Would we regret not getting an extension?

[ITriedAnother]

We're in the process of buying a house. It's going to need quite a bit of work, mainly cosmetic, which we're hoping to complete before we move in. One thing we want to do is knock through from the kitchen to the dining room to create a kitchen/diner. This would give us a room that is 5.6m x 4.2m. Do you think that is big enough or would we also need to extend out the back? Realistically we could extend to about 5.6m x 6.2m. Would this actually add enough to the room to justify the cost of an extension?

I'd prefer not to have to do an extension. However my worry is I'd regret not doing it if the room was too small. We'd then have the cost and hassle of adding the extension on to the new kitchen/diner at a later stage.

I’d do it now whilst you’re having the mess anyway.

We are in a similar situation. I’m loathe having to go back to having a galley kitchen again after a nice and spacious kitchen diner in our current house. Knocking through is obviously much cheaper to do than an extension and we probably just about have the funds to do it, but I’d rather wait a few years until we have saved up a bit again to build an extension as this would be so much better and could add an amazing amount of space and light.

The dimensions without extending is big enough for a kitchen diner. I have a room thats just under 6x6 and have a kitchen (with 2 walls of units and a large island), table for 4-6 people, 2 seater sofa and a tub chair- feels very spacious. I don't think you need to extend.

Interesting. When I was considering a certain 1930s house I had the same dilemma with very similar dimensions. I thought "I'd rather spend the £20k on mortgage overpayments to gain financial freedom instead of a bigger kitchen/dinner", but it was a personal preference.

I'd do it given the sizing but a small extension like that will be disproportionately expensive.

Do you need structural steels at e back as that will add a lot of cost and may make you think again?

We are in pretty much the exact same situation. We are looking at extending the rear by 2.5mx6.3m and a side extension for a 3mx3m utility. The quotes so far are around £40,000 which is more than we were anticipating so we are weighing up the options at the moment. We're in Yorkshire.

Hi, Mummyshark could you post a really basic room layout. I'm intrigued!! :)

Here's the architect drawings and I've drawn over to show layout. The space to the right (next to the island) are 3 tall larder cupboards.

Thanks all. Differing opinions but all helpful. Thank you @Mummyshark2018 for the floor plans.

Mummyshark thank you! Nice square kitchen with lots of space! :)

Maybe see how you get on as you are then make a decision.
Have a small galley kitchen here, fine for one person to cook in and enough space and probably not fashionable now.

That sounds big enough for us, but only you can say really. My feeling is it's fine if you just want a kitchen diner but if you really want the space to also have a lounge area, do the extension. Ours is smaller, 2.9 X 4.6m and I remember saying if we only had a metre more length or one less doorway, we would just be happy with what we had. (We don't need a lounge area in there.) But maybe it always feels like you want that bit more!

We got quotes to have a tiny extension done and they were just silly money so we went without. Don't forget the extra cost of interest if you are adding it to the mortgage.

My top tip for going without is to think creatively about moving doors, radiators, electrics etc. Moving doors in particular can really change the way you can use the space, massively more cheaply than extending. Also things like moving washing machines into the back of the garage instead of building on a utility room.

It's plenty big enough for a kitchen diner, mines approx 5m x 3.5m and has room for 6 seater table. I'd only go bigger if you like open plan kitchen-diner-living and need more living space. A lot of people seem to do the big open plan extension and then just stop using the old living room...

I’m not sure I would extend, unless you actually need the house to be bigger. The size you have is plenty big enough for a nice kitchen diner, and if you have other reception rooms it might not be necessary. You’ll probably need an additional £40k+ for an extension, and it sounds like it will only be a small one. We extended our old house because it really needed it (and we needed a downstairs loo) but our new house we won’t bother with as the kitchen diner will be big enough and there is already a loo/utility area

I think 5.6 x 4.2m is big enough for a kitchen diner, not for kitchen / dining /living. You may be able to squash a small sofa in but not have a separate zoned area. Draw it out on graph paper with real sizes of furniture (sofa / table) etc.