Open mind, open-plan kitchen…

When you feel limited by the layout of your very own kitchen and nothing’s cooking anymore, it’s time to stir things up.

Open-plan kitchen extensions, designed to expand living areas to create one big space to cook, dine and entertain in, are still very much top of the home improvement leaderboard. New and evolving ideas make for ever changing designs that go with the times and adapt to your personal needs.

If done well, open-plan kitchen extensions offer enhanced natural lighting, ample storage and a space that’s equally practical as well as functional. What’s more, they’re a great solution for smaller homes, and embrace a more informal way of living regardless of your property’s age.

We’ve designed, managed and built many side, rear, L-shaped/wrap around kitchen extensions as part of wider projects over the years. Which type of kitchen extension suits your home, will depend on the available space, property style, local planning regulations, whether you’re located in a conservation area and of course your budget.

Here’s a little throwback that’ll take you through some kitchen extension projects delivered by Cube, so you can explore ideas and work out which design might work best for your home:

A house extension with a view in Hampton Hill

Cube’s answer to a Hampton Hill home owner’s brief was a sympathetic extension to the rear. Imagine this like an addition that matches the existing architecture and materials, and as if the extension had always been there.

We installed a combination of modern slim-framed sliding doors, a large picture window as well as a Crittall glass door and large Velux windows to the pitched roof. The end result is a stunning open-plan kitchen and dining area with wonderful views of a cobbled courtyard and landscaped garden. We also found space for a large utility and tiled shower room by reconfiguring the existing ground floor.

When wrap around extensions work their magic…

If your extension goes into the side addition and also wraps around the back of the house, you refer to an L-shaped or wrap around extension. This property in West London gained a big kitchen living area looking out onto our client’s garden. Our focus was to add a modern twist whilst following the existing contours of the traditional roof. Clean lines, frameless glass and a smooth rendered finish complement the house and give it a contemporary feel. The standout element of this design is the vaulted ceiling which beautifully floods the kitchen with light, creating a great sense of height and space.

Opening up the existing dining room and kitchen, removing walls and installing steel beams to support the original structure, allowed Cube to extend and transform the rear of this semi-detached Surbiton home into a spacious kitchen and dining room with a separate study/playroom.

Both rooms take advantage of wide glazed openings that provide easy access to the newly created patio and let in plenty of natural sunlight. The installation of underfloor heating throughout completes this transformation into a truly warm and welcoming space.

We also connected the existing front living room to the new kitchen/dining space with a double pocket door which means our clients now have the flexibility to either fully open up the ground floor space or close off the front room to create a cosy family room when required.

Old meets new in Strawberry Hill

The owners of this house in Strawberry Hill were after a kitchen/dining/family space, yet it was important to them that we retained some original features. Cornice, picture rails and the fireplace were kept and through a balanced approach of integrating with the old house and also contrasting, we achieved a stylish, contemporary rear extension. Our focus was also on capturing that light and airy feel which many of our clients look for in an open-plan kitchen extension. We opted for large flat roof windows and full height bifold doors to make the most of natural light and establish a seamless flow from indoors to outdoors.

Keeping it rear

Rear extensions are incredibly popular and you’ll find plenty of examples in the extension section of our website.

As the name suggests, your property will only be extended at one end, giving you plenty of options to allow maximum light to flow into your newly created space. This type of extension can either have a flat, mono or centre-pitched roof.

If you’re more of a visual person, we’ve got a wonderful example of a mono-pitched roof with fully glazed sliding garden doors for you to browse. A vaulted ceiling and frameless skylights make this shaker style kitchen shine brightly.

A project we completed in Walton-on-Thames nicely demonstrates how we incorporated an overhung roof to complement the contemporary finish of a beautiful open-plan kitchen, living and dining room.

Perhaps you’re keen to achieve a more traditional countryside feel for your open-plan kitchen, in which case we’d recommend taking a look at this stunning rear extension in Hinchley Wood.

Also, take a look at what can be achieved if the rear extension is built out far enough to accommodate Velux windows to the side return and rear by visiting this Teddington project. The bright pink splash back provides a fun, bold colour pop; working with strong shades like this continues to be a very popular design trend for open-plan kitchens.

The Richmond showstopper

Many of those who enquire about our end-to-end services and have browsed Cube’s coffee table book love this particular open-plan kitchen, diner and family room in Richmond. A two-storey side and rear extension gave the kitchen of this 1930’s home a brand new lease of life and the property is now beaming with space. The pitched roof of the extension is a sympathetic classic design that shows off the matching roof tiles and brickwork whilst still adopting the more modern bifold doors in the rear wall.

Go for your own curated look

We also designed, managed and built a side extension for this large, detached family home in Weybridge and a kitchen extension that accommodates a spacious kitchen, family and dining room in a four storey Victorian house in East Molesey. We could go on and on with fantastic open-plan examples from our portfolio but, what’s most important, is that Cube is here to curate a space that’s tailored to your very own personal needs and choices.

We offer our clients a bespoke end-to-end service, handling every step of the project, including what can sometimes be complicated matters such as planning permission. Our team is here to answer any questions you may have and to get your project under way.

Why not get in touch today?