Help with new floorplan please

[fivelittlespeckledhogs]

We’re in the early stages of planning and this is our proposed floorplan / remodel from a side extension. The stairs are being moved and new walls put in as per the pink lines.
What do you think? We’ve no experience of this so does anything look off or could be improved? I’m new so please be gentle with me but I am after criticism!

You don't seem to have much worktop space. Is there a downstairs toilet anywhere?

Thanks. The bit to the right of the sink is a peninsula 2.2 metres wide from the end of the sink. We could go wider (I've not drawn it very well). There's worktop space either side of the cooker and outside the utility room. It's more than we have now but I'll have a good think about how much we need.
There's a downstairs toilet by the front door (at the bottom of the picture)

OP, do you not have an architect who can visit your property and provide you with professional advice?

The basic layout looks fine to me - the only thing I'd change is to move the door to the family bathroom down the wall so it's nearer the bedrooms.

Unless you have soft close doors I wouldn’t want cupboards being banged and noise from cooking right next to the wall of a lounge
Also if you have an extractor fan the noise will be intrusive with the immediately adjoining room and there seems no natural light or window near main food preparation area

are you happy with a corner sink? Position of all the rooms looks good to me but agree with concern about amount of work surface. Presumably you will put hot pans to the right of hob and washing up to right of sink so no long clear run for baking etc. However depends on your lifestyle and kids etc. It would not be enough for me and I would prefer straight wall between kitchen and lounge for smooth run of units. However the whole extension will be a great improvement

@bevelino Yes we have an architect, just asking for opinions form others too.

@SoupDragonoup that a really good idea. Thank you

Lots more advice thanks. Looks like we need to extend the peninsular for more workspace then. We can easily take it out to 2.7 from the edge of the sink. I think I quite like the corner sink. The pans will be tucked around the corner from the dining area a bit and I can look at the garden as I'm washing up. I didn't really want a sink or hob in the middle of a peninsula/island.

We can't really have a long clear run of units along the kitchen/lounge wall as it's stepped. Lack of natural light in the kitchen is an issue although planning on some sort of roof lights above the dining bit. I figured I'd rather be eating and sitting in the sun and using lighting if I need it for cooking. We could move the kitchen forward to the doors - If we did this, which is better dining or sitting in the darker bit?

As well as a roof light over the dining area, I've recently seen (on George Clarke or something this week) a long narrow sky light running along where the roof above the dining area joins the wall.

I think it was the "nnu house" on Extraordinary Extensions actually.

Do you have a drawing of the current layout so we can compare before and after ? It’s hard to tell what you are trying to achieve which is so so important. So, what are the most important things you want from your extension in order from 1 to 5 with 1 being the most important.

For example, 1. An en-suite bathroom, w. Another bedroom, 3. A separate living area with a door that closes off the space form the rest of the house? 4. Larger “live in” kitchen, 5. Open plan living, 5. Skylights and more windows to increase lighting

You get the idea

I’ve renovated every house we’ve lived in and we’ve just finished changing our current house from a 3 bed one bath to 4 bed 3.5 bath with additional teenage space and outdoor studio/study so I’ve lived through making mistakes - most come from not being clear about the reason for doing the extension to start with - being clear allows you to make the right trade offs and not regret afterwards

Purely based on what you’ve drawn I would think about splitting the main bathroom upstairs so it allows duel usage (two kids at once) - I’ll try to find an example and post it here - we did this as we have a boy and girl who got to stage and didn’t want to share anymore

Split family bathroom examples

@SoupDragon I’ve looked that up. I like the idea of a strip along the join.

Thanks @LadyBrienne here is the current layout. There’s no pink but the green lines are what there is now. Important things we want from this:-

1. Separate study for messy wfh. Small is fine. This is currently happening in what is supposed to be my dining room.
2. Larger dining area connected to/in kitchen . We have a (long, thin) dining room now but it is separate from the (long, thin) kitchen diner which is too small to seat more than 4 people. I guess this is your ‘Larger “live in” kitchen’
3. A fourth bedroom
4. Utility room
5. Retain our current separate cozy sitting room

Splitting the bathroom is an interesting idea. I’ll have a think about that.

I like it. Where will your oven be? I think the key thing for worktop space is to be able to plate up properly with room for your baking trays etc so try to imagine where you'd do this and decide if the hob is better offset or centred

I did wonder while you are doing work if it would make sense to move your living room door towards an end. Coming in at the centre looks awkward for furniture layout but if you don't have a fireplace perhaps it's fine.

Consider good undercounted lighting for your kitchen. Feels more natural if it's a little dark.

I stood like an idiot pretending to open doors but it's these small details that make all the difference aythe better you understand your space the easier it will be when you are being asked for decisions through the build

Ok so I would change the kitchen a bit - I did a corner sink once for same reason you’ve said - never again - such a waste of space and it was so annoying for anyone to try to access things either side - additionally I would put cupboards on the kitchen/lounge wall - they would just need to be custom built - it will make it so much more useful in terms of space usage

I’ll try to draw a suggestion something and post

Ok here goes

1. Refrigerator
2. Sink
3. Stove / hob and oven
4. Island with breakfast bar for sitting at

Re the kitchen lounge wall , depending how big the step gap is, you could even do a hidden cupboard with the door behind the kitchen door for supplies, Hoover, broom, safe, or whatever

The first layout on here that I think “yes, I could live here”. Looks great!

Lots to think about here. The kitchen/lounge wall will have floor to ceiling units. I keep flipping between having the oven in here or having a range cooker. I think range will win.
The lounge door in the middle works. We have sofas down each side and fire in the middle. We like this.
@LadyBrienne you've given me food for thought. Thanks for your layout.