Just to pick up on this, as someone from the UK. Here it is standard to do 1 year Master's degrees, finding a two year programme offered here would be quite rare. I personally went abroad and did a two year Master's programme, but as the poster above suggested, my time-frame wasn't any different, as I applied at the start of the second year, to begin immediately following my Master's. Had I done a one year Master's it may have been similar, but I think being in the second year applying helped me work with my LORs a little better.
I was also trying to make up for some weaker grades in my undergraduate, so more graduate courses on my transcript was helpful. If your previous academic profile is strong and you are clear on your research interests, then it wouldn't necessarily be required.