Client brief:
We have a lovely conservatory on the back of the house coming off of our kitchen which we hardly ever use because it is either too hot in the summer or too cold in the winter and doesn’t feel connected. Whilst we like our current kitchen and dining area they are quite dark during the day and we don’t really see the garden Wish list:
A lighter larger kitchen / dining space with an area for general daytime living and it cannot be taller than the conservatory we already have.
The initial consultation took the above client brief forward and we discussed removing the existing conservatory and opening up the rear of the property across 3 areas of the existing house, the dining area, conservatory and kitchen. We agreed against a pitched roof as we had limitations on the pitch we could achieve and aesthetically it would not marry well with the existing side extension, finally we all agreed an Orangery style extension was the way forwards delivering a low roof with a fantastic lightwell and constructed in matching brickwork and detail to the existing property with a very contemporary feel inside and I went away to draw up some initial designs.
Our next few meetings focussed on fine tuning the internal layout space to get the balance right across the 3 areas of kitchen / day space and open study area. An overall concept matched to clients budget was agreed where many of the details such as appliances, worktops, lighting, heating, fenestrations and colours were decided, whilst retaining an open brief for changes along the way as the build evolved and a build time of 8-10 weeks was agreed, this actually extended to just over 11 weeks due to seasonal weather affecting the build.
The Build:
Quite straightforward except for the foundations as the development has been built on reclaimed land and the depth of foundations was an eye watering 2.4 metres! The only other consideration was moving materials in and off of site and whilst we had the good fortune to have use of the entire side of the house for this the access road was very narrow and also the only way in and out for the rest of the residents so considerate logistics planning was maintained and neighbours informed at all times to ensure minimum disruption and keep the peace.
As previously mentioned we wanted the new extension to blend with the existing house so time was taken to find an excellent brick match – unfortunately the original house brick is no longer in production- we also incorporated the existing detailed brickworks into the new extension thereby helping the new build look as though it has always been there.
Both G & J enjoy cooking and being in the kitchen so emphasis on the correct appliances and layout functionality was high on their priorities whilst not overpowering the entire space and so the kitchen evolved into 3 very functional areas with simple clean lines to maintain the open space feel we were looking to achieve, a bank of tall units built into the fabric of the house comprising of tall fridge tall freezer, 2 tall storage larders with internal pull out drawers for ease of organisation of foods and use, 2 single ovens a combi microwave and warming drawer and loads of pull out pan drawers. Opposite this is the hub of the kitchen, a fantastic 2 tier island some 154cm wide by 350cm long split into equal lengths of work space and dining space. The top tier has a state of the art 90cm induction hob plus a discreet prep sink, tap and a pop up multi plug / usb socket for when the need arises. This part of the island also has great storage with 120cm wide pan drawers incorporating internal cutlery drawers, under the hob and additional storage cupboards down the sides plus the all important double zone wine cooler – not too far way from the dining table J The dropped dining table has been fabricated from the same cool Corian to provide comfortable seating for 6 people, or 8 close friends ! Floating over the whole island is a ‘dropped ceiling’ to the same proportion as the lightwell, which provides a great detail an houses the perimetric ceiling extractor – such a cool bit of kit- and also feature lighting over work and dining areas and mood lighting around the top. The final area to the kitchen is a long sweep of base units under a large window looking out to the garden so at least the view when washing up is great. Adjacent to the kitchen we have incorporated 3.5 metre wide, 3 part sliding patio doors which open up on to a great patio for summer dining and also linking to the other areas of the house.
The remaining area is a fantastic open plan day space with floor to ceiling windows to enjoy the garden views a fantastic 3.5 metre long recessed light well over the seating area which brings more daylight in without making it a too hot and the remaining area is an informal study with double doors linking through to the main formal lounge. The whole open plan area has a wet underfloor CH system running off of the existing boiler with a separate control panel and the floor covering is a 60cm x 60cm light charcoal grey riven effect tile and has been closely matched to outside patio this combined with the Grey Aluminium feature windows and doors delivers a stunning and contemporary light airy living space which now feels connected to the outdoors and the rest of the property.
Project duration: 11 weeks
More pics to follow