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Property/DIY

French/sliding doors between kitchen and dining room

34 replies

Theknittinggorilla · 25/03/2017 07:39

We are very undecided on whether to take out the wall between our kitchen and dining room. Dining room is lovely big square room and think having it separate will be useful when kids are older (currently 3 under 5). But kitchen will not be quite big enough with a table in if we don't knock through, and we would have to lose a boot room/utility.
(Have separate lounge and upstairs laundry).

Thinking about having internal French doors or pocket doors between the two rooms. Then could have island/breakfast bar in kitchen and table, sofa and doors to garden in dining room. Would keep them open most of time but option to close if having people for dinner/kids doing separate things. Would also allow us to have different flooring in each room (would like to keep original boards in dining room but not sensible in kitchen)

Is this a terribly old fashioned idea? Would it put you off buying a house, is a big kitchen diner more desirable?

Doors would be this kind of thing...

French/sliding doors between kitchen and dining room
OP posts:
5amisnotmorning · 25/03/2017 08:01

We have open plan kitchen diner but I would be equally happy with your suggestion assuming that you then have seating at the kitchen island.

AgainPlease · 25/03/2017 08:04

Hi OP. Rather than just doors I would knock through the whole wall and partition it with crital-style floor to ceiling window like these pics. The frame doesn't have to be black, in fact can be any colour that suits your scheme (grey, white, gold etc. )Might be pricey though.

My mum's house has white framed French doors all over the place and makes the house seem like a rabbit warren with doors everywhere. Looks very twee too.

French/sliding doors between kitchen and dining room
French/sliding doors between kitchen and dining room
MissDuke · 25/03/2017 08:04

I do love kitchen/diner layout but this is the next best thing - it sounds beautiful! Wouldn't put me off buying at all. To me it still seems open enough to feel like one room when the double doors are open. I like to be able start dinner whilst the children are doing their homework at the table so the only setup I absolutely would not go for would be a kitchen with no space for a table at all. I am sure the island would suffice.

Fourmagpies · 25/03/2017 08:05

We're doing something similar when we start our extension/reconfiguration in a few weeks. I want to keep separate rooms and kitchen isn't big enough for a table, but having French doors will give us the option to have it more open or closed depending on what's happening and will also allow more natural light into the kitchen (our kitchen has one large window but it's on the side of the house so doesn't get much light).

Theknittinggorilla · 25/03/2017 09:02

Definitely want to avoid twee...

four what type of doors are you going for? I love the idea of pocket doors that slide into the wall but don't if these would be hideously expensive....

OP posts:
missyB1 · 25/03/2017 09:05

We have a very open plan kitchen/dining room/conservatory, and I'm planning on getting bifold doors fitted between the kitchen and conservatory, they save space compared to French doors and look a bit more modern than sliding doors.

wowfudge · 25/03/2017 09:16

We got rid of the large French doors between our kitchen and dining room and plan to just have an arch way. If that doesn't work once we're using it (builder here at the mo) we've said we'll go for oak framed bi-folds that fold back against the wall.

heffalumpshavewrinkles · 25/03/2017 10:05

Can you post a floor plan? Would you lose a lot of kitchen wall space by knocking through (that you wouldn't make up for by extending the kitchen into the diner space if you have double doors)? Pocket doors need quite a lot of wall so it would never feel totally open plan. I kept my dining room seperate so it can be used as a reception room in the future, and knocked the kitchen through to large utility to create a kitchen diner. then pinched some space from garage for a smaller utility.

MissDuke · 25/03/2017 10:23

What do you mean by avoiding 'twee'? Blush

Theknittinggorilla · 25/03/2017 10:38

Current floor plan attached. Dining room is 5m by 5m, lounge the same (not in picture but is in front of dining room), kitchen 3.5m by 4m, utility 2.5m by 4m.

The challenge is we have a cellar and the garden is not on the same level as the house. So any extension is awkward and expensive, as we need to keep light to cellar. Also smallish garden so don't want to lose any of it. The actual floor plan of the house is big, it's just not quite in the right places (lounge, dining room, hall, utility are big, kitchen is small!)

miss duke - I don't want it to look old fashioned I guess, though not too modern either. It's a lovely traditional Edwardian house and we want to maintain the character, but make it a bit more suitable for family life with 3 children.

OP posts:
Theknittinggorilla · 25/03/2017 10:43

Oops forgot pic

French/sliding doors between kitchen and dining room
OP posts:
Chasingsquirrels · 25/03/2017 10:44

I've got pocket doors from my lounge to playroom. I love them.
But you do need to effectively take the whole wall out and put in a false stud wall for the doors to slide into. And the door opening can only be half of the total wall gap maximum so the doors can slide away.
Depending on the lay out, I couldn't see a floor plan, I'd totally go for it.

Chasingsquirrels · 25/03/2017 10:46

Now seen floor plan, kitchen looks small - but actually all big rooms from your sizes.
How would you refit your kitchen units it you took out most of that wall where they currently are - especially with the doors from the hall / to the utility being against the top / bottom of the opposite wall.

Theknittinggorilla · 25/03/2017 10:53

Still debating kitchen layout but thinking move the utility door to the other side (so next to window) then run units around that corner and along the wall up to the kitchen door. Then possibly units on the wall in line with the kitchen door, with island in the middle.

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heffalumpshavewrinkles · 25/03/2017 10:53

Is that the back of your house? Is there a corridor in front odining room window? (plan doesn't enlarge for me). Initial thoughts would be yes to pocket doors, but swap kitchen and dining room. when kids older you could fit a table in the kitchen, and have a small snug coming off it.

Theknittinggorilla · 25/03/2017 10:56

Yes it's the back. Not a corridor - lightwell to cellar, we will have to bridge it with some sort of raised deck/patio to have doors instead of current window.

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bouncydog · 25/03/2017 14:34

We have some folding hardwood doors between our dining room and conservatory. The conservatory is open plan to the kitchen so the whole lot can be opened up. Fabulous space for parties! We just open and fold back the doors - there are 6 in all and they were made for us by a joiner.

Fourmagpies · 25/03/2017 20:08

We have a 1930s house so thinking wood doors with glass panels. Probably not too dissimilar to the ones in your first post but not pocket doors, only really as I hadn't thought of doing pockets doors but also not sure we have the room for a pocket. We're having bi folds from dining room to sun room, then bi folds from sun room to garden. Rooms are big so won't feel like a rabbit warren but kitchen is awkward layout hence not being able to fit a table in. The opening isn't that wide.

BeanSprout79 · 26/03/2017 04:58

Ooh, bouncy dog, I'm thinking of having that done with my conservatory as its not very useful in winter or summer! Please can I be cheeky and jump on the thread to ask if you needing planning for that and also how much you paid to have it done as don't want to get builder out to quote and possibly waste his time. Tia

5amisnotmorning · 26/03/2017 07:12

Hm now having seen your floorplan I might be tempted to just knock through. 3.5m wide for your kitchen would struggle to fit a decent island with seating and would bring in more light to the kitchen.

dynevoran · 26/03/2017 20:25

I have sliding pocket doors. There are two leavdz about 1.2m each and the pocket stud wall a bit longer. Works really well - we mostly keep open but it's nice to have the option. Will attach a pic with them open now and will go and take one with it closed.

French/sliding doors between kitchen and dining room
PigletJohn · 26/03/2017 21:32

pocket doors are fairly common in US but very rare in UK due to different construction methods. You would almost certainly need the partition wall rebuilt.

If you have hinged wooden doors, you may need Parliament hinges if you want them to fold back flat. The fitter can do this if warned in advance.

You will need safety glass.

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echt · 27/03/2017 09:51

Another thumbs up for pocket doors. They're very common in Australian houses, and fab for space-saving and zoning for heating. In every house I've been in, they were used to section off the kitchen area, possibly for cooking smells.

dynevoran · 27/03/2017 14:17

Here is a picture with them closed. You can get fully glass doors on the same system if you want the visibility.

French/sliding doors between kitchen and dining room
Theknittinggorilla · 27/03/2017 14:35

Ooh thank you all.

Am thinking we will take the whole wall out regardless of whether we go for doors or not, as guessing if we want pocket doors will need to build as stud wall anyway. Lots to think about.

OP posts:
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