Side Return - ground floor layout advice

[lucy_n]

Hi,

I am looking for advice from people who have already gone through a side return to a kitchen in a terrace house. We are currently exploring the options for a side return to our property and the different internal layouts the ground floor could have. Our reception room and dining room are currently opened into one another, with one entrance through the dining room and they are not huge rooms.

Looking at other side returns the most common lay out appears to be having two kitchen entrances - one through the corridor by the stairs, and one into the dining room. With a downstairs toilet in the middle of these (if that makes sense!)

We have seen some examples of the kitchen not being opened up into the dining room and instead there is a laundry room/toilet there.

A third option presented to us was to shut off the traditional kitchen entrance by the stairs and put a downstairs bathroom and laundry area there. Then opening the whole of the back of the dining room into the kitchen.

I am struggling to decide which would enable best use of the space and what would be most family friendly. I am concerned about creating a long corridor where the side return is and turning the current dining room into an unused space with no purpose.

If you have any experience or advice I would hugely appreciate it.

Thanks very much,

Lucy

[MrBuggins]

Hi, our extension is a work in progress so not sure how well it will work but we are closing off the door to the kitchen and putting a tiny wc in the space between that and the cellar door. This gives us more worktop / cupboard space in kitchen. The kitchen will be accessed through what was the dining room but will now be playroom with some built in cupboards to hide the noisy plastic junk. Our living room is still separate though at front so a bit different to your layout. Good luck with it whatever you decide on.

[lucy_n]

Hi Mr Buggins,

Thanks so much for getting back to me. I would love to hear how your extension is going and the finished result, it all seems quite daunting at the moment! I think having the ability to separate the sitting room and make it more of an adult room is quite important, somewhere that you can escape the toys!

Good luck with it.

[James Barber]

Hi lucy_n,

You might want to look at the plans for such extensions that have been granted on the Southwark Council planning portal:

http://planbuild.southwark.gov.uk:8190/online-applications/advancedSearchResults.do?action=firstPage

If you selected ward - East Dulwich and DEvelopment type - minor dwellings

It will take some sifting as the brand Portal is much less easy to use than the old one but you will see schemes and hopefully they'll help inspire you.

[LondonMix]

We recently did something similar. It really depends on how much space you have and how you want to live. Like you our two front reception rooms can be open to one another (we have doors that can be closed between them but they are usually left wide open. The front room is the lounge and the middle room is the dining room. Like you, to get to the lounge, you have to enter the dining room which is open to the hallway. This layout doesn?t really allow for either of the reception rooms to become a play room and personally we like having a separate dining room for regular dinner (I don?t like eating surrounded by kitchen mess and we entertain regularly).

We created a direct opening from the dining room to the kitchen. It?s connected via a pocket sliding door so that most of the time its left open so light can flow through and when I am cooking I can easily see and chat with our guests.

The kitchen is more of a family room / breakfast kitchen. We have a large island with counter height seating with proper seat-backs so it is very comfortable and has room for 5 people. When people come over, despite the fact there is a sofa, almost everyone sits around the island. Having the extension include a family room was great for us as its right by the garden. So we have a lounge and dining room and a kitchen where you can eat breakfast combined with a family room.

The description above might be hard to understand but if you want to come by and take a look PM me.

Good luck!

[lucy_n]

Hi James and LondonMix,

Thank you so much for your advice on this, we have lots to think about!

Any further advice would be gratefully received.

Thanks,

Lucy

[bobby's bear]

We are starting ours soon and have decided to keep the two entrances as I worried that if we shut off the access from the hall it would make the dining room end of our lounge a glorified corridor to the kitchen.

I envision the dining room end will become a playroom for the kids with easy open access down into the kitchen from it.

But we'll see!!

[alice]

has anyone knocked the wall between back dining room and hall /passage then creating a wider entry to kitchen. and does it work?

[The Nappy Lady]

We did our side return about a year ago. But kept a 'courtyard garden so double doors from lounge open into the courtyard.

Hall door opens into what was the dining room - the bay window we put french doors also into the courtyard and have a settee there.

Then the kitchen opens out across the entire width of the back of the house, e.g. extended out in to the side return, with the kitchen now where the side return was, and room for a lovely big table that seats up to 10 (usually 6 though) with easy access all around. Kitchen sink is beneath a window looking into the courtyard and towards the sitting room, and then big bi-fold doors across the back of the house, and a velux in the side return roof.

Love our set up, and that we can still have doors from the sitting room opening up into fresh air, and the layout as a whole has changed our lives as a family, I literally live in my kitchen now between settee, table and cooking!!! Hubby and kids use the sitting room more though!!

Still managed to fit a downstairs loo in as well, which is at the end of the hall (by stealing a bit of what was the dining room.

Not sure if I have explained this very well, but it's an alternative way of doing things, and I am told Southwark are happier giving planning for this than a full side return too!

Shout if I can be of any further help.

Amanda