Kitchen advice .. do we knock down wall or not?

[twiglett]

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[CountessDracula]

How funny twiglett, we are doing the exact same thing at the moment. Our dining room and kitchen are next to each other and the dining room is knocked through into the sitting room, so the whole house is rectangular - if we knock through we will end up with a 19 x 18 foot kitchen diner + a living room which will also be part of the space, so effectively a big L shape.

We have been changing our minds for ages about what to do, but like you we rarely use the dining room, and tbh the kitchen is a bit too small and so is the dining room, so we figured that we would get much more use out of the ground floor as a whole if we knock through. What we may do though is put the wall back up between the new kitchen/dining room and the living room if we find that the noise/cooking smells etc are all too much.

We could also incorporate a downstairs loo which would be good.

I just think if you have kids you will see them more and get more use out of the space if you open it all up. You can always close it off again later if you wanted. And it is worth bearing in mind that future purchasers of your house may want a separate dining room and to leave that possibility of putting the wall back up for them, ie not put your breakfast bar right in the middle of where the wall would go.

[Crunchie]

Knock it down, what is the point on one room in your house rarely being used? I mean you probably only use that dining room at christmas r if you have people over to dinner. I'd go for one big room, as it's L-shaped you can make one end more formal with a larger table etc, you will get a utility room although personally I don't see the point of a breakfast bar. if you have a nice table you can use that. we have a kitchen/breakfast room which also has a small sofa and a TV in it as well as a table and this room is used as much as the living room is.

[KatieMac]

I agree - we have a penninsular unit which is great for cooking while supervising children at the table whether they are playing, doing craft, homework or eating - never wanted a breakfast bar.

[twiglett]

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[twiglett]

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[KatieMac]

Mine has no overhang so difficult to sit at (it was either or and we chose table)

[aloha]

Oooh, yes, knock it down. It will be a wonderful space.

[bluebear]

we've done this - ended uo with big kitchen/breakfast room open plan to 'playroom' (old dining room) and fitted in an enclosed utility/laundry room..no regrets at losing the dining room (and could re-instate wall if necessary. Would only use it at christmas anyway ..prefer to eat in kitchen.

[Demented]

We've done this too, no regrets either. I love being able to cook/potter about in the kitchen whilst others can sit at the dining table and chat and the kids can play in the diningroom and I can still communicate with them instead of being shut off, shackled to the cooker and kitchen sink whilst everyone else was in the diningroom enjoying themselves!

[jasper]

I swithered about doing exactly this in our house for about 8 years - finally did it 2 years ago and it has been wonderful
Be warned if you want to do things by the book you will need to contact your planning office and get buildings regs (not the same as planning permission). Sofiaames or others will corect me if I am wrong.
We did it by the book - had to follow a few simple rules including getting an extractor fan fitted - planning officer visited before and after the job, which we did on our own.The fee for the planners was about £70 and is on a sliding scale depending on the cost of the building work.
Email me if I can help more.

[sb34]

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[robinw]

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[eyelash]

We had this done before Christmas and it has made such a massive difference to our living space. Ours was a structural wall and we had to follow building regs but the builder did it all for us. We also had to commission a structural survey. All in all we paid £170 for the structural plans, about £100 for the building regs and £700 for knocking down the wall and putting in the steel girders. TBH while it was going on it was a nightmare for about a week but well worth it in the end. We also added 9 foot high double doors into the garden. I can honestly say I love it. We have a peninsular unit with an 8 inch overhang and although the 20 month can't sit up on the stool on his own, I often have my just 4 year old up there helping out when I get the opportunity. And the younger one will soon be old enough to do it as well.

I also have a separate laundry area which is a godsend as well.

Best of luck whatever you decide.

I would definitely do it again.

[twiglett]

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[musica]

twiglett, we have done the opposite and reinstated loads of walls. What we've done in our kitchen is to have a 'psychological' divide - i.e. there is a wall, but there is a big arch doorway in it, with no doors, so that you can feel like you've left the working area to come into the eating area. I really like it like that, and as someone said, future purchasers may have different ideas, so it is worth keeping your options open. Also, if you were selling the house, it always looks good to have a large number of downstairs rooms. (We have changed ours from 1 large reception room and long kitchen to kitchen and 3 reception rooms just by building a few walls).

We did some major work to the structural walls in our house, and I would recommend either getting a friendly engineer to do you some drawings, or getting an architect to do it. The advantage of an architect is that they often will recommend builders, and as the builder won't want to hurt his reputation with the architect, he will usually do you a good fair-priced job. There will probably be some calculations to do as well as regards lintels etc. We just did ours ourselves, with some help from a friend, but dh and friend were both engineers. I think the drawings need to be submitted to the buildings reg. people, and then they come and do an inspection while the work is taking place and give you a certificate. Can't remember what the fee is, but it's not extortionate. This is very useful when selling the house!