Architect, kitchen designer or interior designer for kitchen extension?

[lferriga]

We are planning on having a single story extension next year to create a kitchen/diner. I have no vision for design whatsoever and as this is our forever home I want to get it right. We were thinking of getting an architect to draw up some plans but Im confused about what exactly they do. I need help with the kitchen layout also and the interior layout- if to have an island, where to have the dining table- do they do this? Or is this the job of a kitchen designer? I also want help with the design of the interior such as lighting or possibly the dining area. Who would help with this? Many thanks I'm a little confused and want to get it right

I'm also in this predicament. We've had plans drawn up by surveyor who works with our builder but not sure they're that good.
Is there an app to download which we could look at ideas on and change thing around while deciding?

There's a lady who's on here sometimes, oneplanonhouzz she's a designer who doesn't sell stuff, she just designs. You then take those designs to shops to price for kitchens . No hidden agenda. She works with you through email and phone. She did mine and a few other mumsnetters.

You would need an architect for the extension then a designer of some type for the internal design, and kitchen.

For the extension, you will need proper scale drawings for building regs, and if planning permission needed, also for that.
If straightforward shape, we used an architectural technician to do ours, he was recommended by council building regs dept and did a great job for much cheaper price than architects.
He gave us some brilliant design ideas and really transformed our original plans, moving sink/door to make a much better space, which we hadn't thought of.
He specified over and above what was strictly required on the building regs plans (e.g. Builder said we were having loads extra insulation than strictly required) and the really detailed plans made it easy to get quotes.
It was ~£800 for his services: he did all submissions for planning permission, all building reg drawings and submissions, arranged structural engineer
As first time we had done building work was also really useful to have someone impartial to ring to discuss things , e.g. Builder said such and such was impossible, we checked with him in case builder just didn't want to do it!
Good luck!

For kitchen design, we thought carefully about what we wanted and played around with layout ourselves. We then went with detailed room measurements to a couple of kitchen showrooms. They didn't change our design or give any different design ideas at all but useful to see lots different styles and we used a couple of style ideas.
We then ordered from Diy kitchens, which I read about on here and would not hesitate to recommend: fab quality for v reasonable prices. They also custom made some items for us for v reasonable prices and you can have their solid doors painted any colour you like for no extra cost. All come assembled.