Do an extension? Move? Or keep house as it is?

[yellowumbrellas]

Four years ago we moved into a house that was a real state - lots of it was old and falling apart, manky, rotting windows etc, though the kitchen was only 7 years old and not too bad.

Gradually we've done up various bits of house and the front and back gardens. It's cost more than we thought and there are still several bits to be done.

I'm trying to work out what to do about our kitchen. It's not big enough to put a table in, it's freezing cold, and due to previous owners home made random illegal oven fitting we've now got an area of kitchen where we've had to hack out some wall to legally house an oven. Also there isn't really enough storage space.

My options are:

• Low-cost (ish) tart up of kitchen, replace windows with double glazed, fix area of bashed out wall, re-tile, new worktop round sink, paint existing cupboards
• More expensive - refit whole kitchen properly and add underfloor heating
• Go whole hog and brave an extension
• Move house (house nearby on market has lovely extension already done but slightly less room upstairs)

I can't seem to decide what is best to do.

Depends on your budget!
Is the house otherwise big enough for you all? Do you have a dining table elsewhere?

Move house if the upstairs is big enough - I mean how much space does anyone need upstairs? If there are enough bedrooms and a bathroom I mean.

Extensions are always more costly than you anticipate and something always comes up to increase the cost and then you have to compromise on something like the kitchen - this way the work is done, also would you have to move out while it is being done? I say this as someone who has to do an extension soon but my house is large - I just need to knock down the back wall to let light in and build a utility area. Still even we have reduced the size and level (from 2 to one) due to cost estimates versus the benefits of the end product.

It's tricky to work out my budget - for an extension I'd borrow on the mortgage so obviously then the mortgage is increased and not being paid off as fast.

For smaller kitchen works I could probably muster 10-20k over the next couple of years before having to borrow.

I realise it's a silly question to ask the internet as obviously it comes down to lots of factors, but I'm so sick of going round in circles indecisively that I thought posting here might help me think it through better.

I do have a dining room next door to the kitchen so we eat there.

I think there are a few house frustrations - I moved from a smaller house but our smaller house had more storage space (e.g. cupboard in the hall) and I feel our current house looks nice from the outside and is big but is actually a bit impractical (freezing cold hallway and kitchen, no storage space for coats, football boots, sports kit, hoover, ironing board etc, one bathroom when ideally we'd like two)

Depends what is the cost of moving to another house versus doing an extension. If it was me add look at an extension. Could you add a porch with storage space. ?