Kitchen extension what do you wish you had known

[orangesandlemo]

We are lock down dreaming / planning and starting to think about our kitchen extension.

It's a Victorian Terrance and we would be doing a side extension and moving the current kitchen into the new space.

Things I can't get my head around are:

Do we use up some of the space to include a utility room and downstairs toilet ?

My Dh and I can't agree on range cooker (like we have now) and a in build hob and built in ovens.

I hate cleaning so much so really want everything to be easy to maintain looking like new with three kids. So what are your tips advice ?

Things that I was thinking where no door handles as ours seem to get grubby and are such a pain to clean each one as we have tons of cupboards

My dh wants an island and I'm not as keen and don't like the idea of the hob or sink being in the island ?

Colour and style - we like the light grey units and really want something modern, stylish but are worried about it being dates in a couple of years so then worried should we go white or is that too boring, glossy or not ?

Any tips or suggestions from other mums would be great. Thanks

We did a kitchen extension about 10 years ago, and it's looking really dated and old.

Things I wish I had known

1. You really need to think about where to put the bin. Rookie error, but the units went in great, but forgot about the bin so on a daily basis we're all tripping over it.

1. You need a small refrigerator for drinks. I mean you don't really need one, but with 5 people opening and closing the refrigerator mostly to get drinks, it's something to think about. Or have an area/drinks cupboard.

1. Do not get wood worktops around the sink area.

1. Think about the laundry. Where does it go after the washing machine? What happens when you don't feel like hanging it up/putting in dryer?

1. How many people will be able to be in the kitchen at the same time? Think about accessibility. Imagine you are cooking and someone wants a snack, a shirt from the laundry, to wash hands in sink.

Also, not sure about your electrics, but we updated ours so able to cope with the various appliances.

I'm not a 'mum', but...you can always get a pretty good plan drawn up and printed out by a kitchen fitting company (like B and Q). We has a plan done by them originally, although we didn't buy from them. It does help you visualise it and you can see it from all different angles/all different cupboard types etc.
I would always say yes to a downstairs loo.
Think about food storage. I wish I had had a larder built into our extension, but I simply didn't think about it at the time.
Have plenty of daylight/windows. Nothing worse than a dark kitchen.
Just some totally random thoughts for you!

I think a utility room and downstairs toilet is a great idea, I wouldn’t buy a house now without a downstairs loo and utility. Plus you can hide away all the things you don’t want to see (washing machine/tumble dryer/drying clothes/cat litter tray etc.)

We’ve got darker grey base units (and floor to ceiling units) and light grey upper wall units.
We have a peninsula, with a hob on it, and I love it! We don’t have a down draft extractor as that would ruin the look, but we do have a powerful ‘normal’ extractor in the ceiling to satisfy building regs.
Top tip is to buy all the components separately for a much cheaper price. For example we got:
Carcasses and doors from Howdens (we haggled hard and are very pleased)
Finished with high end handles from an online shop
Quartz marble effect worktop from a supplier - fantastic supplier and so pleased with the finished article!
Appliances from online
We’re saving the £££ to get a mirrored splash back to finish the space off.

We love our huge intergrated fridge and freezer and larder cupboard. We don’t really use the wine fridge that much - but that could just be us..!

We’re doing our kitchen but not an extension. I think mid height ovens And separate hob are much easier to keep clean than a range. We’re having an island but nothing on it- will be extra seating and prep area but not sink/hob. That will work for us but maybe don’t bother if you think it won’t be necessary. I think go for separate utility if you can- we have and it’s life changing to be able to hand washing up out of sight and away from cooking smells.

I think grey kitchen are already becoming dated. It’s now dark blue and two tone that’s everywhere. I’d avoid that and go white on white myself, timeless and classic, or something totally different - we are going stainless steel. Avoid gloss though finger prints are a devil

NEVER put the sink on an island unless you’re a clean freak - which you don’t want to be - as it’s never empty or tidy.

Only have an island if it really fits.

Go to DIY Kitchens and play around with their kitchen design tool. It gives you a very rough and ready 3D display too so you can easily see what will work but the colours are awful (3D, not the real thing)

We went to a proper kitchen designer, both independent and a Magnet and they both came up with roughly the same layout. We couldn't afford the full service and supply so ended up at DIY kitchens and it's worked really well. Kitchen due 1st June...

We’ve just done our Victorian semi. We’ve included a small downstairs loo and small utility where we have loads of hooks for coats and bags, plus our washer and dryer stacked on top of each other, the space for ironing board and hoover. Just brilliant. Small though.
We’ve had our bins incorporated, two built in ovens, no handles (much easier to clean) and an island with sink on. Love
It

Agree about utility, bins and downstairs loo. Make the utility room bigger than you think you need - ours is a bit smaller than I'd like but still has storage, hanging space and room for washer, dryer and sink. We have a hob on our island and I actually love cooking facing the room - much more sociable than facing the wall. Would definitely not put the sink on an island though - washing up is not a sociable activity! Bifolds are great but unless (and even if) you have openable rooflights your kitchen floor will become a graveyard for flying insects from April to October. Underfloor heating is an absolute must, especially if you have a tiled floor. And a boiling water tap is the most brilliant thing ever invented - that plus American style fridge freezer with ice machine. I wouldn't go for a gloss finish due to fingermark hell, plus they tend to be made of stuff that chips and then can't be repaired; ours is painted wood, which I do have to touch up now and then. I have had handleless before (not now) and am not sure it really solved the grubby fingermark problem.

We've recently completed a kitchen/ diner extension (6x6m). We turned the old kitchen into a utility and shower room. I think if you're going for an open plan kitchen you need to have the washing machine out of that area.

We did go for a dark grey high gloss kitchen, with walnut worktops and copper accessories. Probably will go out of fashion but I love it. Walls are white and we've big bifold doors so the dark units works really well. We also have an integrated bin which is fab and 3 large larders.

@Mummyshark2018, do you mind if I ask you how much your extension cost?

@ESpressoNotEXpresso
Not at all. The build itself cost 50k , which included moving and building some internal walls, then kitchen, bathroom , flooring, decoration etc cost around 20k. We're in the SE. We did get much higher quotes though of 75k just for the build.

My wall oven and built in microwave make my heart sing every single day. Its been 2 years and i will never ever have a worktop microwave ever again. The more stuff you can get built in the emptier your work tops giving the illusion of more space and very quick and easy to keep clean.

My walk on larder makes me happy. If you can't have a walk in one have a larder unit put on if possible. It's do easy to check what you have or havnt got in stock. You can see everything you have easily.

Pan drawers. Wish I could have more of them. I will NEVER have cupboards ever again.

Decent extractor fan channelled to outside not recycling the air. Don't scrimp on this. It keeps the kitchen cleaner and less greasy etc.

Sockets you can never have too many. You'll never regret having more than you need but will regret cutting corners.

We went for extra high wall units. I didn't want the temptation to store crap on top of them because it looks shit. At worst you have more space in your wall cupboards at best all your kitchen stuff and xmas groceries are out of sight.

Plan for your bin, radiator/s (of having them) and light switches.

Be aware kitchen unit manufacturers can be set on their delivery dates a long time in advance of your project starting. Obviously, things happen and the date you chose for delivery when you ordered the units may no longer be suitable if there is a build delay on the kichen/extension. Some kitchen sellers are reluctant to be flexible meaning you can have a houseful of kitchen units all over the rest of the house whilst you wait for the build to be ready for them. Our dates changed 3 times. Our kitchen people did eventually give us a few weeks Grace but we still had a week of being unable to move for units everywhere. This has also happened to a few friends of ours!

• avoid gloss, finger prints, water marks, ANYTHING....awful. We inherited ours moving into our new house and I miss my satin ones
• avoid wood worktops around 'wet' areas. No matter how much you think you'll be careful they'll still get ruined
• go for the separate utility for washing, you'll never look back
• if you like modern kitchens then go for built in ovens, if you like a little more traditonal, go for range. I've had range, built in (eye level and under the worktop). Much prefer my range above all (I'm totally in love)
• extractor fan to go outside
• built in bin within a cupboard but make it large so you're not having to empty it every 3 hours
• I love the blue kitchens but I see them already dating, I also think white is a bit boring even though my last kitchen was white and I loved it. However do whatever you want if you're staying there for a long time. You can alway get new doors for later down the line when you come to sell.
• make sure the floor is laid first and throughout the room should there be an leaks or you want to rearrange anything later on (I think this is controversial but my dad is a builder and it's worked for us so far!