Has anybody re-sited a kitchen? Is it difficult/expensive?

[Schubertlemons]

We are in the process of buying a flat in London. There are 2 bedrooms, a kitchen/diner and a large reception with a sitting area and dining area.

We would like to convert the kitchen into a 3rd bedroom and make the large reception room into a living area with kitchen incorporated. It is large enough to do this but I am wondering how big a job it is to move the kitchen in terms of plumbing etc and if it is likely to be difficult and costly. Has anybody done this and, if so, do you recommend it and do you have any tips for me, please?

[OnePlanOnHouzz]

Depends where it's going - often if there's plumbing above eg under a bathroom - that can help keep costs down - where are you thinking of ?

[OnePlanOnHouzz]

Sorry - only first part of your question was visible when I answered - not the second bit. - can be a bit more difficult in flats !

[lighteningirl]

I have just done it moved kitchen to other side of house electrics, Adriana, numbing and gas all needed moving it was expensive but worth it for me. I would get a couple of local estate agents round and quiz them on three bed flats/living rooms with kitchens.

[Schubertlemons]

Thank you for your advice. How much did it cost lightening if you don't mind my asking?

[lighteningirl]

Adriana= drains,numbing =plumbing stupid spell check.
Electrics were part of a total rewire but probably added several hundred £ gas and plumbing wasn't too bad less than £200, drain s my dh did. Do you own the flat freehold or leasehold? I think you will need freeholders permission and I think you might need planning we took two walls down so had to have planning and we've had to show electrician all compliance certs. I would check freeloaders first then get quotes from each trade if you can. It's going to be easier to use a kitchen company to do it all but cheaper to project manage it yourself how handy are you/dp? Cost depends on the kitchen you pick really.

[RaphaellaTheSpanishWaterDog]

We resited the kitchen at our last house, which was unmortgageable when we bought it as the old kitchen - in a 1980s annex - had been removed by the previous owner. We considered knocking down the annex internal walls and keeping the kitchen at that end of the house (eventually we did knock those walls down, but utilised the space for a different purpose), but realised that wouldn't work best for us. Instead we tacked a large vaulted ceiling kitchen extension onto a reception room at the opposite end of the building. This entailed taking down an old attached, stone outbuilding and temporarily removing the boiler that the PO had had fitted in this delapidated and badly leaking space a couple of years previously

Our costs were high because - despite doing much of the donkey work ourselves - we had an architect design the space that involved stupidly expensive double height windows and we used high end finishes (limestone, granite etc), plus the whole house (200 years old and thatched) needed rewiring too.

So basically it involved rerouting plumbing, electrics, drains etc to the new kitchen - no gas in the village, we were on oil - and all sorts of shenanigans with trying to conceal wiring etc in a house where the ceiling formed the floor of the room above......happy days!

We're about to embark on a slightly less ambitious or so I stupidly thought resiting of the kitchen in our latest house - moving the kitchen across the hall to a reception room with the old kitchen becoming a utility. Our biggest problem here is that the house is built into an escarpment and the ground floor rooms - not to mention the cellar obviously - are semi-basement with the side we wanted to position the sink being underground. We also have a 1920s parquet floor we don't want to remove to lay pipework, so instead we've decided to have the sink on the opposite side where there is existing plumbing (bathroom above) and a drain immediately outside the nearby door.

Even so - and with DH doing as much of the work as poss himself - it won't be cheap.

In a flat I would have thought it would be a considerably simpler process, although having said that, we're currently helping DS rejig stuff in the kitchen of his flat (share of freehold) that involved knocking down a non-load bearing wall and that has unearthed all sorts of issues with ancient wiring in the ceiling and badly bodged plumbing from when the place was converted (1980s?). It's kind of hard to say till you start work and start discovering unexpected problems - what started out as a two week job is now looking like 3-4.

You need to weigh up whether it's logistically feasible and also financially worthwhile. Could you get a couple of builders round to give you quotes before you exchange?