How to Connect Your Extension to Your Garden
One of the most transformative aspects of a rear kitchen extension is the relationship it creates between the inside of the house and the garden. A well-designed connection between the two spaces extends the living area outward in good weather, floods the interior with natural light, and gives the garden a purpose beyond somewhere to look at through a window. Here's how to design it well.
Threshold and Level
The relationship between the internal floor level and the external ground level is fundamental. Ideally, the threshold between the extension and the garden should be flush — or as close to flush as drainage and building regulations allow. A single step down to the garden is common and acceptable; multiple steps create a barrier that inhibits the easy flow between inside and outside.
Where there is a significant difference in levels between the internal floor and the garden, a terrace or deck at the same level as the floor — bridging the level change between the floor and the garden — creates the seamless connection that makes the space feel truly open.
Terracing and Decking
A terrace or deck directly outside the extension doors is almost always worth including in the project. It provides a defined outdoor living area, extends the usable space in good weather, and visually enlarges the extension from inside.
Material choice matters: terrace materials that complement or match the internal flooring material create a strong visual continuity. Porcelain tile terraces that continue the internal tile outside — using a frost-resistant outdoor version of the same tile — are a popular and effective choice. Natural stone, concrete, and composite decking are all alternatives with their own aesthetics and maintenance profiles.
Glazing Strategy
The glazing on the garden face of the extension determines how the inside feels when looking out. Wide-opening bifold or sliding doors that retract fully when the weather is good create the strongest inside-outside connection — particularly when the threshold is flush or near-flush.
Corner glazing (where two adjacent walls are glazed, meeting at a glazed corner post or a structural mullion) creates a particularly strong visual connection and a sense of the garden wrapping around the extension. It requires careful structural detailing but the effect is dramatic.
Landscaping
The garden visible from the extension should be designed in coordination with the extension, not as an afterthought. The most important element is usually the area immediately adjacent to the extension — the terrace level and the first zone of planting. A well-planted terrace edge, an appropriate fence or wall to define the garden boundary, and clear sightlines to the rest of the garden from the extension make the most of the relationship.
A landscape designer briefed at the same time as the architect — rather than engaged after the extension is built — can integrate the indoor and outdoor design in a way that subsequent disconnected landscaping cannot replicate.
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