Process: Putney kitchen extension
Design rear projection and openings together against Housing SPD themes. Validation elevations come before joinery; building regulations drawings follow a frozen envelope.
Wandsworth
Kitchen Extension Architects in Putney
We design kitchen extensions and open-plan kitchen-diners for Putney homes across Wandsworth — the room that ties cooking, dining, storage and the garden into one working space. From a modest rear addition on a bay-fronted terrace to a wider family room on a West Putney semi, the design starts with how you cook, eat and move to the garden, then works back to servicing, daylight and the threshold.
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Practice leadership
Eyal Moran, Director and Lead Architect, is an ARB-registered architect, leading design judgement, planning strategy and technical coordination across client projects.
Verify on the Architects RegisterThe short answer
Can you extend a kitchen in Putney?
Yes. Most Putney houses can take a rear kitchen extension to form an open-plan kitchen-diner, and flats can usually be reconfigured internally. Success turns on the room layout — island, dining and utility — the garden threshold and daylight, and resolving drainage, extract and any conservation or leasehold consents. Most schemes need a householder application to Wandsworth.
Planning at a glance
Putney
| Local planning authority | London Borough of Wandsworth |
|---|---|
| Likely approval route | Householder planning application or permitted development, depending on conservation status, listing and property type — confirmed for the exact address before drawings begin |
| Statutory determination time | 8 weeks for most householder applications (13 weeks for major applications) |
| Typical drawing package | £395–£4,950 inc. VAT, fixed fee. Find my package → |
A kitchen extension in Putney succeeds or fails on the plan of the room, not just its footprint. Before we draw a wall we map how the household actually uses the space: where the cooking happens, how many people sit down to eat, whether the island is a working surface or a social one, and how the room links to the garden and to the rest of the ground floor. On a bay-fronted terrace near the Upper Richmond Road the realistic prize is a single well-organised kitchen-diner won from the back addition and a modest rear projection; on a West Putney semi with a deeper garden there is room to separate a cooking zone, a dining table and a soft seating corner within one room. The footprint follows that brief, not the other way round.
The island is usually the decision that shapes everything else. It sets the circulation around it, carries or excludes the sink and hob, and dictates how much clear space the room needs to feel generous rather than congested. We plan for roughly a metre of working clearance on each active side so two people can pass and appliance doors can open, and we decide early whether services run to the island — a sink or induction hob there means drainage, water and power crossing the floor slab, which is far cheaper to design in than to retrofit. Where the room is tight, a run of full-height units along one wall with a slimmer peninsula often gives a better-working kitchen than a squeezed island that looks the part but blocks the through-route to the garden.
The rooms around the kitchen are what stop the main space becoming a dumping ground. A utility taking the washing machine, dryer and a second sink keeps noise and laundry out of the open-plan room; a pantry absorbs the dry stores and small appliances that otherwise colonise the worktops; and a boot-room or rear lobby by the garden door catches coats, bags and muddy boots before they reach the finished floor. In a Putney terrace these are carved from the back addition, the understairs and the old kitchen; on a larger house they can be planned as a proper service spine between the kitchen and the garden. A boot-room by the garden door earns its place on a family house near the Heath, where a rear garden and children track mud straight into the room otherwise. We size them at the layout stage because retrofitting a utility once the slab is poured is exactly the compromise that makes a finished kitchen feel unresolved.
The garden threshold is where a kitchen-diner earns its keep, and it is a detail as much as a design gesture. A level or near-level threshold between the finished floor inside and the terrace outside makes the room read as one space with the garden, but it has to be built to keep water out — a drainage channel across the opening, the right upstand and falls, and doors detailed to weather a south-facing or exposed elevation. We set the choice between sliding doors, bi-folds and a fixed glazed screen against how the room is used: sliders give the cleanest view and the tidiest reveal, bi-folds open the whole wall for summer but eat sill space when stacked, and a large fixed pane with a single door often gives the best light for the least fuss. On riverside and Embankment houses the exposure and setting push that detailing harder still.
Daylight is the difference between a kitchen-diner that feels alive and one that is dark at its centre. A rear extension deepens the plan, so the middle of the room — often the dining zone — can end up furthest from any window. We bring light in from above with rooflights or a glazed lantern over the dining table, keep the garden wall as glazed as the structure and overheating allow, and think about a side rooflight where a return wall would otherwise cast the worktop into shadow. Orientation matters: a south or west-facing Putney garden floods the room in the afternoon and raises the question of solar gain and glare, so we balance the glazing against shading, ventilation and the risk of a room that overheats in July as readily as it darkens in December.
For the large share of Putney homes that are flats and mansion-block apartments, a kitchen project is usually reconfiguration rather than extension — and that changes the whole exercise. Opening a cellular kitchen into the living space, relocating the kitchen to a better-lit room, or slotting in a utility means routing drainage to fall correctly within a fixed floor build-up, managing extract and noise for the flats above and below, and upgrading sound and fire separation between rooms. All of it sits under the lease, so freeholder consent and often a licence to alter come first, and any wet area moved over a neighbour's ceiling has to be detailed to protect them. We treat the flat kitchen as a coordination problem — servicing, acoustics and consents — as much as a design one, because that is where these projects actually turn.
Local analysis
What matters in Putney
Planning the kitchen-diner around how you cook and eat
The best Putney kitchen-diners start from a working brief rather than a footprint. We map the cooking triangle between hob, sink and fridge, the number of covers at the table, and whether the island is a prep surface or the social heart of the room, then test those against the space a given house can realistically give. On a terrace won from the back addition, one tightly organised zone usually beats a scattered layout; on a West Putney semi with garden depth, a cooking area, a dining table and a seating corner can each have their own place within one room. We also settle the sightlines — what you see from the hob, from the table and from the doorway — and the position of the fridge and bins so the busy corners do not collide with the route to the garden. The plan that results is the one that still works when the family, the appliances and the clutter all arrive at once.
Servicing a kitchen: drainage, extract and heat
A kitchen is the most heavily serviced room in a house, and the servicing decides what the layout can be. Drainage for the sink, dishwasher and washing machine has to fall back to the existing runs, which limits where wet appliances and an island sink can sit; extract over the hob needs a sensible duct route to an external terminal; and underfloor heating, hot water and power all have to be coordinated within the floor build-up before the slab goes down. Electrical demand matters too — an induction hob, ovens and a boiling-water tap draw heavily, so the circuits and consumer unit are sized at design stage rather than found wanting later. On a leasehold flat that coordination is tighter still, because drainage falls and acoustic separation have to protect the neighbours below, and there is rarely room to lift the floor to gain a better fall. We resolve the services alongside the plan so nothing has to be unpicked on site.
Daylight, glazing and the garden connection
Light and the garden link are what lift a kitchen-diner above an ordinary back room. A deep rear extension pushes the dining zone away from the windows, so we work light in from above with rooflights or a lantern, keep the garden wall glazed to the limit that structure and overheating allow, and detail a level threshold that makes inside and outside read as one space. Orientation drives the balance: a south or west-facing Putney garden brings glorious afternoon light but also solar gain and glare, so shading, opening lights and ventilation are designed in from the start, and the glass specification — the coating and the frames — is chosen to suit the aspect. Where the extension sits close to a rear neighbour, we shape the roof and glazing so the room gains its light without overlooking their garden or losing daylight to their windows, which is exactly what Wandsworth will weigh. On riverside and Embankment houses the setting and exposure sharpen every one of those choices.
Thinking about a project in Putney?
Send the address and a short description. We will confirm the likely approval route and the drawings your project needs.
Local planning
Planning & conservation context
A Putney kitchen extension is assessed by the London Borough of Wandsworth, which is the single planning authority for the whole area — there is no borough boundary to resolve here as there is in some neighbouring districts. What matters most for a kitchen-diner is the room's relationship to the garden and to the neighbours behind and to either side, because the extension that makes the room work is almost always at the rear, where daylight to adjoining windows and the outlook from neighbouring gardens come into play. We frame the footprint around that neighbour relationship before fixing the kitchen layout inside it.
Some single-storey rear kitchen additions can fall within permitted development, but those rights are frequently curtailed where a Putney property sits within the West Putney or Putney Embankment conservation areas, and any Article 4 direction affecting the exact address has to be checked rather than assumed. Because a kitchen-diner usually wants large areas of glazing and a generous opening to the garden, the design often steps beyond what permitted development allows in any case, so for most homes we plan for a householder application to Wandsworth and confirm the position for the specific address at the outset.
Building regulations govern far more of a kitchen extension than planning does, because a kitchen is a heavily serviced room. Foul and surface-water drainage for the sink, dishwasher, washing machine and any new WC has to connect back to the existing runs; mechanical extract over the hob, background ventilation and — on airtight new builds — heat-recovery ventilation are all controlled; and the structure forming the opening between old and new, the glazing, insulation and the garden threshold all sit under building control. We resolve these alongside the layout so the room that is drawn is the room that can actually be built and signed off.
Where a Putney property falls within the West Putney or Putney Embankment conservation areas, a rear kitchen extension is generally less prominent than a front alteration, but its roof form, the height of any glazing against the boundary and the materials facing the garden are still weighed against the area's established character. Whether a given address sits inside a conservation boundary should be confirmed for the exact property, because it changes both the permitted-development position and the level of design justification a scheme needs.
For a flat or mansion-block kitchen, the controls are as much about tenure as planning: reworking a kitchen internally, moving a wet area or altering layout usually needs freeholder consent under the lease, and where the block sits in a conservation area any external change — a new extract terminal or window alteration — is looked at more closely. We identify those consents early so the design is agreed with both the freeholder and the council rather than stalled between them.
For the wider local-authority picture — policies, timescales and application routes — see planning in Wandsworth.
Services
Architectural services in Putney
Extensions & Renovations
Planning & Consents
Technical & Building Regulations
Leasehold & Licence to Alter
Nearby
Nearby Kitchen Extension Architects pages
Architecture in Putney: FAQs
Do I need planning permission for a kitchen extension in Putney?
Sometimes a single-storey rear kitchen addition falls within permitted development, but those rights are often curtailed where the property sits in the West Putney or Putney Embankment conservation areas, and any Article 4 direction has to be checked for the exact address. Because a kitchen-diner usually wants large glazing and a wide garden opening, most schemes need a householder application to Wandsworth. We confirm the position for your specific home first.
Should the kitchen have an island or not?
It depends on the room's width. An island needs roughly a metre of clear working space on each active side, so in a narrow terrace kitchen a peninsula or a single long run often works better and keeps the route to the garden open. If you want a sink or hob in the island, we plan the drainage and power into the slab from the start, because adding services to an island later is disruptive and costly.
Can I get a utility and pantry as well as the open-plan kitchen?
Usually yes, if they are planned early. A utility keeps the washing machine, dryer and laundry noise out of the main room, and a pantry absorbs dry stores and small appliances so the worktops stay clear. In a terrace these are carved from the back addition, understairs or old kitchen; on a larger house they form a service spine to the garden. Sizing them at layout stage avoids an awkward retrofit later.
How do I get a level threshold out to the garden?
A near-level threshold makes the kitchen and garden read as one space, but it has to be built to keep water out. We design a drainage channel across the opening, the correct upstand and floor falls, and doors detailed for the exposure of your elevation. It works with sliding doors, bi-folds or a fixed screen, and building control checks the threshold, waterproofing and glazing as part of the regulations package.
Sliding doors, bi-folds or a fixed screen for the garden wall?
Each suits a different use. Sliding doors give the cleanest view and the tidiest reveal; bi-folds open the whole wall in summer but take up sill space when stacked; a large fixed pane with a single door often gives the most light for the least cost and maintenance. We match the choice to how you use the room, your garden's orientation and how exposed the elevation is.
How do I stop the middle of the kitchen being dark?
A rear extension deepens the plan, so the centre — often the dining area — sits furthest from a window. We bring daylight down from above with rooflights or a lantern over the table, glaze the garden wall as much as structure and overheating allow, and add a side rooflight where a return wall would shadow the worktop. On south or west-facing Putney gardens we balance that glazing against solar gain so the room does not overheat.
Can I extend the kitchen if I live in a Putney flat or mansion block?
In a flat the work is usually internal reconfiguration rather than an extension — opening the kitchen into the living space, relocating it, or adding a utility. That means routing drainage within a fixed floor build-up, managing extract and noise for neighbours above and below, and upgrading sound and fire separation. It nearly always needs freeholder consent and often a licence to alter under your lease, which we identify before design begins.
Where does the extract and ventilation go?
A kitchen needs mechanical extract over the hob, background ventilation to the room, and on an airtight extension often heat-recovery ventilation. We plan the duct route and the external terminal early, because a long or convoluted run reduces extraction and a terminal on a conservation-area or party-wall elevation may need consent. Getting the ductwork resolved at layout stage keeps the ceiling design clean and the cooking smells out of the rest of the house.
Will the drainage reach where I want the sink and appliances?
Foul and surface-water drainage has to connect back to the existing runs with the right falls, which constrains where wet appliances can sit — especially a sink or dishwasher in an island or a relocated kitchen. We survey the existing drainage early and plan the below-slab pipework so the layout you want is actually achievable, rather than discovering after the slab is poured that the island sink cannot drain properly.
Do I need a party wall agreement for a kitchen extension?
Possibly. Where a rear kitchen extension is built up to or near a boundary with a neighbour, or where foundations are dug close to their structure, the Party Wall etc. Act 1996 can apply and notices are served before work starts. It is separate from planning permission. We flag whether your scheme is likely to be notifiable early so a party wall surveyor can be engaged without delaying the build.
How much does a kitchen extension in Putney cost?
Design fees depend on the scope, the property and the consent route — a single-storey rear kitchen-diner on a house differs from an internal kitchen reconfiguration in a leasehold flat. Our published packages start from a fixed fee, confirmed once the scope is clear, and exclude council charges and specialist consultants such as structural engineering, party wall surveyors and any freeholder or licence-to-alter costs. See our packages page for the current structure.
Discuss a kitchen extension in Putney
Send us your Putney address and a short description of the kitchen-diner you have in mind — island, dining, utility and how you want it to open to the garden. We will confirm the conservation and leasehold position, test the layout and servicing against your home, and set out the design, approvals and drawings your project will need.