Give me your advice/ tips about creation of a large kitchen/ breakfast room with doors to garden please...

[FluffyHamster]

We have reasonable size square kitchen, a smaller (currently) playroom adjacent, and a long (waste of space) corridor next to them.

We want to knock down the corridor and adjoining walls to create a big kitchen/ breakfast room, and put double doors from breakfast room into the garden (which is currently accessed through side door out of utility room (ugly!) ).

If you've ever done this sort of thing, can you tell me :

• what you wished you had/ hadn't done
• what ideas your builder/ architect came up with which were fab

• any other thoughts about things we need to be aware of/ consider/ plan

It seems like a huge project, and I really want to get it right. When we had a loft conversion a few years ago there were definitely things afterwards which I wished we'd thought about!

Anyone around?

Sounds lovely.

Depending on what kind of flooring you decide on I think about putting an inset mat at the garden door to wipe feet before coming in.

I have a room like this. Best thing I think we did was to put bottom kitchen cupboards and a worktop jutting out to make a break between the kitchen bit and the dining room bit. I wanted there to be a "divide" where one area finished and one began. Its more useful than a breakfast bar as we actually get cupboard space.

I wish we hadn't put a carpet down in the dining room part as I'm constantly having to shampoo it as it gets mucky from people/dog coming in from the garden.

We have a room like this. At the same time as we had our extension/new kitchen, our neighbours did the same thing, only on an even bigger scale (both did it last summer). Both really pleased with the results.

We added a small extension on to our strangely shaped kitchen (which was wide/square when you walked into the room, but narrowed down into a galley kitchen. We turned it into a big, rectangular kitchen and dining area/breakfast room). We also replaced a fugly old side door with french doors at the end of the room and to one side, leading on to the garden. We chose to add some new, larger windows to replace some small, boxy windows, too. Our neighbours chose to put in a skylight. Skylight has more of a wow factor (and cost more, too!), but either way, both options let in more light, and you have to consider this seriously. The bigger the room, the more light you need to let in.

I would say - keep it simple. Our architect came up with three different plans of varying degrees of complexity and we chose the simplest one.
Also, think about the big basic. How are you going to keep a larger space warm? Will you splash out on underfloor heating? Or put in a new radiator or two? If you do choose some sort of skylight/conservatory-style extension, how will you keep it cool? Will you need special blinds made, fro example? What type of flooring will you have? Real wood will be very expensive for a large space, but might be cosier underfoot than stone or slate. You will really want something easy to keep clean, though!

Waffling now, but am happy to answer any other questions you might have [

Oh, and like Stripey, we also have a 'return' bit of cupboard space/worktop space which gives a bit of a divide between the eating area and kitchen. Gives you that open plan feeling, but also some separation.

we are about to do this too. i am bit annoyed the architect spent time (and charged us by the hour) for 3 drawings and we went with the simplest one which is what we clearly asked for. So my tip would be make sure you get clear brief and breakdown of costs from architect.

by the way, any idea what is a usual cost for an architect? trying to feel better about the money being spent/wasted

another tip - try not to have too much glass in roof as it can be too bright on a very sunny day and look like a black hole at night.

planning on doing same, not much to add to above although hoping to build patio to same level as flooring inside so when you open french doors there is no step ie flows straight onto patio (not sure if i have described this right!!!)

Definitely think hard about flooring. We had carpet at the breakfast end of our kitchen/breakfast room with french windows out onto the garden and it was impossible to keep clean. we had Karndean put down in the end there - superb!

We did the same, and like other posters we have a return dividing the space a bit (I hate being in the kitchen when people come and hover, but also don't want to feel isolated) and we LOVE it. Depending on your DCs ages, you might think about this being more of a breakfast bar as you can then hang a highchair off it so DC can be up high with you when eating or when you're cooking. We got the P&Ts Me Too for this.

We wished we'd used the opportunity to wire up outdoor lights. We kinda messed up the indoor lights too, although too many is probably better than too few.

DH dug out the foundations for this - basically dug down about a metre - which saved us LOADS of cash, at least £1k.

We spent that cash on having big oak french doors made which was our biggest cost, but well worth it (I have a bit of a thing about PVC windows).

I wish we'd done more in the way of eco building

The RIBA should be able to help you source an architect or give you an idea of standard rates.

Good luck, it's a great thing to do - it's really changed our house so much. I love it.

We did similar. We had a small kitchen and underused dining room at the back of the house. We extended out across the back of the house by 4 metres, knocked all the walls down and we now have a kitchen/dining room with sofa space aswell.

We have our kitchen on one side with a return aswell which houses the dishwasher and washing machine aswell as cupboard space.
The cooker is facing the wall which I like because the only problem with a big kitchen is people hang around in it watching me cook which I hate.

We love it, it's changed the way we live alot. We hardly ever go in our lounge now which is quite small, where as before the extension we used to spend most of our time there.

We have wooden floor throughout the room aswell which works fine.

Make sure the doors to the garden are bloody well insulated and the end of the room os adequately heated.We have a bit of a cold spot becasue the doors are crap and the radiator is slightly too far away.

Things I love about my kitchen/dining room:

Great engineered wooden floor with loads of knots in so all the dirt is hidden

Loads of plugs,two cutlery drawers

Drawers for all the pots and pans instead of cupboards

Mahoosive double pull out larder for all food etc.

Things I wish we could change:

I wish could have seperated the spot lights so half could be turned on instead of only the full lots which cost a fortune.

double doors that don't let in the cold.

Oh and finally we had huge problems with our neighbours who were clearly mental.Read up on the party wall act and get them on your side.

Hello
I feel like the OP is my double! We're doing this right now - just engaged an architect - total cost around £2K for everything (inc building regs etc) though not sure whats going to happen with the party wall - esp as my neighbour is a council house!
I'm interested in the tips - hadnt thought about heating/flooring properly yet!
ANy more hints/tips welcome - I'm DREADING the building work!

We built a big 9m by 3.5m kitchen / breaksfast room extension onto our hour about 4 years ago and i love it.

Things I love:-
(1) 3 separate sets of light switches - one set over the main kitchen units, one set over kitchen island and then one set over the dining area. The set over the dining table is also on a dimmer switch!!
(2) having a big central island which has massively wide drawers for pans, cutlery and spices and extra cupboards in it too for further storage
(3) having the space on one side of the island to make a breakfast bar - room for 3 people to sit at on high stools.
(4) having power sockets on the island so that I can out the dd's up there and we can make cakes, use mixers, etc.
(5) having a huge full height fridge - freezer is in the utility room.

Things I wish I'd done differently:
(1) if you have the money, I would definitely go for those folding doors out to the garden. WE just have normal patio doors and some exptra window space either side and it drives me mad!
(2) again, subject to funds available, paying for the quietest dishwasher possible. If you spend as much time in the place as we do and also use it as the main places for friends coming over for dinner - having a noisy dishwasher is really antisocial!

Hope this helps!

Tiles throughout with u/f heating
We swept the 2 chimneys and have open fires at both ends.
Lots of windows
Integrated appliances make it feel less utility and more of a room
Room for the biggest table you can as we congregate here and table always full of stuff
Build storage up to the ceiling for stuff you don't use much

these are great...we're waiting for our plans to be approved, and plan on doing the same thing..

am stressing slightly about it all...i don't know where to start!

Re power sockets on island yes.
Also maybe consider having wall units which conceal your food processor (etc) so that it's there, constantly plugged in but can be pushed back in a cupboard at work surface height (no lugging about) and keep your surfaces clear?

We have just finished something very similar.

Advice from me would be...

1....Skylights/velux windows (we had a slanted roof not a flat roof put on the extension). We opted for two large velux windows and the look is fab, it is what people comment on when they first see it. It brings such great light into the room, and it is great to see the sky out of your kitchen roof!!!).

2... Flooring. If you have children that will be coming in from the garden with muddy shoes get a flooring that is easy to clean. We opted for Pergo (it is an expensive laminate). It doesnt dent or mark at all, so very hard wearing. We are really pleased with it. I clean it with a microfibre floor mop. Also put a mat at the door!!!

3... Granite worktops... i understand this is a matter of taste but we opted for star falaxy granite which twinkles under the velux windows!!!

We are very pleased with ours, lots of upheaval but worth it.