puntloos

Thanks all, I think I might be okay with the kitchen as is, with the skylight as rendered, but I'll keep an eye out. And indeed those idems from @mvincentd seem pertty nice for bathrooms and such!

Hmm dunno, that 'before' picture has a certain charm... But good to know that the kink can only do '30deg'. Surprising really, wouldn't a straight mirror not be able to bounce 90deg..

Heh, interesting point, yeah given that it's close to my 'home cinema' I'll have to be careful Of course it doesn't have to be fully horizontal perhaps, but definitely pretty flat..

Has anyone got any experience with sun tunnels? Context: I'm a bit worried about my kitchen being dark, and the closest sunlight is more-or-less at the edge of the kitchen. Is there some way to 'duct' this kitchen sun light pretty much horizontally towards a more central exit in the middle of the kitchen? Or are there many downsides that should stop us considering it? See attached example: The last bit of direct sun hits the garden room ceiling as per picture, which in this example just hits the tap on the island. But while the 'wide window' is fairly classy looking as it is, I'd like to know if it is even an option to create an effective sun tunnel from the side (rather than having to punch through multiple floors!) Would this work? E.g. https://www.velux.co.uk/products/sun-tunnels/pitched-roof

Just giving some offhand comments, I've browsed through this thread quickly so if I'm redundant or way off, just consider it as some minor food for thought and/or confirmation of agreement.. - No issue with master & living being close, at first floor, although I would increase sound separation. You have one thin wall between your bed and your master. You could perhaps consider sealing off the stairs to buffer the sound. - Not ideal to have no bathroom near kitchen/living. I'd consider sacrificing the end of the utility, which is currently massive. - The word 'snug' to me always translates to 'I have no idea what to do with this space'. Are you certain it's a good idea? Why not a larger bed2 (ensuite?) - The porch is sealed? I can kinda see the point of a open space, but if it's basically a room before your house then unless you have horses you need to scrub I'd skip. - The living space feels a bit 'tennis-court-y' - no real separation of features, which includes kitchen noises and smells. Haven't thought deeply on if it's fixable - If TV/movies is not your thing, fine, but obviously putting a TV in that corner will not let you get close to a nice viewing experience. - Have you thought about storage space in dressing area? Can you fit all your clothes in 1.6(?) m of wardrobe? Offhand, I'd put the stairs in the bottom right corner, and reclaim a larger amount of space for a living area, perhaps even separate it off (pocket door? dressing door down as far as possible?)

Just called a basement guy. Their handwavey quote for a 5x5 basement was 20,000. I wasn't 100% clear on if it's including or excluding excavation and removal (I suspect ex.) He also noted it might be better to do a Non-material amendment after PP, so planning team doesn't take e.g. living space in basement under deep consideration... Nono the primary reason is being a plant room. Noisy/bulky Stuff. Yup. It might make a lot more sense for the basement guy to do the full foundation with the basement right under the hallway.. and then discuss if we want to go full-basement

Cutting out everything that's understood, with thanks, @Bitpipe - v. useful stuff. A few small ones left: Well it's all about actual needs vs cost. Even GBP 1 is wasteful if we don't really need it, and I've been working under the assumption that a basement is rarely something that increases the sale value beyond what I've paid for it. Not to mention that a 250m2 house on a 400m2 plot feels about 'the max' anyway. If I were on the lookout for houses I'd raise an eyebrow if I saw a 350sqm house on that plot.. No? Main goal for basement is to 'hide away' noisy or bulky stuff and make the garage usable for actual cars, should the need arise. 3x4 is the minimum. 5x5 seems perfect. Anything beyond that adds to the stuff we don't really need, so unless the next sqm would be almost near free I don't think we'd do it? Or am I being shortsighted? (of course there's also a budget to think of..) Not sure what you mean.. clearly an actual room-in-the-garden would eat garden space, and we are VERY tight on that, we'd love a larger garden than we have, this already is a sad compromise... Hm? Not sure why not? Both our actual garden room, a theoretical extension later, or a basement need some PP? I sense I'm missing your point... Fair. My initial idea was literally copying the basement one level down. But I figured that if a basement is harder to build if you're close to the neighbours, why not move it more centrally.. but I can see the point of having walls align etc, so perhaps the best mental model is to have it straight below the hall (also less weight, since it's fully open above?) which is 5.8*3.5? Some people (maybe you?) suggested to do a full basement somewhere (140-odd sqm!) but I doubt that'd pay off, unless somehow the cost of e.g. the foundation would disappear.. Idon't think I've gotten to this part of house building theory yet ? not sure if this is the time/place but can you be slightly more specific?

Has anyone ever considered pre-made basement solutions - eg. http://www.readymadebasements.co.uk/brochure.pdf ? Their quotes are here: http://www.thermonex.co.uk/?q=node/48 "16,000 for a 5x5".. I assume that's not including a bunch of hard work (esp the digging, removal)...

Thanks @Bitpipe - a ton of useful detail! My key question about all this is 'when to start this process'? We're basically ready to submit for planning permission, should we get the SE out 'now' before we do PP? Or would you do this legwork while the approvers do their thing? I have no idea how to 'find' a groundworker though. I have one building site right across from myself right now (!) so like you suggested I might just ask them. They're a big construction company but still private (building some appt complex). It is, 3x4 maybe Not sure how to determine this, but assuming the current house is gone there is a 15m wide side to the plot that faces the road, incl a 3m pavement. Again 'close' is subjective.. but the house is planned to be 13m wide on that 15m, so 1m on each side, then the border (a thin fence) and then about 1m on the neighbour's sides as well. Is that close? "I don't think so" - it's standard british clay, but clearly we need to verify this. Will do.. but as asked earlier: should we try to do this before PP submission or can I take a little time? Of course PP would need to specify the basement but I was thinking to just have a basement completely central in the house (so it would in fact be 7m away from any neighbour! Basically: Neighbour - 1m gap - border - 1m gap - wall - 5m away from wall - 3m basement - 5m away from wall - wall - 1m gap - border - 1m gap

Hrm yeah 35K is more like it I wonder what gives, why this builder is so expensive (while they 'seem reasonable') on most other costs.. Anyone have a more recent job done near(ish) london?

The outlook is not great, 1m of space, then the border (a green hedge on a garage) Of course if there are no downsides (other than price...) I would prefer the fanciest one.. but is it solid enough to be used as really the primary tap in the entire kitchen?

Ah I assumed it would have a direct-from-mains function too. Good to know, I suppose I'd have to put a second tap on the island then? Here's a new render of the kitchen. As you might imagine I haven't thought the color scheme through too much yet. Layout:

Def interesting 'science' to think through how you would use devices matched with reality. The quooker would serve so many purposes (and perhaps we should use it only for its intended, which is 'unusual water').. but the idea is: - Rinsing stuff pre-prep - Easily and quickly getting a glass of water (chilled for me, chilled+sparkly for the wife) -> in this case you're right, having glasses near it would be good, although in my render the large cupboard next to the fridge would have the glasses, so pretty close.. - Easily refilling the water (easier on the island than deeper into the kitchen - Boiling water for tea -> true that it would be handy to have the leaves and cups etc near it - Boiling water for pasta/rice -> sliiightly better on the island I suppose, but not a big diff. Would you use the quooker to rinse, or does it feel like it would break under too much use a normal tap could do?

Ah right, I somehow thought you said you didn't use the space. - ah "Also it has one of those long areas on the right hand side which hardly ever gets used." - I think you are referring to the hob having one of those strip heaters maybe? That's an interesting point, I didn't think of that. Indeed the hob, I think someone here said it might cause some safety issues with pan handles sticking into the walkway, but that's equally true for the front.. What's standard? 600 deep?, how wide? Yeah they do say drill ventilation holes etc.. so indeed maybe my currently specced 500mm wide area for the quooker sink could work.. but getting a bit more "anti splash" area might be better use of my limited space than the 30cm I put next to the hob... (also perhaps good to have a spot to temporarily put glasses on) Yeah also the 'weight' thing.. would a cube be in the way etc...

@AliG as you can see from my latest render I've already moved the fridge right next to the table ? (not the best render to show..) And indeed, I don't strongly intend to perfect the kitchen myself, but as before, just trying to allow as many options as possible when that stage is reached. For example I can't quite work out (their docs are terrible) how much space I need for a full Quooker Fusion + CUBE installation (boiling, hot, chilled, sparkly) into the island, so if I land on a certain size of island only to find I have to eat into other dimensions (e.g. the prep area) to achieve the rest.. Surprising you don't actually use the place next to the hob, where do you prep?

Nice - well done! You got the hob very much in the corner of the island.. intentional? Or just turned out that way? I think Dan said it's nice to have 30cm on the sides, also as per https://www.houseplanshelper.com/kitchen-dimensions.html#cooking_surface_clearance - but while 'some' space to work on is good, I don't think you need a ton on both sides. Yeah of course not a ton of light from outside but properly lighted it doesn't seem problematic.. Extra window> I must admit I'm tempted to add more windows too, for example in front of my sink (not on the island) I could put a window...

Any picture you're willing to share? ? But yeah like I said, I prefer the "sitting" spaces to be bright over the "working" spaces.

Please do rain on all of my parades. (Although it is actually my birthday today.. let me have this one OK? ) Seriously though, one house we looked at a year or 2 ago now looked like this: Which had no natural light other than from the windows you're seeing. floorplan here - and we found it acceptable. (Huh taking a closer look it is actually fairly reminiscent of my current kitchen design) Looks like the picture was taken with a flash or at least all lights on .. At some point you have to accept that not everything can be sun-facing - I enjoy an occasional lunch while in the actual sun, but that's catered for in my 'garden room' design. The kitchen work I'll need add'l lights anyway.. and as you say, any place that doesn't have a window can be used for storage..

I've implemented a few things a bit more carefully now but not settled yet. The attached picture is a ray trace render of the kitchen (my first try of raytracing.. this took 3 hours to draw..) It looks fine at a glance space-wise at 1100mm walking paths But - I intentionally turned off all lights, to see what the program would make of 'daylight only'. Do you think this level of darkness is realistic for a kitchen in this location? (it feels a bit dark.. but clearly it's very hard to approximate what the human visual system would 'make of it' if you're actually in the room)

Like I said, I didn't take the actual measurments so I figured I'd let him/her come back with some actual dimensions of the toilet as it is. Well, I'm not sure where you live, but where I live I would hear everything loud and clear in this design. Again, it all depends on how noisy your house is by default.

The angle of the stairs impacts the space under them of course. I didn't feel like measuring the sketch, even assuming the image is actually to scale.. And well, if you don't care hearing the toilet being flushed and other... noises.. sure, put the WC there. Of course depends on sound insulation and overall noise levels in the house too, but I'd rather not risk it.

FWIW you need to give us some more data: - How high are your ceilings? 2400? - How steep are your stairs? Can you put a ruler next to it for us? - Do you care about crampedness? (I don't, really.. within certain reason.. but some people feel they need (to show off a) throne(room) - Do you care about noise? (that toilet is close to your living room..) If anything I'd sacrifice some of your lounge for the toilet..

New quick question. how naturally bright should a kitchen be? And how bright will my design so far be? I think it's not too bad, but effectively my kitchen has no windows of its own, just large openings to rooms with lots of light? Clearly you want to see the stuff you're prepping/cleaning but that will require dedicated directed light anyway. And for moodlighting presumaby you actually don't want *too* much light?

Ha you're not wrong, these doors were a bit weirdly priced though - https://www.eclisse.co.uk/content/price-lists/Telescopic-Price-Mar-2017.pdf - it *seems* like 928.. which is doable, but then it says 'doors not supplied'.. so it's just the rail system? @pocster - do you have any insight to offer on how much eclisse doors cost? Well I'm not DIYing anyway, I expect/hope the builder can handle this?