Critique my extension plans please

[figgyroo]

We've had our first draft of plans for a proposed single storey side extension and I'm not sure on a couple of things.

I would really like to fit a sofa/TV in the kitchen as well as a small dining table (we have a separate dining room that can be used). Do you think the room will be too small for this? I'd really like to fit an island in too as love the social space they give.

I also think the utility is too small. Not sure if there is a reason the store is set back from the house so much, but if not, I'm thinking about moving it forward a bit and stealing some of the space for the utility. Thoughts?

Anything else I'm missing? Would you choose vaulted or flat ceilings (with cut out for velux) for the extension?

In our area, an extension has to sit back from the main house, it's a requirement to get the plans approved.
I'd definitely consider making the utility bigger, it's of our regrets.
I'm struggling with the dining room/kitchen family room a bit. Could you push the extension across the whole of the back? Is having a sofa in the family room vital or could the dining room be a second lounge?

Or this

Thanks @Baxdream we did consider extending across the whole back but discounted it as we have a very small garden so thought it'd make the garden oppressive, it would be really hard to combine the styles (modern extension, very traditional back room) and we'd effectively lose a room if we incorporated it. The 'dining room' on the plan is currently a second lounge but we only use it in winter at weekends as this has the open fire. We thought a sofa in a family room would get used more but I'm not sure it will be big enough for that...

Ah I see! You're house is a similar style to ours before our extension! We waited until ours was up and then decided how it's work. We've kept our family room as just a kitchen diner. We then have a lounge and a snug.
In all honesty we could have squeezed a sofa in but we didn't want to make the room feel small!

Similar house to ours. I would definitely open up between the kitchen and dining room, especially if you want a social entertaining space. Do you have any windows along the right hand side? If not, I'd definitely incorporate at least one velux.

Thanks both - think I need to accept it'll be a kitchen/diner if I don't want to lose a room...

We won't be allowed windows on the right hand side but the plans include a velux over the extended part and 2 over the back.

The dimensions aren't that clear but it does look like it would be a bit small to fit a sofa in.

I would definitely make the utility a bit bigger, do you need that size garden store or could you fit a small shed somewhere and make it smaller?

I would go for a vaulted ceiling if you can, unless you have very high ceilings anyway and 2.5m (if I'm reading it right) isn't that high. The feeling of space and light is great with a vaulted ceiling.

OP if you only use the dining room at the weekends in winter, why would you be 'losing a room' if you knocked through? It seems a real waste of space to me if youre stuggling to fit everything you want in the kitchen diner / utility as drawn. You'd probably use the space it far, far more.

Thanks @greenmarble we definitely need to keep the garden store as the garden is too small to put a shed elsewhere. We may be able to push forward the extension forward a little (others have on the street) but I think it's so set back to allow us to get 2 cars off the drive independently, as we do now.

I'm thinking vaulted ceilings are the way to go.

@namechangedtoday15 you're right, it's more of a psychological thing, plus I'm worried whether it would devalue the house if we did come to sell....

Can you have a built in dinning /sofa type seating with a table so you get both?

@GreenTulips i haven't seen anything like that so hadn't considered it, i'll have a look online for some ideas

Also look for a dinning table that converts to a coffee table -

There are some with gas lift and others that spin and lift

You could have two looks with a decent furniture arrangement

I think you should open the kitchen up to the rear reception room - you can then have your island, a substantial one, in the kitchen and have that rear room as the dining room. If you want flexibility a small sofa and a decent gate leg table you can fold down could work.

Yes to making the utility big enough but make sure the garden store is big enough for whatever you plan to put in there.

In your new kitchen, consider having bench seating along the wall at right angles to the rear room window - there'll be enough space there for a small table, bistro type for example, if you wanted. Or put French doors in that wall and a window on the wall the sink is on.

Thanks for the ideas. What do you think about extending out of the back of the room labelled dining room to square off the house and knocking through to the room from the back, so that the existing wall is kept between the kitchen/dining room? This would give us a kitchen dining living room but would mean that I don’t lose my fireplace, which I love and is original to the house. We’d lose some outside space but to be honest that’s a patio that never gets used at it doesn’t get the sun at all.

I see what you mean about the fireplace. Do you use it and could it be re-sited? Could you open up either side of it and make a feature of it?

We had a similar house which we extended- will show the plans if I can find them

So our extension kept the original small kitchen as utility and took out a bay window at back of original dining room (called living room on plan) to make open plan kitchen living dining. It kept the downstairs wc with an external window which I liked. Back was lean to extension with skylights. Walk through utility wasn’t perfect, but it made the best of what we had at the time as we wanted a decent sized utility.

When we extended, we squared it off at the back. What has your attached neighbour done? Ours had already extended so if we hadn't have squared off the space like you have behind your dining room, it would probably have been in the shade & we'd have never have used it.

We do have a decent sized garden though - how much garden would you have left?

I like wowfudges idea of keeping the fireplace but opening up the wall either side. Friends have done that and it's fab!

@wowfudge we do use it so don’t want to get rid of it. I like the idea of opening it up but can’t quite picture it in my head

@thegirlisnotright thanks, your plans are similar to what I was thinking originally and it’d definitely be cheaper

@namechangedtoday15 next door have a extending the kitchen but not the dining room so we’d have to step it in if we did extend there. The garden is north facing and that area of the patio never gets sunlight at any point in the day. We have a storage unit with bikes in there, but the other half has visions of using it for a hot tub!

Our garden is about 2 1/2 fence panels deep from the back wall of the kitchen extension, so really shallow.

This

We have a similar layout. We are about to knock through from our kitchen diner to our back sitting room (ie your dining room) to make one big family room. We are keeping the fireplace as we love it - the sitting area of the family room will be around the fireplace, the kitchen where you have your kitchen and the dining area in the remainng space in between iyswim. We'll have a separate front lounge like you.

In terms of devaluing, I've heard split views on big open plan spaces but generally most in favour as long as there is a separate room to escape to and a separate utility room.

Oh sorry I just noticed your fireplace is on the dividing wall! Ours is on the other side which makes life easier.