Kitchen / Conservatory.....maybe

iglimpse

We are about to embark on replacing our kitchen. It is a good size room, rectangular. Units up one end large table down the other.

I am considering building onto the back of the kitchen, put table in there for dining and having a sort of breakfast bar in kitchen area (when we moved in 26yrs ago, we took one out !!).

My dilemma is whether we go for conservatory, or just small extension with roof windows. The reason I ask is becase we are quite overlooked (rows of semi's). I like the idea of conservatory but, as we are overlooked, it might not be worth it.

Would value opinions please :D

Furts

My opinion is a conservatory is a lightweight, flimsy, poorly insulated, temporary structure. This can overheat in the summer and be unusable in winter.

Aesthetically a conservatory looks awful when set against a house.

A conservatory was a "must have home improvement" of the last decade. Now in the recession sales have fallen off a cliff as people question the wisdom of them.

Not all conservatories are bad, but my preference, every time, would be an extension in keeping with the original house.

keystone

Agree with ^. Extension.

Cheers

Bennifred

We did exactly what you are proposing to do, OP! We extended the existing kitchen (single story extension with sloping roof/ceiling)to make a kitchen diner, with two velux windows and large French windows in the extension to keep it light and bright. Really pleased with it.

cyclonebri1

Furts wrote: »

My opinion is a conservatory is a lightweight, flimsy, poorly insulated, temporary structure. This can overheat in the summer and be unusable in winter.

Aesthetically a conservatory looks awful when set against a house.

A conservatory was a "must have home improvement" of the last decade. Now in the recession sales have fallen off a cliff as people question the wisdom of them.

Not all conservatories are bad, but my preference, every time, would be an extension in keeping with the original house.

Don't agree at all, largely because the extension will likely cost 4 x the extension.

If the op can square that then yes, it has to be an extension, but this is MSE.
It would be a toss up as to whether either would actually add value to be honest, I'd see the conservatory as a lesser risk.

A well constructed conservatory if built part wall with matching bricks to the house looks every bit the part.

There are added bonuses re no need for planning within constraints too.

I did similar a few years back, we called it a sun or breakfast room, brick walled build with glass roof on the sunny side, bc or planning? :A:A

LEJC

What it boils down to is the cost in my opinion....

Ideally the solid structure is probably going to be the better long term option...but a conservatory will also add the space you need/want too!

I would dearly have loved to take down our existing conservatory on the renovation project we've just done and replaced it with a more solid structure but the cost involved was too much...in the end we have redone the conservatory at a fraction of the cost of the solid....With the conservatory we still get the covered space and its been probably £15000 cheaper to renovate it than to build new.

KennyH1

How about a glazed room rather than a conservatory? Yes it may be more expensive but I feel they give a better look than a conservatory and depending on layouts can also be better than an extension.

I'd look at glazed rooms or extensions over conservatory every time.

cyclonebri1

KennyH1 wrote: »

How about a glazed room rather than a conservatory? Yes it may be more expensive but I feel they give a better look than a conservatory and depending on layouts can also be better than an extension.

I'd look at glazed rooms or extensions over conservatory every time.

As in post #5, worked for me;)

getcarter

What about an orangery, neighbour has had a lovely one built after originally going for a conservatory.

cyclonebri1

getcarter wrote: »

What about an orangery, neighbour has had a lovely one built after originally going for a conservatory.

It's going to seem like I'm making this up to fit but late 2011 I built 1.
We didn't have a suitable wall on our present property, so it had to be something detached.

For those that don't know, an orangery is simply a free standing conservatory type building.

Mine was just under the 30 sq mtr to avoid any consent issues, 4.4 x 6.3 or something similar.

We wanted a playroom for the kids, somewhere for tomato growing etc, and a games room, pool table. (Not succeeded with the pool table yet);)
It will need careful design, ie the rear will need 2 well constructed corners and butresses to the outside, conservatories get much of their strength from being lean too's they aren't in this case.
I found several companies than after quote acceptance and deposit for the plastic and glassware, would supply detailed plans for the construction requirements.
I went this DIY route and it was very reasonable in cost.

But, I don't think an orangery is going to add much to the houses value, but it certainly would be seen as a real asset or bonus to any potential future buyer.;)

Nynaeve

My conservatory is my favourite room, but it's just not usable in winter. We have a large table in there but we had to put a small one in the living room too so we had somewhere else to eat!

If you need to use the room all year round then you'd probably be better with an extension.