What options against excessive heat in south-facing kitchen? Awnings window films blinds...

[ParentOfOne]

We have a south-facing kitchen which can easily get 12-14C warmer than outside. It's basically a greenhouse. Great in the winter, awful in spring and summer.

For those who have been in similar situations, how have you handled it? Other than installing air conditioning.

We are looking at:

• window films which supposedly reduce heat absorption
• retractable external awnings or just a parasol, to put in the garden and give some shade to the kitchen French doors
• blinds and shutters

We already have fans and keep the kitchen as ventilated as possible, but that doesn't do much

Any thoughts / suggestions / recommendations?

We have solar control glass and an awning.
I can’t tell how much the solar control glass does because it’s always there iyswim.
The awning definitely helps a lot - and unlike blinds it doesn’t block our view or path out to the garden.

What about a pergola over the French doors with a deciduous climbing plant growing over it which gives you shade in summer but more light in winter - I've done this on a clients extension and it worked very well.

We are in the same boat but not for much longer as we are doing an addition. Window films do NOT work! We paid £2K to have them installed and they do nothing except I think they might have slowed down the furniture fading. The only thing that works are things that block the light almost completely but unfortunately they also block the air, which is a shame because very often it’s not even that hot out.

I do like the idea of an awning outside, I never thought of it! I would definitely go for a something that physically blocks as much sun as possible.

Perfect fit blinds are very good for insulation, they do also block the light and the view, but you could keep them down when not in the room, which would help a lot.
www.blinds-2go.co.uk/perfect-fit

And I would also go for a pergola and climbing plant too, or an retractable awning if you prefer.

For those who have window films, what kinds and where did you get them? The ones which supposedly reduce the heat the most are not fully clear, have a slight tint.

Pergolas look lovely, but I am worried about rodents (or maybe even thieves) using them to get to the windows of the upper floors. Not sure.

External shutters, close them to block out the light, but keep windows behind open for a breeze if outside air is cooler.

@ParentOfOne I think your overthinking the rodent issue - they tend to follow food and shelter not just because there is something to climb.
They only become a climbing issue for intruders if they have infill sides - if they are wall mounted or just have columns they aren't easy to climb.
The best way to stop over heating is to stop the heat before it gets inside so shading outside if more effective than inside

We have a pergola and solar controlled glass but the glass would be enough.

I liked the retractable awnings and would’ve put them on my house had we not moved.

There’s loads of designs available now and they make the space far more usable

We've just paid 5k to have a retractable awning put over our 5m bi-folds. So far they have made a difference on the couple of days warmth we've had so far this year.

We find the kitchen unusable in the summer so I hope this makes it a little less hot.

The awning is large and extends out 3m across the patio. When the bi-folds are open it's lovely as the awning just extends the kitchen outside and it goes over a large table that we can eat at al fresco :-)

Wagsandclaws the awning definitely helps on the super hot summer days - especially if you remember to extend it out early in the day, well before the kitchen starts to heat up.

@wagsandclaws where in the country are you and what company made the awnings for you?

I have a south facing kitchen with an almost completely glass wall.

I put in a ceiling mounted track and hung a privacy blind made of a special light grey fine, weighted, metallic mesh.

You can see through it when it is drawn, but others can’t see in, even with lights on.
It reflects heat out.
You can have the doors open and feel the breeze - it is a bit reduced.
It stops flies getting in even when the doors are open.
When it’s not too hot ( most of time in UK) it is just pulled to one side - we chose to have it in 2 pieces to provide a gap to walk through.

We bought it in the South of France, but it must be available here.

It was called a security curtain and is a bit like very fine chain mail.

@witchlight, do you have a picture? I am not sure I understand what you described

www.metal-curtain.com/metal-curtain/chainmail-curtains.html

This sort of thing, but I know nothing of this company.

www.metal-curtain.com/metal-curtain/chainmail-curtains.html

It was a house ago for me and I don’t have pictures. It important to go for a fairly fine mesh - we had a very pale grey. As I said, I bought them after staying in France with friends who had them.

The mesh gets hot when it’s really hot - think 80’ plus, but stops the hot coming in. Huge plus is,it also keeps flies out. Because it is weighty, it doesn’t flap open when the wind blows. I think I remember light coloured mesh works better than dark.

Internal shutters are massively cooling too, an dyou can open the top to get some light or air in. We have them in s facing living room for that reason.

Sorry, first post should have said I had a south facing kitchen

We have automated honeycomb blinds which are meant to trap the heat but still let plenty of light in.

My parents live in a hot country. They have sliding double doors in the front of their place which let in all the light, sun etc. They have retractable awnings which are fantastic. They give shade on the terrace, keep the indoors cool, and also some protection from the breeze in the cooler months.
Our back doors let in a lot of sun and our neighbours have also got an awning which looks ace and they seem to use all the time. When funds allow I would love to do the same

I have a south facing back of house, and the loft has 4 massive velux windows that basically become huge radiators whenever there is a bit of sun. I tried window films and internal blinds which made no difference at all. Then I fitted external sun blinds which prevent the sun reaching the glass at all and they have made a huge difference. Based on this, and having a similar dilemma in my downstairs rooms at the back, I think the key is to stop the sun reaching the glass so that it can't heat it up. So awnings and/or pergola are the way forward.

Is there any reason you're not considering just fitting a split air conditioning system OP? Because rather than mess about with any special blinds/awnings/films, I'd just fit AC & be done with it. It might even be one of the cheaper options looking at some of the replies!

For the dining room with patio door, we've a retractable awning.
For the kitchen we have lovely horizontal blinds in grey wood effect plastic. Tilt them so we have shade.

Only issue with awnings, you can't really use on a sunny windy day...

@FurierTransform

Is there any reason you're not considering just fitting a split air conditioning system OP? Because rather than mess about with any special blinds/awnings/films, I'd just fit AC & be done with it. It might even be one of the cheaper options looking at some of the replies!

Indeed, why bother with shade and insulation when you could just have air con instead?! Fuck the environment! 🤦🏻‍♀️