If you’ve extended your house, what would you redo again, or do differently?

[Yellownotblue]

We’re planning an extension to our house - the pre app has just gone in (it’s quite a big extension by London standards - not typical side return). Basically extending at the back, side (on two storeys) and over the existing outrigger. We’re not adding bedrooms, but we are making the whole house more spacious and adding bathrooms and a big scullery, as well as redesigning the ground floor and doing a new kitchen.

We’re now at the stage of planning the layout and the look & feel.

I have a lot of ideas, we have a good design team (I think!) but I’d love to know what works and doesn’t work in your extension.

Is there anything you think ‘Oh my God, I can’t believe I went without x for so long’?

And conversely, is there anything you think you wouldn’t bother with if you extended again?

Any idea, big or small, welcome. For instance, are you happy with your glazing, choice of flooring, flow between rooms, lighting?

Thank you lovely mners 💐

I'm happy with most of the choices we made. Separate utility, pantry and boot room seemed like an indulgence at the time, but now very crucial for the way we live.

The main thing I would change is to have made room in our plans for a double fridge freezer. I didn't anticipate just how much boys grow and eat - and lockdown has meant less frequent food shopping, hence need for more space.

I'd also have had a separate charging station built into the plans - it's quite irritating having a tangle of wires on the worktop when multiple devices all need charging simultaneously. I did ask the builder for one but he maintained that it was a fire hazard. I'll need to find a better solution in our next project.

For food waste, a waste disposal unit is now an absolute essential for us, couldn't manage without one! We got an insinkerator which we're really happy with.

Yes we all use it, to be fair it's huge, as big as a sofa and overlooks the garden. People like to sprawl and chat whilst we are cooking. There are actually sofas etc but it is the most popular. Great for the cat to watch the birds too!

For food waste, a waste disposal unit is now an absolute essential for us, couldn't manage without one! We got an insinkerator which we're really happy with

Mashing up food and putting it down the drains isn’t very eco friendly .

It’s much better to put most food waste your own compost ( if you have a garden or balcony with pots ) or into the Councils green waste system ( which usually takes all food waste ).

Meat fish and fats can’t go into most home garden systems, they still need to go to the council or be fed to the birds.

Oh and it has a seat pad, sheepskins and big cushions so is comfy.

Utility upstairs is a great idea, just make sure you get it properly fitted out so your floorboards aren't vibrating.
We are in the SE too and aircon is a must for us in bedrooms.

I advise against open shelves in the scullery . Too much dusting. And who wants to look at cleaning products and shoe polish. Get cupboard doors. As you say, they don’t have to be expensive, ours are from Ikea.

Recycling - we have three bins inside cupboards and one sitting out. This is because the council changed their recycling system since we built the kitchen!

Integrated hole on worktop needs a lot of cleaning. Things like fruit and vegetable peelings have a remarkable ability to turn into a slimy mess that’s hard to get off. We just have one of the small food waste bins lined with two bio degradable plastic bags, it lives in a cupboard.

@Daftasabroom what's MHRV? I'm
Hoping for a loft extension and worried about summer heat making sleep unbearable

@soola, yes I reckon you’re right about the scullery, and we will have a mix of open shelving and cheap cupboard doors with shelving behind it.

The mess is also my worry about an integrated hole, I fear it will get encrusted with potato peels and worse.

I’m rethinking the window seat idea now...

I like the scullery idea but won’t the kitchen have to be quite big anyway to create enough worktop space? I suppose the benefit is you can use just the amount of cupboards here that give the look you want without having to be too concerned about storage. I still think you’ll need a lot of cupboards.

Our council suspended its food waste bin collection a few years ago, unfortunately. When I asked about it I was told that waste disposal was actually more efficient as it saved on emissions with fewer trucks carting stuff around to landfill, and incineration etc. But now that I think of it, they may have had a vested interest.

I'll seek out some tips on stink-free composting - we have a small urban garden now but it may be an option in the near future.

@jroseforever @minipie I'll look into it, thanks.

@littleEsme MVHR is mechanical ventilation with heat recovery. Instead of leaving windows open or venting bathrooms to the outside, fans suck out warm dirty air from the house but transfer the heat to fresh air and distributes it round the house. They are a legal requirement under some building codes. Ours can change all the air in the house in half an hour if necessary but normally just trickles away in the background. Consumes between very little electricity. We have a Brookvent Aircycle.

@HouseyHouse21 check bokashi composting.

At the moment our kitchen is fairly big, but I still don’t have enough room to store everything, and I have more worktop space than I need. the scullery will give me essentially another full wall of storage units, second fridge freezer etc. No more stuff ‘stored’ on worktops!

We fitted acoustic insulation in ceiling of ground floor rooms. Now people can sleep in the room above the kick ass tv

Thanks daft, I'll do some digging.

Thought of another thing - when I next get an extractor I'll be looking out for noise levels as well as strength and aesthetics. At the moment ours is very loud when it's on its highest power setting, so you end up having to shout or turn music up etc. There must be quieter ones out there.

Definitely def comfy seating

Best thing I did.

Now my children get down from dinner table, sprawl on kitchen sofa and... actually talk to me!

hmm I do understand your logic on the upstairs laundry, but for me there are a few things in favour of having it downstairs:

• I rely on hearing the beep when it finishes to let me know I can go an hang out or move stuff to the dryer and put a new load on. I wouldn’t hear it beep if it were upstairs.
• I’m often doing laundry whilst also cooking/tidying/supervising homework in the kitchen - it would be that much harder to pop upstairs in the middle of any of those things rather than next door.
• I fold in front of the tv and there’s no tv upstairs (but could use ipad I spose)
• I sometimes run the washer or dryer in the evening and wouldn’t want it keeping the DC awake

Appreciate these may not apply to you though!

Now my children get down from dinner table, sprawl on kitchen sofa and... actually talk to me!
Yes @Jroseforever!

I felt we'd really got it right one evening when i had one dc doing homework at the breakfast bar, another doing homework at the table and the third reading on the beanbag sofa
Enough room for everyone to be separate enough but together

But ultimately OP you know yourself and how your family functions best- far better than any kitchen designer

Which is why we have 2 dishwashers, open shelving for everyday crockery, a fab utility room and a separate area of the kitchen for drinks. Suits my family perfectly

What will you keep in the scullery, and won't it be a pain if the washing up is done in there ? means all of your pots and pans/ used plates will constantly be in a different room from where you are cooking, surely?

@MrDarcysMa, I’m not planning to do the washing up there. Just have a second sink for overflow.

It will have the serving platters, large bowls, silverware, small appliances, vast collection of china, Creuset pans and Dutch ovens that each take up half a shelf in the kitchen, table linens, cleaning cupboard, vacuum cleaner, recycling bins, candle holders, etc., plus a big pantry section.

I have a utility room with a sink , washing machine, tumble dryer, large freezer, pulley clothes dryer, ironing board, vacuum cleaner , brushes, bucket and mops.

In the cupboards I store

Bin bags, hoover bags, Laundry tablets, fabric softener, cleaning materials, overflow canned and packet food, some tools , kitchen rolls, shoe cleaning materials, all sorts of random crap like birthday candles and banners, plant containers, vases, things like Brasso and WD40 that you use once a year but then it drives you crazy when you can’t find them again.

The utility room sink is used for dirty things like mops, buckets, muddy wellies , cut flowers and the occasional large greasy oven tray which is too big for kitchen sink.

All normal dishes are washed and stored in the kitchen.

So all that’s in my kitchen is food and dishes/ utensils/ appliances for food prep, cooking and eating. No random crap.

Large pantry so all non chilled food is in the same place - no hunting through various cupboards
We did this in our recent kitchen upgrade. 1000mm wide full height cupboard, base unit depth. Three lower drawers, upper shelves are shallower but there are storage racks mounted inside the doors so nothing gets pushed to the back and lost.
All ambient foodstuff go in there. It has automatic internal lighting.

We’re similar to S00la, decent sized utility for the overflow , plus laundry and dishwasher . Also separate large rucking and waste bins. - we have pull out waste and recycling bins in a kitchen cupboard, so very accessible , but then top up the bins in utility when they’re full.
Dishwasher in utility - I was against it but am so glad we did!

Designated charging area for the mountain of cables,
Wish we’d got a hot water tap as kettle too noisy
We put in elec UFH, wish we’d dine wet driven off the boiler / it’s lovely but so expensive to run.
Ours has 4 different circuits so can keep the office section off if we’re not using it

@Daftasabroom Thank you. Is there a noticeable change in temperature when they're on? Would it remove smells?