I have a lot of experience with 'bolt on' sunrooms, IMO they are a monstrosity and add NO value to your home.

Sounds like you like your kitchen. Spend the money to get the kitchen enlarged the proper way, this will add value to your home when you sell it.

History: My wife once sold custom window fashions, and blinds of all kinds. I installed a goodly number of them in quite a few sunrooms. Most of the clients were 55+ After building the sunroom, they were surprised to find out that quality blinds cost somewhere about $1500 - $2000 even more for some woven woods. It gets real expensive to cover a sliding door. Some needed heat pumps to keep it warm/cool.

It was difficult to mount the blinds, no thought was given about that in the design.

Then the people no longer used their living room!

IMO it's a horrible idea / product

With poor quality windows, insufficient HVAC, and no insulation, the typical "sunroom" like mine will be nothing but an oven attached to your home that darkens the interior. Good quality triple glazed windows are expensive, as is spray in foam insulation, and the extra HVAC system needed for a sunroom. That's why this fall's project is to remove the wall between it and the home and rebuild it as an open room that is an integral part of the house rather than as a separate room. I will have more windows in it than the rest of the house, but less than when it was a sunroom. The windows will be of higher quality, and there will be wall space with actual insulation in it. We are having to redo the 30 year old HVAC, so it's not a stretch to have the additional space calculated into the new requirements. We also had to pour a new footing and rework the roof and it's support with LVLs and I beams in order to remove the wall between the current sunroom and family room. It's not a cheap project to do this, roughly 30K for materials alone with our DIY labor (labor would probably be at least 40-50K in addition to the material costs), but I'd recommend that you think of doing something similar rather than doing a "sunroom". It will still darken your kitchen to make it the interior room rather than the exterior one, but if there isn't a wall between the two, and it's one large space, it can keep most of it's brightness without the direct light.

And, as any addition, it's a lot more expensive to remodel than move if you can't DIY the project. If you are looking at doing such an extensive remodel to your home, take that 100K that it will cost and see what you could buy with it after you've sold your present home. Major remodels are only for people who are going to live in their home long term and who don't care about spending extra money for their comfort while living there. Remodels lose money if you look at it from a purely financial standpoint rather than the intangible benefits one.

When those responding, think of sunrooms...is it the attached ones, with the skylights and metal dividers, between lots of windows? I guess I think of them as the '80s sunrooms'.

MyGardenWeb- What kind of sunroom are you considering? Do you have any pictures, actual or inspiration? It might help to know what type of room you're visualizing. Here's a nice porch, from the Better Homes & Gardens website and a link to more pictures of screened porches and sunrooms :) {{!gwi}}From Kitchen plans

Here is a link that might be useful: Link to picture on BH&G site

@lavender: "When those responding, think of sunrooms...is it the attached ones, with the skylights and metal dividers, between lots of windows? I guess I think of them as the '80s sunrooms'. "

A couple of comments about the sunroom picture: It IS very bright - too bright to watch TV, or use a computer, or to read. It IS going to absorb a lot of radiant energy. Three walls of windows don't allow for very good use of the room. It looks like a permanent addition to the home - for that price why not enlarge the kitchen?

I'd vote for an enlarged kitchen with eating space to the east.

We have a screened porch in the (SE) right angle between our breakfast room and our dining room. It has two skylights in the eastern roof ridge that keep both adjacent rooms bright in winter. Many visitors have asked if we planned to turn the porch into a 'sunroom'. The answer is "No!" Why would I do that? Our LR and DR face south, with a row of French doors that keep them sunny.

This is like those 'conservatory' wings that are so popular in Scotland -- where the sun is rarely visible outside of July and August. Put one of those on a house here and you'll have a sweat lodge!

Doug- I don't know what other people use a sunroom for (or what MyGardenWeb plans to use one for) but here, it would be lovely to have a place with plants and sunshine, in the winter! TV and computers, not to mention books, are for the darker, cozier living room or office, at least in our area.

Chisue- Where is 'here'? We have winters that are supposed to last four months, but can stretch out to six. Spring is cool and summers are hot, but fall cools off, again. We're in eastern Washington, but the scenery/climate is similar to western Montana. If we had milder winters...a screened porch (only) would be perfect :)

MyGardenWeb- Where are you located?

I think the prefab sunrooms are like having a trailer park bolted to your house. It's a great place to raise vegetables if you like to pick them already steamed.

However, I have a '20s house with an original sunroom, and I love it. It's not "outdoorsy" sunroom--it's part of the house, with curtains and hardwood and central HVAC. It's small and certainly sunny (it's on the south side) but it is never, ever an oven. Nor is it cold in winter. But that's because it was built from the start as a real room.

I think the key is not to straddle indoors and outdoors too much. Build a porch, even a screened-in one, with a good overhang to shade it and use it when it's warm outside. Or build an interior sunny room like mine, with good Marvin windows and drapes and all the regular features of an interior room. But don't build a quick and dirty, cheap room that promises to be something in between. Pick.

And yes, a roof outside your kitchen will decrease the sunlight coming inside, unless it is a narrow room with the exterior windows only a few steps beyond the door.

Marcolo- A great place to raise vegetables, if you like to pick them already steamed...LOL!

I think you make an excellent point. If the room is planned and incorporated into the home, it will function much better...so that's what I plan to do. I hope this helps MyGardenWeb, as well :)

It is true that many sunrooms work look and feel like bolt-ons. It's hard to manage sun heat and light. With deciduous trees close by you get light in winter and an intermediate space in summer. A screened porch is good for three seasons; it's not a liveable space in the darkest coldest months but you might find some potted plants can overwinter there. You have to check their water every few days. You can bring them inside during the worst cold weather snaps.

Every tree trunk cuts down the amount of sunlight you get in the kitchen. Every obstacle. If the sunroom is a glass roofed hothouse you get more light.

I agree with most of the posts. It is better to do a thoughtful expansion of your kitchen rather than add a sunroom. Properly designed, you may be surprised how few square feet you need to add to your kitchen to make it more enjoyable. Sometimes a simple 2 to 3 foot bumpout is all you need to give you the elbow room you need. That will save you lots of money and keep your kitchen sunny!