Brick garage conversion with a flat roof beside a semi

Markfield

Markfield kitchens with skylights and rooflights overhead

24.5 road miles south-east of Derby, by the M1 and the granite quarries.

A kitchen worktop is where the light matters most and arrives last. Show us the counter you work at, and the survey starts there.

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Deep kitchens where the worktop sits furthest from the glass

Landing with a white banister under a long rooflight — A landing with a white banister, shaded beneath a long ceiling with no daylight.

A windowless utility room beyond the kitchen, always lit by a bulb.

What brightens a Markfield kitchen

Pitched kitchen roofs suit a roof window or VELUX window. For an extension, choose between a roof lantern and flat roof rooflights; for a utility room or passage, a sun tunnel does the job.

Cooking needs light at the knife, the hob and the sink. A roof window over the worktop lights the surface directly and also lifts the whole room. A kitchen extended at the back can take the same daylight from a flat rooflight or small lantern in its flat roof. A utility room or back passage with no outer wall can have daylight delivered down a sun tunnel from the roof.

The full guide

A Markfield kitchen, lit from above the worktop

Daylight is useful in a kitchen when it reaches the worktop, hob and sink. A window across the room does not do that. A rooflight positioned over the counter can, and this is how the position is worked out.

Over the counter
Pitch or flat roof
What moves the quote
Hinckley and Bosworth

Callout 1

Putting daylight where you chop and cook

Think of the places in a kitchen where your eyes work hardest. Cutting vegetables on a board, reading a recipe, checking whether the pan has browned. Each of those jobs happens at a counter, and a window at the far end of the room cannot reach any of them. The result is a kitchen that has plenty of glass and still needs the lights on at midday.

Putting the light over the counter

Mark the counter
We chalk the working edge and the sink on the floor and stand in each place.
Check the roof above
In the loft or extension we find rafters, joists, wiring and ducts.
Choose the unit
Roof window, flat rooflight or lantern, with the opening type and glazing.
Figure agreed in writing
The size, the finish and the work are written down at a figure that holds.
Ceiling lined and painted
Slope opened, unit set, ceiling lined and painted.

The remedy is to place the rooflight over the counter, or just in front of it, so that the daylight falls on the surface. A roof window cut into a pitched slope will do it. Over a flat extension roof, a rooflight on a kerb or a small lantern gives the same result. At the survey we chalk the counter edge on the boards and hold the plan above it to see where the daylight will fall.

Standing in your own shadow is the usual trouble. A unit behind your back casts your own shadow on the board, so it sits over the counter or just beyond the working edge. If the hob and sink are on different walls, one larger unit placed between them can serve both.

Heat and steam come with a kitchen. An opening unit lets them out, and a cooker hood does not replace that. A pole or electric control helps when the unit is above arm's reach.

Think about the worktop's depth too. A deep counter against a wall puts the working edge further from the glass, and the rooflight can be placed nearer the wall than the edge to light both. An island is easier, as a unit above the island lights all four sides.

Light across the room does not reach the board, the hob or the sink.

Callout 2

Roof window, flat rooflight or lantern

The roof above the kitchen settles which family of units is open to you. A pitched roof above the worktop takes a roof window, which is built to sit in the slope and shed rain down the slope past the frame. Over an extension, a flat roof carries either a rooflight on a raised kerb or a lantern, a glazed structure with sloping sides.

Each lights the counter in a different way. A roof window frames a slice of sky and sends a slanting shaft down. A flat rooflight gives a broad even wash directly below. A lantern admits light on all four sides and shows its worth over an eating area.

Warmth deserves a thought. A kitchen is warm already, and a big glazed lantern on a south side can add to that. Solar control glass, a blind, or a spot on the roof's shadier side keeps the heat down. The table below compares the two kinds of unit.

Finish is a quiet part of the choice. Dark window frames give a crisp line against a white ceiling, and white frames blend in. The inside of the opening is what you see daily, so the reveal is plastered and painted to match the ceiling.

Roof window or flat rooflight over a worktop

Window set into the pitch

Sits within the pitched roof
Opens for steam and air
View of the sky at an angle
Width set by the rafters

Flat unit on an upstand

Raised on an insulated upstand
Even daylight straight down
Can be fixed or opening
Joists set the size

Callout 3

The things that change the shape of the job

Two kitchens that look alike can be very different jobs. The unit is only one part of it, and the roof, the ceiling and the inside finish all play a part. We set them out in the written quote so that the figure does not change on the day.

The size of the opening is the obvious factor. Width drives the trimmers and the unit, and a lantern asks for a taller upstand than a flat pane. The roof covering matters because the flashing kit differs for each type. Access matters because a tight rear garden or a steep roof means more time setting up.

Inside the house, the finish counts. A rooflight in a kitchen ceiling needs the opening formed, lined and plastered, and sometimes a wall unit or extractor has to be moved. If the opening is large enough to affect the structure, a steel may be specified, and this belongs in the quote from the beginning.

Appliances can complicate things. A cooker hood, a boiler flue or a vent through the roof may sit where the best position is. We note them at the survey, and if one needs to move it goes in the quote, not in a surprise on the day.

What changes the quote for a kitchen rooflight

Width and length of the openingBigger openings need heavier trimming and a larger unit.
Tile type on the slopeSlate, tile and flat roofs each need their own flashing or upstand.
Type of opening gearManual, pole and electric controls differ in the unit and the wiring.
Ceiling workA deep light well needs lining, insulating and plastering.
Reaching the roofA tight route or a steep slope adds set-up time.

Callout 4

Planning, the conservation area and Building Control

For Markfield, planning is the job of Hinckley and Bosworth Borough Council, whose guidance sits on hinckley-bosworth.gov.uk. It issued an overview of the Markfield conservation area in 2012, so for a house inside that boundary, start with the overview. We look the address up before visiting, inside the boundary or out.

Away from the conservation area, permitted development often covers rooflights on houses. The conditions live in our planning guide, together with the government source. Inside the area an Article 4 direction might have withdrawn them, and we never assume which way it goes. Householder rights stop short of flats and maisonettes, and a listed building needs consent before most alterations.

Building Regulations stand apart. A new rooflight that opens up the rafters needs notifying, and we pass that to the local authority or a registered building control approver. On energy, a roof window meets the window limit while rooflights and lanterns meet 2.2 W/m²K.

A quarry village by the M1

Markfield is home to about 4,800 people, in a village south-east of Junction 22 of the M1 and south of the A50. The settlement dates back to at least the Norman conquest and appears in the Domesday Book under the name Merchenefeld, with two small households recorded.

The village has a long association with quarrying. It gave its name to a type of granite, a very hard microdiorite called Markfieldite, which was used in roadstone and railway construction. The highest point in the village is a quarried granite outcrop with extensive views across the Midland Plain, and Bardon Hill Quarry has been expanding into the parish. The old Markfield Memorial Miners Institute was replaced as the main community building by a community centre built in 1985, and the village has a light industrial estate.

The local stone helps explain what a Markfield roof might sit on. Where an older house has thick stone walls, the deep window reveal can leave a dim room behind it. That is one reason people look to the roof for daylight. At the same time, a village this size has had later building, and its newer houses will have tiled roofs and conventional walls.

For a kitchen, the sequence is the same whatever the house. The room comes first, then the worktop, then a climb to see what the roof allows. A kitchen that has grown a rear extension has a ready place for a kerbed rooflight or a lantern. Within the conservation area, a slimmer frame may suit better, and we weigh it against the council's guidance.

The M1 and the A50 make Markfield easy to reach, and the distance of 24.5 road miles from Derby is within our area. Narrow side passages are worth looking at ahead of time, so the survey covers the route a ladder and a pane of glass will take.

Utility rooms and downstairs cloakrooms deserve a mention. They open off the kitchen with no outside wall, so a sun tunnel makes a tidy answer, with just a small dome up top and a round diffuser below. If the roof above is a flat extension roof, the tunnel passes through a short, insulated section and the daylight arrives where you stand at the sink or the washing machine.

One more practical point is the weight of a big pane. A large lantern or flat rooflight is heavy, so the survey notes how it will be lifted to the roof and whether the extension walls and joists are ready to carry it.

Markfield kitchen and planning questions

Is there a conservation area in Markfield that affects rooflights?

The council published an overview of the Markfield conservation area in 2012. A house within it follows the council's guidance, and Article 4 controls could have removed permitted development. We check your address with the council before the survey.

Should a kitchen rooflight open or stay fixed?

Opening lets steam and heat leave a busy kitchen, and a fixed pane cannot do that. A pole or electric control reaches a unit above arm's length. A fixed pane has less to go wrong and suits a spot where other windows ventilate.

Is a flat-roofed extension a good place for a worktop rooflight?

Usually, yes. We inspect the joists and covering, frame the opening, raise an insulated kerb and set a flat unit or small lantern over the counter. Cutting into the roof is notifiable and we make the filing.

Could a big lantern overheat a Markfield kitchen in July?

It can on a south side, which is why glazing is chosen with that in mind. A solar control coating, a blind and the position on the roof all reduce the heat. We discuss each option and write the choice into the quote.

Which rules apply to a lantern over a kitchen table in Markfield?

A lantern is tested under Part L against 2.2 W/m²K. For planning, Hinckley and Bosworth Borough Council decides, and the usual route is in our planning guide. Conservation areas, listed buildings and flats are treated separately.

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Where do you want the light? Tell us in the form: the worktop, the stair, the desk.

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We cover Derby and 30 miles around.