Unleashing Your Home's Potential: Top 10 Side-Return Extension Ideas for 2025
Top Prospects Shaping Outstanding Retrofit Enhancements in 2025: Architectural and Interior Design Insights
Ready to boost your home's vibe in 2025? Let a side-return extension work its magic, especially if you own a Victorian or Edwardian terrace or semi-detached property sporting a wasted strip of damp passageway. This ingenious home extension breathes new life into a narrow, useless space, converting it into a wider, more functional living area.
It's not about square footage alone; it's about pushing boundaries with creative design ideas. Side-return extensions in 2025 are all about versatility, functionality, and fabulousness. Join us as we explore ten jaw-dropping ways to transform your side-return kitchen extension into a showstopper this year. Whether you're a glass aficionado, a color enthusiast, or a lighting lover, we've got inspiration to fire up your next renovation project. Expect nothing less than extended cool.
1. Crittall Everything
Side-return extensions are often found on period homes, and if you're searching for a smooth transition from old to new, Crittall-style glazing is your secret weapon. This industrial yet timeless vibe complements a range of kitchen styles, fitting seamlessly with traditional materials like exposed brick, timber, and natural stone.
Design tip: Interior designer Caz Myers advocates using Crittall doors to establish a cohesive and seamless link between your indoor and outdoor spaces and the style of your kitchen cabinetry.
2. Bench Seating for Cozy Dining
By extending into the side return of a Victorian terrace home with sea views, interior designer Fiona Duke added valuable width, creating an open-plan kitchen, dining, living area that suits a family of five perfectly.
Design tip: Benefits of bespoke bench seating include maximum dining and entertaining room and saving space compared to regular chairs that require space behind to pull out.
3. Cozy Colors for a Warm and Inviting Space
Warm colors can enhance the sense of light and space in a smaller side-return extension while creating a welcoming atmosphere. These are also kitchen colors you'll never tire of.
Design tip: Kitchen designer William Durrant suggests adding a rich, muddy plum-colored cabinet finish like Kanreki by Atelier Ellis, balanced by an earthy, dirty pink like Angelico, for warmth and coziness.
4. Nature's Inspiration
A verdant color scheme, like Farrow & Ball's Sap Green and Fruit Fool, pairs beautifully with a side-return extension to bring a sense of tranquility and freshness into your home.
Design tip: Kitchen designer Al Bruce recommends using vibrant kitchen cabinet colors to reflect the garden and maintain a visual connection to nature.
5. Personalized Layering
Layering personality is essential for ensuring your side-return extension doesn't turn into just another plain white box. Interior designer Laura Stephens achieves this by introducing vibrant pops of color and intriguing patterns while creating a clear sense of order.
Design tip: Strategically place lighting and Tai Ping Geometric Wye-Walls Carpets to zoned the cooking and dining areas without overpowering the space.
6. Brick It Up
Exposed brick is a fantastic design choice, delivering texture, character, and a warm feeling to a newly built space.
Design tip: In this side-return extension by Delve Architects, the exposed brick feature wall offers a grounded backdrop for the vibrant Pluck kitchen.
7. Keep Your Neighbors on Side
Being sensitive to your neighbors' needs is key to avoiding hexes on your side-return extension project. Build in harmony, and your build will run more smoothly.
Design tip: Architect Robert Rhodes advises sticking to the existing garden wall profile and using just four flat pieces of Maxlight glass to let in plenty of natural light while maintaining a good relationship with your neighbors.
8. Sculptural Lighting
Side-return extensions often boast open-concept living spaces that require thoughtful lighting placement and design. Otherwise, visual clashes can occur.
Design tip: Interior designer Kate Guinness suggests opting for focused, targeted lighting instead of traditional downlights while selecting colorful, sculptural paper-pulp or banana fiber pendant lights for contrast.
9. Lower Cabinets Only
A spacious, light-filled kitchen hub is within reach when you opt for lower cabinets only. Ditch the upper cabinets for a clutter-free, stylish look.
Design tip: Allison Lynch, senior designer at Roundhouse, recommends using tall sliding-door cabinets to store abundant kitchen essentials while keeping the area above the main kitchen run uncluttered.
10. Glass Roof for Maximum Transparency
A glass roof creates an abundance of natural daylight, preventing the middle of your home from feeling dark and gloomy.
Design tip: IQ Glass structural glass beams are a super-sleek option, flooding the space with light while keeping the look modern and minimal.
- Incorporate Crittall-style glazing for a smooth transition between indoor and outdoor spaces, complementing various kitchen styles and enhancing the overall design.
- Consider bespoke bench seating for a cozy dining area, maximizing space and providing ample room for dining and entertaining.
- Experiment with warm, inviting colors like muddy plum and earthy pink to create a welcoming ambiance in a smaller side-return extension.
- Embrace a verdant color scheme with shades like Sap Green and Fruit Fool to bring tranquility and freshness into your side-return extension.
- Personalize your side-return extension with vibrant pops of color and intriguing patterns, while strategically placing lighting and unique carpets to zone the cooking and dining areas.
- Utilize exposed brick to deliver texture, character, and warmth to your newly built side-return extension.
- Be mindful of your neighbors' needs during your side-return extension project, maintaining a harmonious relationship by following the existing garden wall profile and using only four flat pieces of Maxlight glass.
- Opt for focused, targeted lighting instead of traditional downlights, and choose colorful, sculptural pendant lights for contrast in a open-concept living space.
- Achieve a clutter-free, stylish look by only installing lower cabinets and using tall sliding-door cabinets to store kitchen essentials.
- Incorporate a glass roof to flood your side-return extension with natural daylight, preventing darkness and gloominess in the middle of your home, while keeping the design modern and minimal with super-sleek IQ Glass structural glass beams.
