Feedback for my extension plan

[Lilyrenovations]

Hi all,
Just roughly mapping out my plans for a side and back extension and would like some advice on whether there are any obvious issues I've missed/ improvements that can be made.

Non negotiable are a bedroom and bathroom on the ground floor. I've tried to plan it so there are as few structural alterations to the existing house as possible.

Red border indicates the new extension.

Thanks in advance.

The kitchen doesnt feel big enough for the new size of house, and the downstairs bedroom/loo are awkward to get to in my opinion x

I'm not sure a bathroom opening from the rear sitting area is very nice, can there not be a door across to block off the bedroom and bathroom entirely?

The kitchen working area is tiny. I don't think you have enough space for two sitting areas and also a full dining area, and having all those means a very tiny kitchen.

The kitchen is tiny. You need to expand it to include one of the sitting rooms and put the table there.

Why don't you look at floor plans for bigger houses on sale in a few nice neighbourhoods and see if any of their plans work better for you?

The seating area in the middle will be really dark - where will the light come from?

Don't think you need lots of little rooms. Utility cupboard and storage room could be combined.

Just realsed you will knock through between central eating area and back living room. I'd swap so the dining table is by the garden/back of the house.

Our kitchen ended up in the middle of the house when we extended but it’s ok for light, sometimes on the darkest winter days we need to put the under counter lights on in the day but ceiling window generally lets in enough.
what about not having the front room open plan, using all the space in the middle room for a kitchen and then having a dining area in front of the doors. I found this configuration helpful with a family as the dining room table could be used for craft, homework study etc and the front room was separate and had the tv it.

Too many tiny rooms and a really long route to some spaces. Can you make the front sitting room into the bedroom with a door off the hall. Have the office as the bathroom. Then open up all the space at the back to have a kitchen, dining, sitting room facing the garden.

like this?

This extension is going to cost a whole bunch of money. Why on earth don’t you get a professional to design it properly to a decent standard?

The drawing you’ve shown is neither liveable or value adding.

Get a really good architectural designer to design it well, and they will draw it up properly.

I would do this: make lounge the bedroom, old kitchen a bathroom. Extend to rear to create kitchen, diner, lounge.
I'd probably not bother with the long thin bit down the side of your home, unless you really need it. If the downstairs bedroom isn't in permanent use this could be a lounge/office.

I like @Seaside3plan. But I’d probably add a garage and utility and shower room in the side extension (that she has crossed out). If your garden is small you could then reduce the whole extension size by incorporating the current kitchen and dining room into it and just adding living space. If your garden is massive I’d keep the larger foot print though.

That's an enormous extension. Have you checked with your council to see if they have any guidance on householder applications? These normally give an idea of what is generally considered appropriate for front, side and rear extensions. Also have a look online on their planning portal for recent planning applications for extensions to see what has been approved and what has been refused and the reasons for that.

But definitely get an architect or architectural technician to draw up plans - they can give ideas on how to arrange and manipulate space as well as how to make best use of extensions and original floor plans.

I agree with both the kitchen being too small and the risk of the entire extension being too big for you to get permission. We used a company called Home Tales for our extension and loft, they did our designs and planning applications. We went through a few different layouts and sizes with them before deciding what would work best and honestly, what we could realistically afford to build well.