A kitchen extension can open up space, and easily transform your home into a beautiful modern area that is comfortable to live in. The extension you choose will max out your living and cooking space, and increase the value of your home.

If you’ve always wanted to scale up space and live more comfortably, an open-plan kitchen might be your best bet.

There are many types of kitchen extensions to choose from, and a myriad of ways to use your area to make the house spacious to live in. Here are some of the types of extensions you can choose from:

 

Single Storey Kitchen Extension

 

If your kitchen lacks space, a single-storey kitchen extension can help you with expansions in your home.

You can expand the first floor of your home, and add some space for dining, extra workspace now that work from home is a basic requirement, or space for additional appliances.

Choosing a single-storey extension will enable you to incorporate more space into your home, and provide you with a bigger area to bring in some natural light. It is a cost-effective way for you to have an open plan kitchen space that you’ve always wanted, without needing to move into a bigger space.

 

Side Return Kitchen Extension

If your house has a ‘side return’ (a narrow strip of land that runs alongside the ground floor of a property), it is probably being used to house equipment that you don’t use. Typically, this is used as a storage area.

Usually, side return extensions are built into Victorian or Edwardian era buildings.

Even though it may appear to just be a limited amount of space, it is actually a significant area that can be used to help make your kitchen more spacious.

While side return extensions can also help you save garden space, a side return kitchen extension definitely adds value to your property as it gives you a much larger kitchen bringing more light into your kitchen space. And it only sets you back by £2,000 to £5,000 per square metre, so it is definitely an investment worth considering.

 

Wraparound Kitchen (L-Shaped Extension)

A wrap-around kitchen is an L-shaped extension utilising the extra space outside your kitchen to maximise the space in your home.

It is basically a side-return extension combined with a rear house extension.

For growing families, this is a good option as the kitchen extension can increase space and transform how it feels to be at home. It also helps create a flow between your house and garden bringing the outdoor space in using bi-folding floors, skylights, light-wells or patios.

However, it is worth looking into how to plan a wraparound kitchen extension as it can be quite challenging to create such a space without proper planning.

 

Rear Kitchen Extension

 

In case there is no room to the side of the property that can be expanded upon, a rear extension is a good option.

It can transform the look of a house and create more space at the back and open it up to the garden, enabling you to entertain guests in an open living space. You can use light-wells and skylights to ensure enough light flows into your living area and make it a breathable, comfortable living area.

 

Conservatory-Style Kitchen

 

Usually, conservatories are added to the main house as a separate entity, however, these days, conservatories are used as extensions due to the flexibility they can offer.

Conservatory-style kitchens must be built keeping in mind the exterior and interior of the rooms in your home. These extensions can bring in a lot of light into the kitchen area. However, you must ensure that the glazing is appropriate and can keep the kitchen at the right temperature in summer as well as winter. Make sure the glazing is easily cleanable, as they may gather grease or dirt from cooking.

With conservatory kitchen extensions, you do save a lot more than with a typical house extension because conservatories are priced depending on the size and style you require, while house extensions are priced per square metre.

 

Planning Permissions

Once you pick an extension, you must find out if you require planning permission for it, and check with the council, as rules may differ based on your location, property type, or proximity to next door.

Zeroing in on the kind of kitchen extension may be contingent on the size and shape of the space available outside your home, and by what is allowed by your local council.

The most common kitchen extensions are either side return extensions or wrap-around extensions but you must choose an extension based on what you like and what suits you most. You can also get a free home feasibility study and use the advice you get to plan a kitchen extension that will make your home more spacious and useful for daily use while staying within your budget.

 

Want to revamp your kitchen without breaking the bank? We can help you give it a spasmodic upgrade to meet the trends and make your space look exquisite.

There are quite a few things you can do which wouldn’t count as a major overhaul (in terms of cost) but would feel like that’s exactly what you’ve done.

Of course, if it’s an overhaul you’re after, we do specialise in that, but that’s not what this post is about.

Painting all your kitchen furniture can be a lot of work, and it’s not that cheap if done right. What’s the workaround?

We suggest you simply concentrate on the area of the wall above countertops, leaving the rest as it is. Feel free to get a bit creative and look into washable paints, or even wallpapers that look like tiles. You will find that there are a lot of great options to choose from, including wall-coverings that are very easy to install, adhesives included.

By concentrating on only one part of the wall, you can breathe new life into your kitchen’s look and feel. We won’t be surprised if you told us (in the comments below) how it feels like a brand new kitchen once the paint dries up.

Even the work of repainting this section will be therapeutic, so why not give it a go?

It’s not exactly a mind-blowing idea to install shelves, but it can do so much both in terms of creating an inclusive open space while also giving you more storage space.

What’s the point of cluttering up your cupboards and pantry closets when you can use sections of empty walls to gain some storage space? Of course, this would be a good place to showcase any fancy kitchenware you have.

If you want to take the same concept a step further, get hold of some crate boxes from the flower shop when it’s about to close, and place it in an unused corner of the kitchen to store pots, or potatoes even.

And just like that, with just a couple of additions, you’ve increased access, opened up the room, added more storage space and spent almost nothing in doing so.

The more you turn it on, the more it flows. But if your faucet is leaky, replacing it with a bold colour is a no brainer.

It’s amazing how stylish a kitchen can look with a red or black faucet. They’re not very expensive, fairly easy to install, and a great chance for you to give this space a bit more attention.

Faucets are often relegated to the background but here is a chance for you to make your kitchen more attractive with a simple change that is pretty cost effective.

And if you’re someone who spends a lot of time bent over the sink, you will start looking forward to that time with a brand new and bold tap, that doesn’t leak either.

Replacing your old chairs can give your kitchen a new life. Not only do they help you set a new tone of the room, if you pick the right ones you can add splash of colour as well.

If you have a round table, you want to get round chairs, square chairs for a square table and so on. But that’s just a guideline. One of the funkiest kitchens we’ve seen had a wide array of styles and designs so that every chair was unique. And it looked great.

Visit thrift shops for some good bargains and don’t miss your local charity shop for a good steal. It’s often the case that people find a good bargain on chairs only to find out it will cost them a fortune to have them delivered.

If you’re trying to be funky with different types of chairs, just use your own sense of style to judge if they all share a common theme, design element or style to bring it all together on your dining table.

One of the easiest ways to give your kitchen a brand new look is to simply replace the cabinets. We say easy because you can set your budget and then find the best design that fits within that. But it’s not an easy decision to make because the best cabinets need to be coordinated with everything else in the kitchen.

This wouldn’t be a cheat sheet if it meant redoing your whole kitchen, so our advice is to find cabinet doors that are simple yet reflect the style of your kitchen. If you’re colour coordinating, new cabinet doors and new (matching) kitchen blinds can give you that revamped look that you’re looking for.

If replacing cabinets is currently out of your budget, you might want to consider a fresh lick of paint to do the job. Just head to your B&Q or Lewis or what have you, grab the colours and rollers and off you go. It’s not only a fun activity, it’s also very therapeutic to put those layers on.

To give it a proper renewed touch, pick up some new knobs or door handles while you’re at it. Just make sure you remove the old handles before painting and screw in the new ones after the paint has dried.

Having at least one key feature in your kitchen can help you make this space more trendy. No man is an island, but if the man wants more worktop space and a bit of storage space he wouldn’t mind a kitchen island. That is, if you have the room for it.

Kitchen islands come in all shapes and sizes, so there’s a chance you can fit one in quite easily – to gain extra storage space you need to lose floor area. But it’s a great idea if your kitchen revamp also involves decluttering and extension of surfaces.

And yes, this is possible to do without the expense of a remodel.

In the end, renovating the old kitchen is almost always a good idea – even more so when you have a little budget to go with it.

You need to have a good idea of what you want to achieve with this space before proceeding. Consider the addition of modern elements to uplift the ambiance. If you’re considering an open kitchen layout, getting rid of doors or replacing them with sliding ones can also help you create that space.

Many of our clients are now opting for bi-fold doors when undertaking house extension and/or refurbishment works to their homes because they can connect your garden and conservatory in a beautiful way.

Bi-fold doors can create a glazed screen effect that many people are now preferring to a French door option allowing the maximum ingress of light in inclement weather and easily glide to open up an entire wall in warmer weather.

If you’re getting a kitchen extension, or if feel your dining room is too tight, bi-fold doors can easily become the focal point of your new space as it can help flood your home with light, improve visibility and at the very least, create an illusion of more space.

They can be made-to-order, which is to say they will match the desired colour and size, and for the ultimate designer look, they can be made from aluminium to leave no chance of warping, corroding, rotting or rusting.

There are many configurations that can be taken into account when designing the doors, for example, placing the opening as the side so the sashes all fold one way at one end to create a single entrance door, or to fold in the middle to give the option of a double door.

You can enhance and create panoramic views by adding glass windows above your new doors to, for example, enjoy a wider view of your freshly-cut grass.

How does a bi-fold door open?

You can open a bi-fold door by folding the back panels, also known as ‘leaves’. The folding doors are easy to slide open and the panels fold together and get stacked against the wall.

Are there any other names for bi-fold doors?

Bi-fold doors are also called concertina doors, folding doors or panoramic doors.

Is there any restriction on where you can use bi-fold doors?

Bifold doors can be used both externally and internally. Their configuration can easily be customised such that you can have a primary door for everyday use without needing to slide all the panels open every time.

What are some alternatives to bifold doors?

Traditional French doors have been all the rage in the past before bi-fold doors came around. Another alternative to bifold doors are sliding patio doors.

How many panels can a bifold door have?

Bi-fold doors fold in pairs, so the first thing you need to decide is whether you want to have an odd number of panels, with one designated as a traffic door, or if you want an even number. Odd configurations come in 3, 5 and 7, while even ones come in 2, 4 and 6 panels.

Below are a few examples of bi-fold doors installed by Craymanor Limited:

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