How do I bathroom / kitchen / extension? etc.

It's for me to live in but may spareroom the second room or let it to a mate whilst I can

Oh right, sorry, back to usual programming then… Time to play with some layouts in home.by.me!

Looking at the floorplan from when the building was carved to flats and seeing what I think is structural, I've drawn this.
I think it'd work well with the stained glass window being a feature in the kitchen.
However, no hallway and would it be weird walking straight into a kitchen/ having a washing machine there?

Still going to speak to an Architect or use that website linked the other day

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Or even this because I think this arch wall is structural

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Maybe some sort of separation between entrance and kitchen would make it feel less weird, maybe a wall with two big sliding doors? I think simplifying that area is key, the odd shapes they’ve forced in make it feel more cramped than it is.

You may also run into fire regulations issues, need extra smoke alarms etc if your exit route is also the kitchen.

This suggests sprinklers may be required for instance
https://plumis.co.uk/portfolio/87

Might be worth asking local planning about kitchen leading to bathroom. I don't think the old 2 door rule is still in force but it might be frowned on to lead directly from one to the other.

Yeah, unless you can exit the flat from windows then you will probably need a misting system, which from experience I can tell you is not cheap.
You would probably also have to make the front door/wall into the shared hallway fully fire protected as a fire in your kitchen would potentially block neighbours fire exit.

Been sketching so many floorplans until I can get someone qualified to come back to me.
Leaning towards min bathroom where current bathroom is 1.3x1.4m. tight but hopefully possible. Then carve the store room into two and add an en suite if plumbing allows it. Opens up the hallway, makes the stained window a feature again and then ideally open plan the kitchen unless building regs requires a wall...

Lot of people suggesting a remove some of the load bearing wall between lounge and kitchen.

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Haven’t heard from our Architects since planning was approved in late Aug - emailed them last week to check in and no response. Should I chase? Or probably just busy?

There was me worrying that the architects across the road I'd speculatively emailed hadn't replied after a week..! (they're probably less than 100m away, next to the off-licence too, I should probably just stick my head in and say hello).

It'll be fine... they are prob just swamped as ever...

Should I chase? Or probably just busy?

They're probably very busy! But you could still chase nicely (as I'm sure you would anyway)

Anyone got a mastic man contact in East London?

Anyone had any success with an ikea kitchen or howdens? After something middle of the road (not cheap and tacky, but not ££ £££).

Go ikea and you’ll have a multitude of after market doors to choose from when you’re feeling a bit flush.

Is that because they're universal size so on etsy and stuff carpenters would do them in small batches?
I was chatting to a forum recommended carpenter/kitchen fitter the other day and he said he buys ikea kitchens because the fixings/fixtures are good/replaceable and then he builds bespoke doors and worktops

Fitted a howdens in a rental and it was decent enough, as said below ikea seems to have opened up the possibility for folk to have fancy front on them so not terrible either.

We went with Wren after looking at Howdens, Magnet and IKEA.
Would suggest trying all of your local ones and choose which you feel happiest with as they do vary a bit.

Our builder doesn't like IKEA.
Magnet were OK but we didn't like some of the worktop options
Howdens we liked and our fitter has an account, but after coming round and measuring up the guy who runs the local office ignored all my calls and emails!
Wren were just the easiest to deal with.
However their recommended fitter didn't fill us with confidence so we went with our own.

I know everyone says this, but getting a good fitter is essential. Our kitchen is Howdens, fitted by the previous owners. It looks fine at a glance, but after living here you can see the shit workmanship everywhere. It seems to have worn badly over our 6yrs here.

Conversely my folks kitchen looks as good as when I was fitted >10yrs ago.

I suspect your fitter doesn't like Ikea because he can't get a trade discount and the cabinets are a little bit deeper/dont have the cut out at the back for pipes?
@bobble pretty much yeah, everyone does fronts for Ikea cabinets, our kitchen is actually half Ikea with custom fronts.

Yeah I think it was the cut out issue at the back
Wren unit come pre-assembled which in theory should make installation quicker.
However a 2 week wait for the worktops and everyone in the house then catching Covid has put the project back by about 4 weeks anyway...

Conversely my folks kitchen looks as good as when I was fitted >10yrs ago.

My parents kitchen (SieMatic) looks great and is 30 years old. That was fitted by some shop fitters as part of a larger job (taking out a wall/chimney etc).

i've spent the last few days installing an ikea kitchen in a new extension.
i used worktop express for the tops rather than the ikea stuff as i wanted bamboo tops, and a few other bits from elsewhere, but mainly ikea stuff.
all went together pretty easily, happy with the quality and finish (i looked at b&q, magnet etc but felt the quality wasn't quite as good on things like the laminated door fronts and stuff - wickes actually looked pretty good tbf)
i've just got the dishwasher left to plumb in this evening and the electrician is coming tomorrow to wire up the appliances.
it's not super fancy, only a small L-shaped kitchen with a movable island unit, but i think it looks pretty smart - deffo a lot better than the dreadful kitchen we've been putting up with for the last 10 yrs!

partly based the decision on the fact that i knew i'd fit it myself, i could plan it all online, and that a mate's who installed his over 10yrs ago still looks as good as the day it was fitted and nothing has broken on it.

You'd be lucky to get 30 years old most stuff now, Bathrooms,kitchen, boilers are all in 10 ish years now.