Extended semi layout help please!! Layouts attached. Analysis paralysis

[Yadayadabingbang]

We bought an extended semi that needs some (cosmetic) work but since moving in I'm really struggling with finding a layout that 'works'.

The house has a north (front) / south orientation and the middle room has been turned into a tv room and playroom. The house in general is quite bright, apart from the old extended dining room. All remaining walls are likely to be supporting. We are a family of 3, including a baby.

I've struggled with the layout of the kitchen. There are 3 corner cupboards, when the dishwasher is open I can't open the fridge, I don't know where to put stuff in order to have easy access so it has got very cluttered etc. The kitchen is almost 20 years old, but in good condition, and I think it will look nice when painted. I am more struggling with its layout and position than appearance.

Layout 1:
This is the house pretty much as is, with the only change to the kitchen being removing the breakfast bar overhang in order to fit in a table. (We currently have a very narrow table and it is not a comfortable fit).

I've turned the middle room into a playroom/tv room. This room feels quite narrow and corridor like. I've considered removing the gas fireplace (which we don't use) and chimney breast, but my husband thinks this is a waste of money. I would paint the playroom in a bright white, and any woodwork in a semi-gloss white, painting the fireplace black or yellow. Change doors into sliding doors.

Pros: this is a cheap and cheerful option with minimal disruption.
Cons: narrow playroom / tv room with no view, I feel like the kitchen and utility take up too much 'space' relative to the rest of the house. Doesn't solve any of the problems re kitchen layout.

Layout 2:
Remove several walls and put the kitchen / utility in the darker middle of the house.

Pros: living area has more views of the garden, kitchen suited to our family including larder.
Cons: very expensive. More than £15k, would involve moving gas, and water pipes.

The reason we have not implemented layout 1 properly and just seen how we feel is that we currently have no flooring downstairs (concrete in the extension covered by plastic and bare boards everywhere else). This looks awful, particularly in the extension, but buying and installing flooring and then going for layout 2 would be an expensive mistake.

My question I guess is, do I have a fair estimation of all of this? Is there a way to solve the problems I see in layout 1 in a relatively cost effective way? Do you also agree its all out of proportion?

Sorry for the long post. A bit of a brain dump.

If it were my house I'd keep the current set up room wise but I'd have kitchen units around the whole kitchen area, rather than just half, and put a table and chair in the middle.

Here’s a cheaper option: I would swap the dining area and the kids’ area so you’ve got a casual sitting room/kitchen with clear access to spread into the garden in warm weather, and the dining area is in the darker bit of the house where it’s less likely to matter (just light it nicely with a couple of big floor lamps etc). I would also be tempted to stop using one or other of the routes through the house to make it feel less corridor-y - either keep the doors to the sitting room closed so you access the dining room from the kitchen, or close the utility door from the main hallway and stick a table in front of it and just access it via the kitchen.

Layout 2 makes it more liveable and sociable. As your baby turns into a toddler, you will want to keep an eye on him/her as they start running around. They also won't want to play too far away from you and layout 2 allows you to have them nearby. I don't see a downstairs loo?

I would honestly recommend doing it right, and doing it once. I would go for layout 2, and also put in a downstairs loo if there isn't one. I would put down an inexpensive floor vinyl to temporarily cover the existing bare floor, and look into borrowing/saving what's necessary to do the work. You can use this time to search out any possible bargains in kitchen outlets, sales, eBay etc.

Like this ?

The pantry needs to go (or be turned into a downstairs loo and hallway extension). I suspect the reason why the playroom feels like a corridor is because you use it to get to the kitchen. Your kitchen should be accessed direct from the hall.

Having the whole lot completely open plan would though be the best imo. You'd could have a proper wow kitchen/diner/family room with all that space.

Cheapest option though would be to simply move that peninsula section of kitchen and put the fridge along the back wall. More space for the dining table too.

Agree about avoiding the corridor effect. Block off the door from the hall to the playroom. Make the pantry narrower so you get directly to the kitchen from the hall - turn it into a laundry cupboard with stacked washing machine and dryer.

Personally, I'm not a fan of a huge opened up space at the back. Feels a bit barn like. Eventually, your playroom can become a snug.

Thanks for all your replies!

Just to clarify a few things:

• We have a downstairs toilet, its under the stairs.
• Our baby recently started walking, so I guess they are a toddler now.
• This is not a forever type house, we will (finances permitting) move in 5-10 years time before PFB starts secondary school, as those around us are not good. Given we bought fairly recently I'm wary of overspending on the house.

@FatCatThinCat I've seen that type of farmhouse setup before and think it looks good, but I don't think it would solve the problem of the middle room and corridor effect.

@SuzieCarmichael I've considered this, but we eat three meals plus snacks at the dining table and we love looking at the garden. We currently access the kitchen and living room via the middle room, as the utility is always blocked by a pushchair.

@Porridgeoat & @titchy I like this layout. I just don't like the price tag. I think we would struggle to get it back when we sell.

"Cheapest option though would be to simply move that peninsula section of kitchen and put the fridge along the back wall. More space for the dining table too." - May work, thanks.

@SwedishEdithSwedishEdith I would do this if the kitchen was on the left hand side (and the utility wasn't the ugliest room in the house)

I think this is all clarifying that there isn't a perfect easy solution, so I need to work out where I want to compromise.

I've suggested to DH the following:

• moving the skylight up, or getting a bigger one so the middle room gets more light. Approx cost £2k
• chimney breast removal, approx cost again £2k

He thinks both of these will have minimal impact for the cost. What do you guys think?

Sitting in the middle room, my main problem is the lack of view and its relative lack of light, but I have made no effort to decorate it yet, so that may well really help.

Thanks again.

Integrating the pantry into the hallway won't cost much at all as you'd be using the existing doorways so need to mess around with RSJs. Plasterboard wall on left to create small utility - or at least washing machine space.

Not sure I'd bother with knocking out the chimney breast - you won't gain much and would be removing character. Larger skylight though definitely worth thinking about. That gets the playroom more light and entering kitchen from hall means it's no longer a walk through.

If you're not intending staying and are close to the ceiling for the area then I agree not worth spending tens of thousands opening up the back and having a wow kitchen.

Rejig kitchen layout (remove peninsula as I said, add an island if short of cupboard space). Or use middle of kitchen for dining table and have small comfy sofa on left of kitchen for wistful garden gazing in comfort

Knocking out a chimney breast means faffing about with party wall agreements as well and then considering whether you remove them in the rooms above.

Thanks for the advice about the chimney breasts. Unfortunately the fireplaces aren't original, but agree they are a feature and removing them would be a hassle.

Is this what you mean @titchy? Red indicates floor to ceiling cupboards (it is a little wider than it looks, we have a tall freezer there). I like this idea because it could be done iteratively once the flooring is done, so we could see how we feel once everything looks nice and as our needs change.

Not so keen on moving the table to the middle of the room as you wouldn't be able to see out of the windows. This might change though when I'm not spending 2 hours a day doing meal times.

I find the peninsula really useful, and am not very keen on islands, particularly when the room has a table. Just wish the kitchen was a little narrower. I've knocked out a unit in the second image, which would enable a breakfast bar. This may also be possible.

The kitchen itself is really nice, I'm confident it just needs painting to look lovely. I just need to work out how to make it more practical.

Thanks for your replies, having all the different viewpoints has given us food for thought. Reading all the replies has piqued DH's interest finally and we are now thinking of spending up to £5k on tweaks and working out how to reorg the kitchen together.

Sorry forgot to add second image...

Cheaper option. Units down both sides, table in middle, massive bifold doors onto garden

I think you can solve the corridor effect by reducing the width of your pantry/utility and accessing your kitchen directly from the hallway. Not sure what’s in your pantry but you could have sliding doors across it to hide it off. It would only need to be wide enough to take your washing machine. You can stack a tumble dryer and still have loads of storage if you use the vertical space.

Re the dark middle room, we have this problem. We have painted it a lighter colour and had a light coloured carpet. Also we have old 1930s style 1 over 3 doors and had a joiner take out the big square panel and replace with frosted glass - a small cheap thing but has made a difference.
An estate agent suggested a sun tunnel thing down the chimney leading to a light panel on the chimney breast to allow real daylight in - velux make them and I have looked at them a few times but not sure how well it would work. Ikea also sell LED panel lighting which is make to mimic daylight quite well.

We have almost your layout and sliding doors to the front room, watching with interest for ways to make it feel less corridory!

@deux I think we are going to do something similar to that. We're going to remove the cupboards on the right of the utility so the pushchair can go there and then put shelving above the pushchair space. Probably hide it all with a curtain to start with.

@Oldmrswasherwoman With our middle room it isn't even that its that dark... its just darker than the extension and the front room. I've thought about adding a few internal windows to the room, but will look at the effect the other changes make first.

@Porridgeoat thanks for that. I think that layout would be great in a larger house, but it doesn't seem right for us. I do quite like the peninsula and find it handy to chop stuff on.

I've now moved some stuff around in the kitchen and got rid of some of the clutter. I've moved the plates, bowels and cutlery to the right of the oven as a plating station, moved the microwave to the far side of the peninsula and moved all the sauces, spices, oils etc into cupboards. Its made such a big difference. :)