While the couple couldn’t afford to start work on the house immediately, they realised the generous side return would present them with a promising opportunity for an extension, transforming the narrow kitchen into a space perfect for hosting family and friends.. The benefits of a side return extension. while the victorians designed very practical and wonderfully liveable houses that make fantastic homes, sadly they did not consider the needs of the modern family in their kitchen design.. I just had an architect and engineer plan a side return and end extension for our victorian terrace. we then got eleven quotes from building contractors. the average was