Kitchen diner - any advice?

[Lottle]

Hi

Thinking about knocking through most of the wall between my kitchen and diner next year. I was thinking about keeping around 1m and knocking down the remaining two. The reason being I have a sneaky place to hide any mucky dishes and my kettle, and a radiator can go on the other side.

Has anyone done anything similar or have any thoughts?

And any other kitchen advice? e.g. where to go/where not to go/top tips. Never had a new kitchen before.

Thanks in advance

[Soontobe60]

Ive got about 1m either side of the opening between my kitchen and sitting area. The side of the sofa (now where the dining table was in the photo) fits in against the wall on one side and the opposite side next to the stairs we have had the washer and the dryer built in. It works well for us. Gives us an extra corner where the hob is and as you said helps to hide the crap after cooking!

[Soontobe60]

Sorry, I’ve drawn it from the garden end and the photo is from the opposite end!

[PresentingPercy]

That’s not much space. With 3m to play with i think I would open it up totally. You won’t get much in 1 m. What I would do is extend the kitchen units into the dining area. So dresser/storage to make it look streamlined. It also saves space to build in some seating. That way you don’t need as much space for chairs to be moved in and out from the table.

[Lottle]

@Soontobe60 that's super useful thank you!

[Lottle]

I don't know if this helps!
@PresentingPercy Yes that's the worry....

[PresentingPercy]

The table and dresser are taking up a lot of space. Is there actually room to move the chairs away from the table with this layout? Circulation from the kitchen into the dining area looks like a chicane and I think I wouldn’t do it.

You have a lot of wasted space in the utility with the door - maybe a sliding door? Make it a walk in larder/utility room?

I’m not great with planning kitchens but I think this could be more streamlined and work better regarding flow from one area to another. Is there a door from the hall? What’s at the end of the hall on the right? The grey square area?

[PresentingPercy]

Just a thought - could you have the washing machine and dryer in a large run of built in cupboards in the utility room and have that as part of the kitchen? You have two doors in that section. Would knocking down the wall between the kitchen and utility make it more spacious and give additional wall space for cupboards?

[Porridgeoat]

I’m not sure if 1m of wall would annoy me or not

[Mosaic123]

How about sliding doors so you can screen off the kitchen if you want to?

[Lottle]

@Porridgeoat neither do I! I guess I thinking something like this but without the extra pillar

@PresentingPercy dresser and dining room position can definitely be changed. I know what you mean about the chicane. I do need utility really because of my airer which is always up. It it wasn't for that I'd def be knocking through there too!

[PresentingPercy]

I have an airing rail. It’s in my laundry room - it’s like a wardrobe rail. I find it neater than a ceiling hung one. You can close it behind doors so it’s hidden. That’s what I was getting at. Close of the rear section of the utility.

[Billericaydicky]

Can you keep the airer anywhere else, I'd rather open up the utility room and knock down the wall.
If you must keep the utility room then I'd definitely knock down the wall and take out the peninsula unit to make that area less cluttered.

[Billericaydicky]

I'd get rid of the wall and peninsula units if you do get rid of the utility room too.

[Mosaic123]

Make a drying cupboard in the utility room with a rail. The door of the cupboard should have a grill in it for air to pass through and a socket inside so you can plug in a tiny oil filled radiator when you dry clothes.

[PresentingPercy]

To be honest if you close off the washer, dryer and build in an airing area, you don’t need a heater in the kitchen. I don’t heat my airing rail. Just have enough space around the clothes and they dry naturally. Have doors, eg bifolds, across the whole area. You just pull them back when you need access of just have two big doors. I’m unsure of the width. My DD had a washing enclave in a flat she rented and it worked really well.