Please tell me how to survive in a West facing kitchen

[Sunsetsarehellinmyhouse]

I'm losing the plot.
It's actual torture.
Every time it's time to cook dinner from June to early Sept I am on the brink of a meltdown after an hour in my west facing kitchen. The back wall that faces the sun is 8 foot wide and all glass. Glass back door. Glass big window. No actual wall.
The sink is underneath the window, facing the setting sun.
The length of my kitchen is 10 foot and there's nowhere I can stand to escape the sheer intense heat burning into my kitchen from 5pm onwards as the sun lowers until it is directly opposite my kitchen.
I sweat. I wince. I wear sunglasses inside. My legs get sunburn from standing at the hob or worktops as the sun penetrates in to the room.
I can't cope.
I can't cook and wash up earlier in the day cos I'm at work.
I can't cook later at 8pm once the torture is over because my young DC need dinner at 5 or 6 pm latest.
If I leave all the washing up till 8pm by then I'm doing bedtime with DC and don't get back downstairs till gone 9pm and by then I'm knackered with a headache due to the intense heat torture of the kitchen earlier on.
HTF does anyone cope with a tiny box sized west facing kitchen with a glass back wall?
Blinds don't make it any better because I need the glass door and window open for ventilation otherwise I can't even stand in there.
I feel like crying.
Never thought about this when we viewed the house in November.

Massive electric rollerblind down all afternoon and air con. You won't need ventilation from the window once you have aircon and then you'll be cooler and not blinded.

Short term though, cook outside? Bbq? Pizza oven? George Foreman plugged into outdoor socket? Cook things you don't have to do anything with but serve, frozen fish & chips, pizza, etc. Also just get a takeaway on the worst days!

I have a south west facing kitchen but it's mostly bearable because I have perfect fit venetian blinds on the French doors and regular venetian blinds on the window to shut the sun out. I keep cooking to a minimum when there's a heatwave though.

Im being thick but how does it stand up?

I don't have your amount of windows but I gave a hot west facing kitchen. I hang white sheets outside the window to stop the sun getting in and to stop the window getting hot. It makes it bearable. Just stick huge white sheets on the outside. It'll look daft but you won't be making yourself ill and broken. Don't open the windows in a heat wave at the hottest part of the day. You're letting the hot air in!

You can plant in pots. Plant bamboo in pots. It's quick growing.

Of course AC would make a difference. That's what it's for! You need a blind for your windows to keep the sun out.

Until you can afford an awning buy a sailcloth and attach it where you need it.

Have you put up one-way window foil? We did this on our south facing windows and its like black magic. Reduces heat gain hugely. Really recommend you do this asap.

Got mine off ebay, search for Evowrap.

Eta, it acts a bit like sunglasses for the window so will stop the glare / direct light in your eyes

You can get sun parosols/awnings that tilt so you can move it as the sun moves, including eye level.

We keep our kitchen blinds closed in the summer because the sun turns our kitchen into a greenhouse There is also a time of year where the sun hits us right in the eyes every evening so they are closed then too.

Also minimising the amount of time in the kitchen eg food prep gets moved to the dining table in a different room as much as possible and not spending ages stood there cooking so quicker meals or oven instead of stove.

depending on the angles of the windows you could get blackout curtains or thick blinds, or if you can add wall hooks then hang those plastic sheets with the rings in them etc

The verticals are wedged between the eaves (single storey) and the ground. So I suppose OP is going to need a ledge or something above her window to make it work.

You can buy outdoor privacy screens that are freestanding/on wheels that might help block the sun? I think I’ve seen them in b&q online. Obviously it would block any view as well. I hope you find something, I can’t cope in a hot, sunny kitchen either.

Like this

Our kitchen and conservatory are South and west facing. The blinds come down. My Dil has a glass wall bi-folding. She's bought blackout blinds full length, pulls them down completely otherwise you can't work or sit in there. My neighbour has an awning.

We have a south easterly facing kitchen dining room with large windows/bifolds andcan orangery roof. My Dh fixed green house shading to the outside of them all and it's so much cooler and not noticibly dingy inside.

I think that having a North or North East facing garden is going to become quite desirable. Our house is naturally cool so people ask if we have air conditioning. Our garden is a mixture of shade and sun until 7.00 as we have no neighbours but no direct rays into the kitchen except from overhead sky lights in the morning ( over the living and not the kitchen area).

I really never thought that would happen,

You need to block the sun OUTSIDE rather than letting it hit (and heat up) the glass and everything inside. And so you can still open your windows.

Our living room has large windows and faces west. Keeping the curtains closed all day and solar window film keeps it cool enough to use.

The solar film dramatically reduces the glare. It's noticeably less than in my bedroom directly above (which I am going to get solar film for).

I have exactly the same problem. Also the extractor doesn’t work and the window won’t open.
it’s total misery and actual pain due to a nerve problem.
DH would like a roast or something with chips every day.

I'm in Melbourne and my kitchen faces more or less full west. It has the original metal Venetian blinds, and awnings outside. I put in a split cycle AC unit a few years ago. Before that I used a tower fan on oscillate.

I planted a Queensland bottle tree in the bed outside - though I see you have a patio. You might want to re-think the concrete patio and plant well-behaved deciduous trees. I've no recommendations as all my tree experience is of natives.

Air con & blinds.

Our kitchen is south facing with a big glass wall. First thing we did was put cheap dark curtains up! Much cosier in winter and fully adjustable to keep the sun out in summer.

We have a pergola now too which we have covered in the summer.

Works really well

We now have big pull down awnings/blinds (just manual) on the outside of the windows. They make a huge difference as it keeps the heat off the glass. Before we had them installed I would put up a big outdoor umbrella. It made a big difference.

I'd also stop hot meals. Salad plates, slower roasts, sheet pan meals or dump bag meals in a slow cooker. Toasted cheese sandwiches in a flat press.

Same for us, these heat waves have been torture! We have blinds closed from around 4pm, use a fan and open French doors only when we must. We have cold food for tea, or something from slow cooker so not standing cooking in the heat.

long term we need to fit an awning and get screening/planters on place

Wow, you’re simply dismissing every possible solution without giving it a try! With an attitude like that you’ll simply have to get on with it!

For a start I'd get a dishwasher.

I've only learned recently that keeping the windows shut is better for keeping cool. I'd also tape something to the windows, put a parasol or something outside the windows to create shade

We live west facing on a hill with floor to ceiling windows on that side of the house. AC will sort it out if you get a proper one, ie, mini split and heat pump. Plus light filtering blinds.