photo..

Thank you for this, it’s what I had in mind. It’s great to know that it’s so defective for you. Do you remember the manufacturer please?

Our architect advised against a big panel of
glass for those reasons and drew up plans for some long narrow ones I really wasn’t sure but actually, after living with them for a couple of years, they’re great. They really improve the light levels, and because they aren’t directly over the tables or seating or centre of the kitchen, there’s no glare or overheating

We have 2 large lanterns in our extension kitchen lounge and put in electric blinds - best decision ever. We typically keep them open in the day and close them at night to keep heat in etc (white blinds so just look like white ceiling when closed) - invaluable in the heat too like this week when we have kept them closed most of the day. Makes the space useable all year round day and night.