Take outdoor living to the next level and build a garden room with a kitchen. Whether you want to impress your friends and neighbours with your culinary skills at your next summer party or cook intimate dinners for your family all year-round, a garden kitchen could be just the thing for you. We’ll cover everything you need to know about building a kitchen in your garden room, from all the necessary considerations to planning regulations. Let’s delve in…
Can you put a kitchen in a garden room?
In short, the answer is yes. You can install a kitchen in your garden room so long as you follow building regulations and apply for appropriate planning permission. For a working kitchen, plumbing and electricity is a must-have. As such, your garden building will now be classified as a dwelling rather than an ancillary building and will require planning permission. Read our planning permission guidelines for more information.
What you need to consider before building a garden room with kitchen
Before the construction work commences, there are a number of things you need to consider in order to meet regulatory requirements and build a fully-functioning outdoor kitchen with all necessary appliances.
Electricity & Plumbing
At Crown Pavilions, we have over a decade of experience designing and building luxury garden rooms all across the country. Our teams are available to help you create the garden building of your dreams and advice on any bespoke, plumbing and electrical features. Plumbing and electricity will be required for sinks, dishwashers, washing machines, ovens, stoves, fridges, microwaves and much more. In most cases, an armoured underground cable will need to be installed from your main fuse box, running all the way to your garden room to provide a secure electricity supply. As for plumbing, you will need running water and a drainage system. There are a number of options available to you, including connecting to your water mains via underground pipes, or installing water tanks and pumps to the nearby sewerage system.
Please ensure all plumbing and electrical work is carried out by a licensed professional and that you obtain relevant certification upon completion of your project. It’s also essential that you install smoke detectors and carbon monoxide alarms in order to meet building regulations and protect the safety of you and your loved ones.
Off-Grid vs Mains Supply
To achieve a luxury and fully-functioning space, we recommend connecting to the mains supplies as this provides a reliable water and electricity source. If you’re looking for a more eco-friendly option, you could consider using a rain catchment system and solar ovens. Or if you’re planning to do most of your cooking outside and use your garden room as an extension of your outdoor entertaining space, you’ll only need a BBQ or outdoor pizza oven instead of an electric oven or microwave inside your garden room.
Ventilation
When building a kitchen in your garden room, it is a legal requirement to have appropriate ventilation, which is not only important for safety but helps to remove odours and reduce condensation.
While they may not be the most exciting feature of your garden room kitchen, extractor fans and cooker hoods don’t need to be boring. Choose from a range of stylish models to suit your interior design style, from modern, sleek wall-mounted cooker hoods to traditional wooden style hoods.
Perhaps one of the simplest and most obvious ways to enhance the ventilation of your space is to install windows. While they may not be a legal requirement, windows can transform the look and feel of your space, providing natural light and allowing fresh air to flow through the space to dispel any lingering cooking smells. A Crown Pavilions garden room comes with doors and windows as standard, each meticulously engineered with air vents and seals for guaranteed efficiency and longevity.
Kitchen Extension vs Garden Room Kitchen
If you’re looking for some extra cooking, dining and entertaining space, what’s the best solution: a kitchen extension, or a garden room kitchen? There are pros and cons to both. Although a traditional kitchen extension may be easier to connect to your mains electricity and water supply, it does not provide as much versatility as a garden room kitchen because it is attached to your home. As such, a kitchen extension can only be built in relation to your existing space and cannot be used for self-contained living; it’s just an extension of the space you already have.
On the other hand, a garden room kitchen allows you to create a space that merges with your outdoor surroundings and provides a unique focal point to your garden that is sure to impress your neighbours, family and friends. It’s also perfect for alfresco dining and allows you to do all your cooking and entertaining in one space, without having to go back and forth between your garden room and main house. Go for bi-fold or French doors leading onto a natural stone patio or fabulous veranda with luxury outdoor seating and dining furniture. Or why not treat yourself to a Delivita Wood Fired Oven or a full-size bespoke brick oven for a more rustic look?
Best of all, since a garden room is built separately from your home, the building process causes much less disruption to home life. Building a home extension can cause lots of noise and dust which may require your family to find temporary accommodation during the project, whereas with a garden room kitchen, this is simply not the case!
Benefits of Kitchens in Garden Room
Although it may seem like there’s a lot to think about when it comes to building a kitchen in your garden room, the pay off is definitely worth it. A garden room with a kitchen has so many benefits, including:
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- Provides a luxury space for entertaining: there’s no better reason to build a garden room with a kitchen other than for pure enjoyment! Use the space to practice your culinary skills, entertain your family and friends or enjoy a change of scenery while you cook.
- Adds value to your property: a garden room with a functioning kitchen will increase the square footage of your property, pushing up the value of your home, if you decide to sell in the future. Learn how garden rooms can add value to your home.
- Can appeal to future buyers: a garden room with a kitchen is a unique selling point of your home and can help to attract more potential buyers who may be willing to pay more for this exclusive feature.
- Means you can run your business from home: if you are in the catering business, a garden room with a kitchen provides a convenient space for commercial cooking or hosting cooking classes and helps keep home and work life separate. If you have a garden office where you and other employees work, a kitchen is an essential feature which allows you to make hot drinks, lunch and snacks throughout the day.
- Provides useful extra storage: having two fridges and freezers, or an extra pantry, can be greatly beneficial, especially for larger families. A garden room with a kitchen provides ample food storage meaning you can bulk buy or organise your shelves as you wish – be that glass jars and printed labels, bespoke fitted cupboards or pull out drawers.
- Can facilitate independent living for family members: you may want to provide more privacy for your teenagers or accommodate an elderly relative, and a garden room with a kitchen and bathroom provides the ideal solution, offering more independence without the distance.
- Can provide a source of regular income: if you install a kitchen and bathroom in your garden room, you may be able to rent your property out regularly or as a holiday let and make some extra money.
Please note that there are special considerations if you choose to use your garden room for overnight stays or living accommodation. You will also need to think about additional insulation or heating solutions. At Crown Pavilions, our garden rooms are built using the finest residential-grade materials, including 190mm thick walls and double-glazed and argon-filled windows; however, we also offer the option to install additional heating and cooling facilities, such as underfloor heating, air conditioning and radiators for added comfort.
