How would you design this kitchen?

[HallaWalla]

The new house I'm renovating has a rather difficult shaped kitchen.

I would really like a breakfast bar/peninsula as put one in current house and it's been brilliant.

I was thinking about units all along the far side and a peninsula sticking out, or would this look odd? Thanks

[HallaWalla]

Here are the pics.

measurements are 6.60m x 2.39m

[HallaWalla]

pic one

[HallaWalla]

Sorry it's being really weird when I try to upload!

[Dandelion6565]

I would take down the wall between the dining room and kitchen. It won't be cheap as you have a fireplace to remove, but it would totally transform the space. I'd cut back on the kitchen spend if I needed to.

[HallaWalla]

Thanks. would you take the whole wall out or just a knock through? The walls are about 2 foot thick...

[HallaWalla]

This is the dining room

[Believeitornot]

I would move the kitchen to the dining room, knock through to the utility room to make a kitchen diner. Turn one half of the kitchen into a utility room and other half, I'd make as part of the kitchen. So an L shaped kitchen

Means you'd need to move the downstairs WC though.

[Believeitornot]

Other option is to knock half the wall down between the kitchen and dining room, leaving the fireplace in situ - basically creating a bigger doorway than currently exists. So partly open plan.

[HallaWalla]

Thanks, really keen to keep utility and downstairs loo as have DC and dogs and house is semi rural so lots of mud!

[Believeitornot]

But I think breakfast bars are a bit overrated tbh. If your kitchen isn't big enough, I wouldn't bother! You can create nice social spaces in other ways

[HallaWalla]

Strangely I don't think there is a fireplace there, at least not downstairs... I guess if there is still one upstairs (don't recall seeing that either) it's being suitably supported

[Believeitornot]

partial open kitchen diner

[Batteriesallgone]

Agree with believe. Keep the fireplace in the dining room, you could put in an eye height log burner (like this www.firesonline.co.uk/acatalog/Westfire-Uniq-32-Inset-Wood-Burning-Stove.html) with table in front then kitchen/cooking bit at the back where utility and WC currently are. Either scrap the utility because you'll have a massive kitchen and a downstairs loo at the front (in the corner behind the fireplace, bottom right) or get a utility + loo arrangement down that right hand side of the house.

[Batteriesallgone]

Sorry just read your update... so that won't work!

[HallaWalla]

I've just spoken to DP who's a builder and he says there's probably and old blocked up fireplace so to open up kitchen/dining room will need steels. He said because it's going to need steels anyway we might as well take the whole wall out.

The kitchen is actually an extension and not part of the original house and apparently lots of extension jobs he does nowadays they do take out the joining wall.

[Batteriesallgone]

Im a sucker for keeping chimney stacks / putting in fires. Just think they are great features. You could knock down the walls but keep the fireplace as a middle of the room fireplace divider between dining room and kitchen (search middle of room fire on Pinterest you'll see what I mean). You could then have an island where the wall/door between kitchen and dining is now which would be a breakfast bar

[HallaWalla]

Thanks guys. There is a lovely old woodburner in the sitting room so I guess that will be our 'cosy place'!

[HallaWalla]

If there is a fireplace upstairs we'll defy keep that and put in an old Victorian cast bedroom insert.

[Batteriesallgone]

Also log fires are v trendy at the moment. If you're renovating with a view to resell - particularly high value - bear that in mind.

[Believeitornot]

I'd think about where you put the kitchen and dining elements when you do knock through. The utility is blocking direct access to outside - do you want to have garden access from the dining or kitchen part of the open plan area? I'd move the utility over to the other side of the WC to get direct access to the garden from the dining area and see if you can have the utility room which flows through to the kitchen (so kitchen runs where it is now then into the utility then back door).

[Hufflepuffin]

There's lots of places the toilet could go that would make more sense. I like the idea of opening up the utility room and dining room to each other to make a big kitchen, and then having the existing kitchen as a utility/mudroom/downstairs toilet, possibly leaving a small playroom type space at one end (or making a large L shaped kitchen-diner as someone suggested).

[namechangedtoday15]

You've got to do something because it looks as though you can't access the kitchen at the moment without going through either the dining room or the utility room? Is that right? Would drive me nuts!

Depending on how much work you want to do, I'd knock through between the kitchen and the dining room, and the utility and the dining room. I'd put the utility in the top right hand corner of the kitchen (on the other side of the toilet) and doors into the garden in the wall where the utility is now.

[HallaWalla]

So decided to knock through kitchen/diner and keep mud room/back porch/utility and loo where it is. I don't really want to be ripping down anymore walls or moving cloakroom as it will be a lot of work and expense.

How would you design the kitchen once kitchen and diner were one room?

[Dandelion6565]

Sorry forgot that I posted. I'd open it all up, as it will need steels due to the upstairs fireplace.
I would put the table on the left as you walk in. I would run units under the three Windows, in an L shape. I would then probably put a sofa opposite the utility and change the window to French door.

It would be nice to steal a bit of the utility to make the garden access better, but you would be adding big costs to the plan.
I think taking the wall down will give you a lovely spacious room, which is much nicer than you had before and good light due to the Windows.

[HallaWalla]

So this is the rough plan I've done