What are the useful features for a house extension?

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We finally got our planning permission granted for a single storey rear extension. Would love to hear advice on useful features. All I can think of is to have outdoor socket and tap for both the front and rear garden. This involves laying the necessary water pipes and electricity cables during the construction stage. I also like a outside washing basin in the back garden, hence drainage needed. Another other useful features to have for the extension? Any advice will be appreciated.

Congratulations on your planning permission. exciting times!

More of an appliance I guess but our Quooker hot water tap is a game changer. Regret not getting underfloor heating as ours is too big for the radiator we have and is cold in winter. Our architect designed an ‘overhang’ thing (like a tiny veranda) which protects us from the elements a bit. A little bit of shade in summer and when we open the sliding doors during a rainstorm we don’t get wet! Provides a useful area to pop some outdoor shoes / bit of washing / for cats to sleep.

We had it so our sliding doors slide back either way so we could choose the side that is open. Not relevant for bifold I guess but we avoided them as I feel they seem quite easy to trap small fingers in. Also I don’t like the ‘stacked up’ looks when open - we have a large opening.

Good luck!

Thank you so much. I will definitely consider the overhang canopy idea. Such a good idea to keep garden shoes dry and shield the dogs from the rain if they need to go out. Also love the idea of hot water tap. Save waiting for the kettle to boil. I prefer a sliding door to a bifolding door too.

A neighbour of mine has an outdoor shower, useful for washing the dog, and himself when he gets home from work (manual job, can be quite mucky if he's been on site for the day)
I like the overhang idea, I've one at the front of my house, which is south facing, and it shades the windows in the summer so the rooms don't get too hot.
What will the extension be? A living room? A kitchen?

Underfloor heating! So fabulous.

We probably should have got bifolds with integral blinds - but obviously depends on what your existing plan is. We've got a lot of glass and it's lovely when it is all open in the summer, but pretty hot when it is all closed.

Depending on what you are getting the extension for, I'd recommend a second dishwasher and a drinks fridge near where you eat. But neither of those is much help if you are extending your living room.
We love our Quooker tap - we got one that does sparkling water, which is probably the thing we use most.

The extension will be a kitchen diner + extra small bedroom + utility + bathroom. We will definitely get UFH.

Outside hot water tap! We have done this as part of our extension as our existing (cold) outside tap had to be moved. Useful for filling up paddling pools and we also have a hot tub so cheaper to fill from that heated by gas than cold water heated up by the tub itself (electricity).

Plumber did look at me a bit weird but I think it's a genius idea!

External power socket

External power socket with an inbuilt RCD

If getting rooflights be able to open them or operate blinds so you can keep room cool in summer without having leave the doors open.
Good noise insulation for the bedroom and bathroom if it’s next to living areas often you can hear everything though a basic partition wall.

We’re in a hard water area, so the best decision we made when we did an extension was to install a water softener.

That and the Quettle tap, underfloor heating and a pantry.

One of the best things I did in my utility was to get a big, deep industrial stainless steel sink with mixer taps and a high pressure spray head (sold as a pot wash sink). It is ideal for all the dirty jobs - washing boots/ chickens/ dogs and the depth and stainless splash back keeps everything in the sink.
My builders also built custom storage in there so the ironing board has its own slot, the vacuum cleaner and mop bucket also go in nicely but then also hanging rails so things can come out of the washing machine and straight onto hangers over the dehumidifier, or out of the tumble drier and into clean laundry baskets.
I have a wall mounted washing line on the outside wall of the utility which works really well.
I def agree on the Quooker, and I'd really recommend prioritising drawers in kitchen design.

One thing we got wrong was not discussing the lighting colour with our electrician. So the colour of our spots, undercounter lighting and overcounter lighting doesn't match. We did a similar thing in our bathroom, so not sure why we got it wrong again. Or why the expert didn't think of it.

You can never have too many sockets.