Kitchen Extension Roofs - what are the design choices.

There are essentially just two types of basic roof designs for a kitchen extension being flat or pitched. Within each group though there is a high degree of design detailing that will affect the external design and the kitchen extension costs.

It is generally accepted that a flat roof kitchen extension will be cheaper than a pitched roof kitchen extension. However, if the kitchen extension flat roof has a large cupola or orangey glazed roof section costing £7k then this type of kitchen flat roof can be more expensive than a traditional pitched roof extension.

There is a trend for making pitched roofs of kitchen extensions open vaulted and without separate horizontal ceiling joists. These kitchen extension roofs offer added design features with increased ceiling heights and the opportunity to include velux roof lights for maximising natural light into the kitchen extension. This is a very simple and cost effective way of making a small kitchen extension feel very large.

Sometimes a homeowner wants the feel and external appearance of a pitched roof but this then interferes with the existing first floor windows above. A classic design solution for this type of kitchen extension roof is to have a hybrid or combined flat and pitched roof where the perimeter of the kitchen extension has a pitched parapet with a flat top over. This is often referred to as a ‘crowned pitched roof’ for a kitchen extension.

Again, these can be punctured with roof lights either within the flat roof element or the pitched roof perimeter sections with velux roof lights. Some clients of mine have had both!