any good kitchen/extension websites for ideas please?

[chimchar]

am looking for any websites/chat forums/ ideas/planning stuff...anything really! planning an extension and desparate for ideas.

thanks.

Hi There,

Living Etc. website is really good for ideas. Also last month Living Etc and Elle Decoration both had kitchen features with nice design ideas. I would also recommend you do a trip to Ikea and any other kitchen suppliers near you to pick up ideas. And you can easily copy top end designer kitchens using Ikea cabinets and then splashing out on nice worktops, sink and taps. Just make sure you have a good kitchen fitter!

With regards the process you will need an architect to do your drawings and planning permission application. Then you will need a structural engineer to produce structural calculations and drawings for things such as lintels and steel beams. You may also need a party wall surveyor (depends how close your neighbours are). You will then use the architect drawings and structural drawings to brief your builders and obtain quotes for the work. And before you start building you will need to submit a full plans building regulations application but the architect will probably take care of this for you. If you want to get this project moving quickly there are a number of ways you can save time with the way you schedule the different parts of the process and I will happily share this with you if you think it would help although it might be easier to chat this through over the phone (otherwise it could be a long message!).

Also it is a super time to be doing a project like this as there are so many discounts to be had at the moment, just negotiate like made.

Katherine.

hi katherine. thanks so much for your message.

we're going to build (or hoping to!) a two storey extension across theback of our house. big kitchen/diner with tri fold glass doors, and two bedrooms upstairs. internal measurments will be about 6.5 metres in width by 3.5m in length.

we're actually waiting for the plans to be approved by the planning dept...guy came over and monday. our joined on neighbours (we're semi detached) submitted an objection. the man said we'd have a decision by next wed, but did say that we didn't need planning if it was only going to be a single story....we'll see. fingers crossed eh?

we do have an issue with the party wall...our neighbours extension is seemingly build on bugger all, and there is a large crack on his wall before we've started anything....fil is our builder, and he, a building regs guy and our structural engineer guy have all said to excavate then fill in small sections...

i have no idea why i'm telling you all this...lol. its nice to talk about it to someone who is vaguely interested!!!

have seen the kitchen i fancy..its in wickes..called york. [www.wickeskitchens.co.uk/KitchenRanges/KitchensProductPage.asp?section=Inverness although its not expensive, i'm not sure if we can afford it though after all the work. may have to settle for a "take out" b&q one..

anyway. its all still a dream at the moment. got everything ready to go, just planning needed.

try again

housetohome.co.uk is great for lovely pics and ideas

ace! thanks noddy....i'm so excited looking at house porn!

Hi Chim Char,

Fingers crossed you get planning permission!

I wouldn't worry too much about party wall just make sure you get a good party wall surveyor and get them to do a survey of your neighbours house so that they don't try screwing you for things that weren't caused by your building work. If they want to be difficult they can't stop you doing the work (if you have planning permission) but they can insist they appoint their own surveyor which then gets expensive and takes longer. Let's hope they aren't that savvy about such things!

Your extension sounds lovely and you seem to have everything well planned out. The kitchen you have chosen is lovely. My friend did a very similar kitchen from Wickes (may even be the same one) and it looked really nice. She did the belfast sink and oak work top and large 60x60 cream floor tiles.

My only design tips are:

1. Wickes bi-folding patio doors are superb and very reasonably priced and they come in widths up to 12ft i think. Just make sure you varnish them with clear varnish, otherwise they can look a bit orange if you try putting wood stains on them.
2. Franke taps are expensive but absolutely brilliant, there sinks are great too
3. Floor tiles - if you decide to go for floor tiles then the bigger the better, 60x60s look great
4. B&Q kitchens aren't that cheap, if you need a cheap option Ikea will be cheaper and a reasonable quality

Very exciting indeed! Fingers and toes crossed for you. We have just finished ours and it was worth every minute of effort.

Katherine.

extensions here

kitchens here

We were hoping to do a similar kitchen extension this summer, but i got made redundant so not happening now . Good luck with yours!!

Can I ask, if you do a 2 storey extension how do you create the new bedrooms? Do you lose one of the existing rooms to create access to the new bedrooms?

our landing has a "turn" to the right going up a few stepa...access to the new bedrooms will have a "turn" to the right...we'll just lose a sort of door opening size square in each new bedroom doorway iykwim? does that make sense?

why do you ask?
did i miss something obvious on my plans?

Noooo. We are getting a kitchen extension on a modern 4 bed detached and I'm wondering if it would be worth going to 2 stories and if we would beable to get an extra bedroom.

lol.

the cost of going two stories is not double of the single storey if that makes sense.

plus we need the bedrooms as much as the kitchen!

my spelling on this thread is terrible!

Good luck with the planning - the rules have been relaxed, so that will help I'm sure. We've even got planning through for clients on a flood plain... I know - daft, but there you go - it's what they want and we got them the permission to build! And you're so right about the cost of a two-storey, definately worth doing if you can go that little bit extra.

Please think twice about a B&Q kitchen....try for the Wickes one...it's lovely and DP fits kitchens and builds extensions all the time and he won't have a bad word said about Wickes! Says they're remarkably good to fit and well made for the price! Also agree with KB71 - IKEA are actually really good too, and once again, lovely to fit.

Just thought I'd add my thoughts! Good luck

thanks again for your thoughts...

went to wickes yesterday to get the kitchen costed....its out of our budget by quite a bit.

will look at howdens (fil is trade) and pop to ikea too.

the wickes york was just the one i'd set my heart on and nothing else is matching it....sniff sniff!