Layout for extension?

[silversixpence]

We are looking at having a full width rear extension on this house but I'm not sure what would be the best layout. Would it be better to turn the existing reception into an L shape incorporating the extension and turn the kitchen into a separate study/reception or to have one huge room knocking the reception and kitchen into one? Has anyone done a similar extension or have any example layouts?

What is it about the current layout that is making you think you want to extend? If you go back to that it might help.

Can you go left? Full width extensions can leave a dark space in the middle it's one of my pet hates and has stopped me buying more than one house.

The kitchen is quite small and doesn't open out on to the garden. I haven't seen many extensions in real life so it's interesting to read that the middle room can be dark. I suppose we could knock through the wall between the back reception and kitchen and then extend the kitchen out instead. But ideally we'd want a study/library room to hide all the books.

I think it would be a shame to lose that nice bay window in the rear reception room so I would be tempted to knock the kitchen and the reception room together, get rid of the door into the kitchen and create an L-shaped run of units along the internal and side wall of the kitchen with a set of double doors out onto the garden if you feel that you need access from there as well. The rooms look a pretty decent size to me, I agree with wowfudge, that extending might not be necessary.

Our house is similar except we don't have the integrated garage, our living room is wider and we have a wider hall but similar set up at the back with kitchen and reception 2.

We are having a full rear extension and making the kitchen, reception 2, and the extension one big room (with a corner taken for a utility room).

We don't actually "need" this additional downstairs space, we are only extending downstairs as we do need extra space upstairs and obviously we can't build over free air! We have knocked through between the kitchen and Reception 2 (similar sizes to yours) and have a kitchen with island, large dining table and sofa + TV. Its where we spend all day, every day as a family pretty much, use the front reception as a kind of "just TV watching" room if we ever have a movie afternoon or as a toy free zone for my H and I in the evenings once the children are in bed.

I agree with wowfudge in that you need to think what you feel you want the additional space for, what stage you are at in your lives (whether you have youngish children that want to be with you, or teenagers who perhaps want to be anywhere but with you as that might determine how you divide up the space), whether you entertain alot etc, and think about making the space flexible to change over time if you do decide to extend.

*fresh air!!

I played around with some free software to get an idea of how it might look with an extension on the kitchen only (with a utility room at the front but don't know how to make more walls!). Does this look ok?

3d view

I like the second suggestion better - it avoids the dark middle room problem. Would you them have all your main living space in the knocked through reception/extended kitchen and then turn the living room into a library?

(What to do with our books is a major consideration in our house hunt. Luckily we don't need to move yet as dc are small but in a couple of years they'll want their own rooms and at present one bedroom is our library/glory hole)

I saw a fabulous house on Rightmove (sadly way out of budget!) which had floor to ceiling shelves in the open plan extension. That room was much bigger with high ceilings but this house is 1930s so might not look as good. Dream book lovers house

We put a full width extension on our house a couple of years ago - our starting position was quite similar to your existing layout, although our kitchen already extended beyond the back wall of the house, and was divided into kitchen and utility. We extended across the back so that the resulting space now finishes with a flat back wall. We retained the existing utility, and have now got a space which is largely an L-shape - the equivalent on your plan would be the reception room, full width extension, and part of your existing kitchen.

The bifold doors let in a lot of light - we also have Velux windows across the whole width of the extension which also let in lots of light. Our reception room is quite poorly lit - you wouldn't want to try to read in there - so we have struggled to figure out how best to use this space. Initially we planned to use the space for our dining table, but in practice we have kept the dining table in front of the bifold doors, as this keeps it closer to the kitchen.

FWIW this was the source of our inspiration - ours is a bit less slick but the overall shape is quite similar to ours.

I've done full width as knocked out the back wall to create one large room. The middle is not dark!

Put bifolds in and velux windows and you'll get lots of light.

Ours is fabulous I love it.

We liked the layout of [http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-51513730.html this house]] with the utility room and cloakroom off the open plan reception. But I'm wondering if this would make the room an awkward shape.

Also there are more windows in the back reception on the side which would help the light issue, and it would just be one big room rather than a middle room separate from the extension. But I do like the bay so would rather keep it if possible (and it would also keep down costs).

Op do you want me to pm you a pic of mine?

Ok I can't pm pictures it would seem.

Ours is like the link you attached but our bifolds only go half way across as the kitchen is across the other half.

Yes please!

Oh ok :) which link did you mean?

The dream book lovers house.
Pm'ing doesn't give me an option to put a picture.