When planning a new kitchen, the space must not only have the wow factor but also function practically for everyone. 

In the words of Bauhaus, I believe form should always follow function, and a kitchen should ultimately be a practical space for cooking and storing food in.  Gone are the days of formal meals in a separate dining room, with open-plan kitchen diners taking the lead in the layout stakes, allowing families to spend more time together and have space for entertaining.  

Many of my clients extend the back of their house with either a side return or a full-width extension that incorporates the kitchen, dining space, and possibly even a living area. This is becoming increasingly common, particularly in London, where space is at a premium. 

People are realising they can make better use of the area they already have, and I enjoy nothing more than designing a room that will make my clients’ lives that little bit easier. 

Extending your house can often provide the ideal space in which to design an open-plan kitchen-diner.  

These communal spaces work on many levels, helping to enhance the integration and communication between families and improving a home’s ambience thanks to the increased natural light filtering through skylight windows or bi-fold doors.  

For these reasons, I’m a big advocate of extending the home to improve it. 

A new extension also allows you to start from scratch with the interior design, creating the perfect opportunity to experiment with new ideas and finishes.

Many people are experimenting with bold colours and patterns in their kitchen designs, with Moroccan tiles and veined marble worktops a particular favourite. However, although I love playing around with the latest looks and styles, the essence of kitchen design always stays the same. It has to be practical and efficient.

Read on to discover three top tips for designing a successful kitchen extension.

Setting a budget that you’re happy with at the very start is crucial, as it helps you and those you commission in many ways.  

Firstly, when talking with architects, designers and builders, you will be able to tell them clearly how much you expect the whole project to cost.  

Secondly, if you deduct 10 per cent from your maximum budget figure and set it aside, you’ll have a contingency if anything crops up. Thirdly, the figure you set will also help you make design decisions along the way, and even though it may not be the final figure you spend, it will give you a target to work with – let’s face it, an unlimited budget rarely ever exists!  When the owner of this Dulwich property decided to extend the full width of their house, they had to make compromises to the interior to meet their budget.  

We used various techniques to design a kitchen space that wasn’t overly expensive yet still felt elegant. For example, simple shelves were fitted in the alcoves instead of wall units; an inexpensive mantelpiece was created on the existing chimney breast with a basic shelf and corbels, and low-cost wooden worktops were combined with striking marble on the island for impact. The marble slab was an uncomplicated shape, so it didn’t need the extra cost of templating. 

Planning the design of the kitchen early on in the build is key to a successful result. Often, people appoint architects and builders to get started on the work first, without considering where services might go or if there’s a particular architectural feature to take into account, such as a pillar or chimney breast.  

The layout of your kitchen design should ideally be finalised before the builder even puts a spade in the ground, otherwise you can feel under pressure to make decisions quickly to meet your builder’s demands. A good kitchen designer should have no problem advising you on the layout and also helping with architectural details. I’ve seen both sides of the coin, and it’s so much better when the designer is involved from the start. 

We were fortunate to be involved from the very beginning of this project in Bromley, which featured a prominent supporting pillar. We designed the island around it and included a downdraft extractor which was ducted through the floor. This avoided the use of a ceiling extractor which wouldn't have worked with the vaulted ceiling.

When planning any type of building work, it’s natural to want to know the expected completion date, so you can make suitable preparations. However, setting an often-unrealistic deadline, such as Christmas or the arrival of a baby, can lead to hasty decisions being made.

I understand when clients want a project finished for a certain event, but I try to encourage them not to focus on this so they give themselves time to make decisions. Pressure can also come from the builder, demanding you order tiles, flooring or kitchen units so that they can finish quickly move on to the next project. I say, don’t let them dictate and pressure you to make quick decisions – remember they are working for you. 

In this East London home, the owners were eager to create more space before the arrival of their first child. Although, they had originally wanted an extension, which would take a lot more time and money, John shared ideas on how making the most of their existing floorplan – and rethinking the layout instead – would actually create the solution they were after.  

The proposed extension wasn’t going to add much to the property as it created some dead floor space that was hard to use efficiently, so I reworked the internal layout and opened up the ground floor to create the sociable living space they were after.  

In circumstances like this it’s good to take time to allow new ideas to sink in before making any rash decisions.