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AIBU?

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Original poster

Serving hatch

79 replies

Namechangedfeb22 · 13/01/2023 07:19

Would you buy a newly renovated home if they had kept the original 1980s serving hatch amongst a modern handless kitchen?

Being unreasonable - no I wouldn’t buy jt
not being unreasonable - yes I would buy it

OP posts:
CovertImage · 13/01/2023 10:14

I find "reno" madly irritating

Ursuala · 13/01/2023 10:20

CovertImage · 13/01/2023 10:14

I find "reno" madly irritating

So much in life you must find maddening

Ursuala · 13/01/2023 10:20

Must make life hard!!

gravyriceandchips · 13/01/2023 10:21

I want to see the hatch

Scarecrowrowboat · 13/01/2023 10:22

It depends on size of kitchen. We have small kitchen so keeping it would have wiped out 50% of cupboards. If space was no issue I definitely would have wanted it.

Baconand · 13/01/2023 10:23

They are a period feature. In 100 years time people will be putting them back in

Wouldn’t bother me in the slightest, I’d either keep it or spend a few quid taking it out.

MandyMotherOfBrian · 13/01/2023 10:24

Bunchamunchacarrots · 13/01/2023 10:07

You sound like a first time buyer OP?

I remember when I was a FTB being put off by minor things like this. Now that I'm a homeowner and faced with the reality of having to have work done (all homes need maintenance, even new builds) this would not phase me.

A kitchen hatch is a quick fix with some battens and plasterboard. Google filling in a kitchen hatch on YouTube and you will find examples.

After recently doing a lot of renovation on various rooms that had previously been boarded but needed redoing and replastering, we found not only a secret boarded up cupboard, but a cupboard within a cupboard (almost as if it was a priest hole in the distant past) and a secret door from one room to another - was inordinately exciting 😁. But no, of course a hatch wouldn’t stop me buying a house. Reminds me of those property programs where they love everything about the house but then they get to the bedroom and say ‘oh but our bed wouldn’t fit in here’. You’re spending 500k on a house, maybe just get a new bed?

HoppingAndHoping · 13/01/2023 10:24

Ursuala · 13/01/2023 07:23

Come again?

Not to buy a house that would otherwise completely suit me in terms of location style and price because of one feature?!

WTF?

This. It wouldn't put me off (it's either useful / something you'll end up liking. Or an easy fix).

PenCreed · 13/01/2023 10:25

We bought a house with a serving hatch and just had it blocked up. The kitchen had been moved to an extension and the old one is now a utility room, so it was pointless. It was less than a day's work to have it done.

Soapnotshowergel · 13/01/2023 10:28

I'd love one! A friend of mine at school had one and I was so jealous, it was so cool.

I wouldn't be put off a house by one minor detail.

PizzaEater54 · 13/01/2023 10:43

It wouldn't be a deal breaker for me. If I loved everything else about the house. My auntie had one in old house and I used to love it.

KangarooKenny · 13/01/2023 10:48

I love a serving hatch ! So useful.

Augustone · 13/01/2023 10:56

Love our hatch! Recently renovated the kitchen and kept it. Can chat to kids/guests while I'm in the kitchen and added bonus of:

Keeps them out of my space when I'm cooking-they lounge around the dining table chatting and having a drink etc

Means that when we sit down to eat, the pans, dishes etc are all out of sight so we can relax without the washing up staring at me....

mewkins · 13/01/2023 11:00

Ursuala · 13/01/2023 07:23

Come again?

Not to buy a house that would otherwise completely suit me in terms of location style and price because of one feature?!

WTF?

Agree. Absolutely nuts.

mewkins · 13/01/2023 11:02

iwantmyownicecreamvan · 13/01/2023 09:27

My parents had theirs glazed in the end. I was gutted. I said how disappointed I was that I wouldn't be able to do puppet shows for them anymore. They pointed out that I was 47 and hadn't lived there for years. How unreasonable.

I'd put a fish tank in it 😃

edenhills · 13/01/2023 11:10

I bought a house with one (1920s) a lot of older people assumed we would fill it in but we love the hatch.

OoooohMatron · 13/01/2023 11:10

I'd love a serving hatch but if I hated them it certainly wouldn't put me off I'd just get rid of it.

Original poster
Namechangedfeb22 · 13/01/2023 11:14

Wonderful! thank you all so much.

i asked because I have a serving hatch and I am about to renovate the house and want to keep the hatch but if I end of selling after the renovation I didn’t want to put people off. It’s so handy and doesn’t make the kitchen small.

thank you

OP posts:
honeylulu · 13/01/2023 11:17

I didn't even realise they were passe now! My parents renovated their kitchen in the 1980s and added a hatch into the dining room and it was quite handy if someone was the other side taking the plated items through into the dining room. But my mum liked doing it all herself so she ended up doing multiple trips via the hallway to take two plates through the hatch each time, so gave up using it quite quickly! Also we had naughty and very greedy siamese cats who worked out that they could jump onto the worktop and burst through the hatch doors. So the hatch is still there but has bolts on keeping it shut!

Our old house had a hatch which the previous owners had covered over in a kitchen renovation but there was still an alcove on the dining room side which we had a dresser in front of. When my son was little he kept asking us to open it up again as they had a kitchen hatch at nursery and he thought it was amazing! For a while we discussed fitting a safe into the alcove but never did and now we've moved!

123woop · 13/01/2023 11:25

It's fantastic! I know someone who lives in an old house that isn't really fit for "modern living" (it's a pain to walk round out of the kitchen to the dining room so difficult when cooking dinner for the kids etc) - they use theirs all the time!!!!

SallyWD · 13/01/2023 11:29

Of all the things that would put me off buying a house, a serving hatch isn't one of them! I think it would be really useful. If you don't like it fill it in!

Notjustanymum · 13/01/2023 11:31

We decided against reinstating the serving hatch when we did our kitchen, although it was really tempting to remove one of the three doors into the kitchen (one had been introduced between kitchen/dining, replacing the original serving hatch)!
Our compromise is that we now have very limited worktop space for preparation, as the sink and hob are both in the one 3m long worktop!
12 years on, I still regret not going with one less door and a serving hatch…

Gronkle · 13/01/2023 11:34

I'm 55 and a serving hatch always seemed so stylish. They've fallen out of favour but I still get a feeling of "ooo, posh" when I see one. Lol

CrotchetyQuaver · 13/01/2023 11:40

They're quite useful, we were able to stop one of our dogs from stealing the food thanks to it. He was shocked we saw him haha.

I certainly wouldn't not buy a house because of one being there

CaptainCorellisXylophone · 13/01/2023 11:57

They are utterly pointless, but you can just ignore it until redecorating time and then it's not expensive to remove (this is what we did).

The question is a bit like Should I not buy these jeans because the stitching on the label is a bit iffy? It's the most trivial imaginable reason for writing of a house.