Modern kitchen extensions: 3 design trends

Home renovations in London homes come in all shapes, sizes and styles. Here at Home Tales, we undertake refurbishments, ground floor side return extensions, rear extensions, first floor extensions and loft conversions. We work with each homeowner as an individual, and tailor everything to that specific client specification. No two properties are the same, and no two homeowners want the same thing. Everyone has different styles and design ideas for how they want their home to work. 

When it comes to a ground floor extension, we typically extend to the rear and/or side of the property. In most cases, this is where the existing kitchen currently sits. As a result, we usually replace the kitchen when we extend. You can keep your old kitchen cabinets and appliances and re-distribute them around the new room. However, most of our clients find that once the shape of the room changes, their kitchen needs to be redone to fit the new space. It’s also likely to be a much bigger space, so it useful to take advantage of the extra potential storage space. We thought we would talk you through some of our most popular kitchen extension styles and trends. 

Kitchen Island 

Kitchen islands are extremely popular and come with a whole host of benefits. The kitchen island will usually draw the eye when you walk into the area and can make for a show-stopping focal point of the room. You can add high top chairs for additional seating, which is particularly useful if you enjoy hosting large parties. Kitchen islands also offer fantastic additional storage units. Typically, you would add either a hob or a sink within the island, but this is really down to personal preference. If you are opting for a kitchen island and you have the space, you might want to consider having the island overlook another ‘zone’ of the room. Once extended, a kitchen in London should be large enough to encompass two ‘zones’ in a room, be that the kitchen and a dining area or the kitchen and a living area.   

Our clients in Croydon have a large house, which spans an impressive 6m in width. We are extending to the rear, adding 3m to the length of the room. As the house has a generous width, we have proposed kitchen units to run the length of the room, wrapping around part of the internal wall to create an l-shape. There will then be a central kitchen island, enclosing the kitchen and creating a super-efficient and practical layout. The kitchen island overlooks the dining area. The dining area will benefit from great views of the garden as its next to a floor to ceiling window, with an architectural rooflight above. We’ve even included a dog seating area for the house pooch. 

Open Plan Living 

We recently designed a ground floor extension in Hammersmith & Fulham, extending into the side return. The homeowner decided to utilise the middle of the ground floor, encompassing it into the newly extended room and create one large open plan area. This room houses the kitchen, a dining area, a utility area and a living area. 

Open plan design is very popular with homeowners, particularly in London where space can be tight. Period properties that were built in the Victorian or Edwardian era typically have lots of individual rooms, often associated with a function. For example, the front living room, the middle dining room and the kitchen to the rear. Today, the demands of modern life call for a more social, multi-functional design, and this is where open plan design has gained momentum. To execute open plan design properly, you need to find a way to give your room defined zones within it. Just some of the ways you can do this is by hanging pendant lighting above a breakfast bar, arranging your rug to enclose a living space or using a rooflight above a dining table. Any visual ques to help a zone look like it has a defined purpose will help to segregate your areas in an open plan setting. 

3 Separate Zones 

In one of our latest designs, which was created for our client in East London, we proposed a side extension. They wanted to give each of their core zones (living, dining and kitchen) a designated area on the ground floor. We have opened up the internal walls to allow natural light flow throughout. We’ve kept the traditional Victorian intention, of having a living area at the front, a dining area in the middle and a kitchen to the rear. Due to the extension, all of these areas have befitted from increased natural light and space. 

In many cases, we put the WC under the stairs. In some cases, the area is too small. For this design, we have placed it behind the stairs, turned at an angle. The other side of the wall will help to encompass the kitchen area and give it a defined zone. As the rear room is only housing a kitchen area, there is plenty of room for a large kitchen island. We have included two large architectural rooflights to help catapult natural light deep into the home. 

For more information on kitchen extension designs, have a read of one of our latest blogs which is all about designs for your home extension. 

If you are thinking of undertaking a home extension, get in touch with our friendly team today. We would love to learn more about your project and issue you with a quote for the work. Call us on 0207 043 2378 or email us at hello@hometales.co.uk. You can also book online via our online booking portal here.   


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