A to Z of building your own home... K

 KitchensKitchens are one of, if not the most important room in a home as it tends to be the centre of living space for most. According to a recent survey by Savills Estate Agents, a kitchen is one of the most important aspect for both buyers and sellers. Kitchens will be one of the most expensive rooms in the house when you consider all of the elements within a kitchen. The size of the kitchen usually depends on the size of the house, however if you are one of the people that spends a lot of time in your kitchen then you may wish to re-model or add an extension to improve the space. Kitchen DesignersThere are designers who specialise in the overall configuration of the kitchen. During the design process, the client will most often design their own kitchen by going into a store and speaking to one of the design team. Sometimes this is not the case, as the architects are commissioned to design it themselves and possibly create a better use of space within the kitchen and not just the overall look and internal system of the kitchen, which the designer will do. Kitchens can cost anything from £6000 up, depending on the specification of units and appliances. KerbsWhen designing your new home, you may want to increase a driveway size and potentially dropping a kerb is what you may have to do. Firstly, you will need to establish whether or not planning permission is required, this will be the case if your property is;

• On a classified road on the Island
• A flat, maisonette or multiple occupancy home
• A listed building or in a conservation area

The parking area for the vehicle must have measurements in excess of 5.5 metres by 2.5 metres beyond the back edge of the driveway. In additional to this, there must be adequate visibility in both directions. The distances will depend upon the speed limit of the road adjacent to your driveway. The visibility splay should be at a distance of 2.4 from the road.