The reasons behind why homeowners chose to extend their homes come in many different forms. Here at Home Tales, from our experience, we would say the top three reasons people extend are to (1) benefit from more space, (2) to create a more efficient home and (3) to add value to the property. Period properties like Victorian and Edwardian properties were not necessarily designed for the life we live today. Most families want social areas to relax and be together at the end of a busy day. Food has become much more important in modern day living – both cooking and eating are very much integrated within our daily routines. Both dining areas and space for food preparation have changed massively over the past century, so it’s important that when re-designing the home, we factor in the changes that suit our life today. 

Kitchen islands

With a ground floor extension, it’s very likely we will end up re-designing your kitchen. Having enough countertop space is critical for having a kitchen that is functional and practical to use. Kitchen islands have risen in popularity and are a common request to integrate into our ground floor extension designs. Kitchen islands are a great way to add countertop space and under cupboard storage. They can make for a stunning centrepiece within the room and often come with huge practicalities. It’s common to use them to house either the sink or hob, as the design often encourages the ‘triangle rule’ that promises a practical kitchen. The triangle rule encourages there to be a 3 point or ‘triangle’ of equal distance between your sink, hob and/or oven and fridge.

Kitchen islands can also double up as a dining area. In most cases, we incorporate breakfast bar seating into the kitchen island design. In this case it’s common to create an overflow of countertop space on the side of the island that you want seating. This enables people to sit more comfortably as they don’t have cabinets set against their knees when sitting. The breakfast bar seating is often in addition to a dining area, but it can of course be instead of. This seating is seen as more informal, and for a generous size island, such as 1.2mx2.4m island, can only add 4 breakfast bar seats comfortably.

Dining table 

If you are extending your home, it’s more than likely you’ll have the additional space to be able to accommodate a dining area, should you want to. Extending a property offers a fantastic opportunity to incorporate features within the design that compliment the area and the house as a whole. We completed a 3m rear extension on this property in Croydon. We encourage all of our clients to think about the final design of the house, including what furniture will go where, while we are designing the extension. The reason for this is it’s important to understand how the space is going to work in order to fully utilise the opportunity for a forward-thinking design. Our client understood this was going to be a dining area which enabled us to add a beautiful skylight above the dining table and a stunning floor to ceiling window overlooking the garden. The spotlights further compliment the design, ensuring this is still a feature at night too.

Informal vs formal

We extended this family home in Worthing, BN11. The extension added both length to the kitchen, as well as a utility room and pantry to the rear. The additional space meant that the homeowner could add a small dining area within the kitchen – particularly useful for keeping an eye on small kids while they have their supper! The formal dining area has a 6-seater table is in the ‘middle’ room of the property, overlooking the side return within the garden.

Feature walls

Open plan design is very popular and often used in our designs. If you opt for an open plan design, it’s important you use techniques to ‘zone’ the areas. There are many ways to zone, and a feature wall is one of them. This exposed brick helps to define the dining area within this multifunctional room. The rooflights, exposed steel and wall lights also help to zone the dining area too.

If you want to learn more about our design service, get in touch with team today. We would love to discuss your project in more detail. Call us on 0207 043 2378 or email us at hello@hometales.co.uk. You can also book a consult via our live diary here.