Converting a Conservatory into a Kitchen

gazfocus

Hi all.

We have just completed on our new house and we are currently going through the house working out what we want to do to bring it up to date.

The house currently has an irregular kitchen, measuring approx 3.6m x 3.3m, with a door on each wall and the current layout of the house prevents any of the doors being blocked up, meaning we can't utilise the kitchen properly.

The house also has a conservatory that current has 3 walls of glass and a polycarbonate roof. This measures approx 6.7m x 3m.

In an ideal world we would replace the conservatory with a double story extension but unfortunately we don't have the funds for this. So, we were wondering whether (if footings allow), we could replace the two 3 metre glass side walls with cavity walls and then replace the roof with a tile effect roof. We would then like to use this as a kitchen.

I appreciate that the conservatory would technically need to pass building regs but this would only be an issue if we sell, which we don't plan to do (ever). This would also be a long term temporary measure (5-10 years) as we would plan to replace it with a proper extension at some point.

So just looking for people's thoughts on the above.

sophieschoice

A builder friend told me he has recently converted a conservatory to a more usable room. He left in the patio doors and windows either side and put a lightweight roof on. I don't know about the building regs though.

Mark_Mark

Don't waste money doing that. Wait a bit knock down the conservatory and build the ground floor extension with a flat roof. Add the next level when you can afford it.

Anything you do to that conservatory is wasted money.

gazfocus

Mark_Mark wrote: »

Don't waste money doing that. Wait a bit knock down the conservatory and build the ground floor extension with a flat roof. Add the next level when you can afford it.

Anything you do to that conservatory is wasted money.

Thanks for your post. Unfortunately, with everything else that needs doing, we're not going to be able to afford even a single storey extension for at least 5 years as it'll cost around £21-28k (based on £1,000 per sqm).

The kitchen as it stands is really poor and we really cannot wait 5 years for a new kitchen so we're just trying to decide whether to rip out the current kitchen, replaster and fit new kitchen or move the kitchen into the upgraded conservatory.

Mark_Mark

I would say before you do it you should speak to your mortgage provider. By putting the kitchen in there you maybe making the house unmortgagable as technically it will not have a kitchen. Unless of course you can have one in a non habitable room.

jellie

Won't you also need to move electrics/gas and drainage into the conservatory? Sounds quite expensive.

If it's only 5 years, I'd be tempted to just update your current kitchen with basic units if you really can't live with it as it is (or just change the doors and worktops).

Then take your time to decide what you'd really like to do with the house and save up.

Doozergirl

I echo thoughts about whether a mortgage is obtainable when a kitchen sits in an 'outbuilding' that does not conform to building regulations. Fact is, none of us know what might happen that means we have to sell up sooner than imagined.

Either way, you're going to spend a significant amount of money. You are either going to ignore building regulations which is a complete waste of money and a risk to the value of the building, or you are going to improve the building to the extent that it will comply with building regulations and you've created a single storey extension capable of being built on to at a later date - the inifintely more sensible option.

Your kitchen is 12ft by 10ft. Even with doors in it, it's not exactly a cupboard. I think you need to have patience.

paddy's_mum

Most conservatories are far too cold in the winter months to spend any time in unless you spend lots on heating it.

I'd be updating the existing kitchen with perhaps a large cupboard in the conservatory to house all the kitchenalia oddments that clutter up a small kitchen, if by so doing you free up valuable space.

DigForVictory

+1 for use the conservatory as storage and cope with the kitchen as best you can until you can afford to do the job comprehensively.

Last I was in one friend's house, the kitchen was a well equipped corridor & the conservatory was a blinking heatsink.

phoebe1989seb

Another vote for using the existing conservatory as an extension of the kitchen......

At our last house the previous owners had built a 17' x 11' conservatory (with glass roof) leading directly off the 12' square kitchen. We had downsized from a much larger house with a 25' x 15' kitchen and the new space felt positively teensy, especially as overall the ground floor footprint was generous with five reception rooms (not including the conservatory) and two bathrooms

Our solution was to refit the kitchen to make better use of the space, then add a granite-topped island, dresser and free-standing larder cupboard (brought from our previous house, but here used to house glassware, crockery etc) to the conservatory. There was also room for a sofa and whilst there were no rads out there our electric heater did such a good job we were able to use the room all year round as a breakfast area.

Had we intended to stay in the house though - we sold after three years - we would have replaced the conservatory with a proper extension and the original (1930s) kitchen door with a French doors to make the space more open plan......

gazfocus

Thanks for all the really helpful posts.

phoebe1989seb wrote: »

Another vote for using the existing conservatory as an extension of the kitchen......

At our last house the previous owners had built a 17' x 11' conservatory (with glass roof) leading directly off the 12' square kitchen. We had downsized from a much larger house with a 25' x 15' kitchen and the new space felt positively teensy, especially as overall the ground floor footprint was generous with five reception rooms (not including the conservatory) and two bathrooms

Our solution was to refit the kitchen to make better use of the space, then add a granite-topped island, dresser and free-standing larder cupboard (brought from our previous house, but here used to house glassware, crockery etc) to the conservatory. There was also room for a sofa and whilst there were no rads out there our electric heater did such a good job we were able to use the room all year round as a breakfast area.

Had we intended to stay in the house though - we sold after three years - we would have replaced the conservatory with a proper extension and the original (1930s) kitchen door with a French doors to make the space more open plan......

We had our builder round yesterday and he suggested partitioning the conservatory off and making a utility room in part of the conservatory but I actually quite like your idea.

We would have loved an island unit but the existing kitchen is too small really. If we had all the 'utlilities' in the existing kitchen then open up the entire wall between the kitchen and conservatory, we could have an island half way between and then a table. We could then have the rest of the conservatory as the dining room as originally planned....brilliant idea