Mid terrace layout - no extension

[dancingqueen345]

Hi all,

Looking for some layout help/inspiration please that doesn't involve a side return extension (I know this isn't very Mumsnet of me, but it just isn't affordable). The whole house needs work and would rather work with making what I've got exactly how I want it.

I will attach a floor plan, but the layout is fairly typical of a 3 bed terrace having 2 reception rooms and a galley kitchen at the back. Slightly more unusually there is a big downstairs wet room.

I do really want a big open kitchen with island, so my thoughts are turning the back dining room into the kitchen, utilise the downstairs wet room as a toilet/utility, and then in the current galley kitchen some sort of dining/seating area? Maybe include a study area?

I have tried to look at example of this on Pinterest but I mustn't be using the right phrasing.

My worry is that the dining/seating in the galley bit will look odd (although when I say galley, it's wider than normal, eg you could have a sofa bed in there that would expand fine width wise).

I also don't know what to do about windows/doors. Do I turn the window in the new kitchen into doors?

I would really love any opinions please, or just someone to bounce around some ideas with!

Are you planning on staying at yours for a long time? I'm not sure it would really work doing it that way round, and it feels like a lot to spend that wouldn't add any value. However if a long term house and it works for you then you could go for it. Extending the kitchen across the back feels like by the obvious thing but appreciate funds might not permit.

Kirsty did this on a "love it or leave it" i can't remember what they were called but it was a young couple and i think she was originally from NI.

Knock down the wall between lounge and dining room to create a huge kitchen diner with island, breakfast bar but also add a sofa and tv area.
Turn galley kitchen into a ‘den’ small cosy sitting room with study area.
I’d leave the wet room as it is but your idea of using it as a part utility works too. Do you have a bathroom upstairs too?

@bananananadakrie it's probably only a 2-3 year house so there's definitely a balancing act here between my taste and what's more appealing to others. Extending really isn't an option unfortunately.

@17to35 thanks, I'll google and try and find the episode!

If it's a 2-3 year house then keep the current layout, paint it all white and give everything a good clean and replace any grotty sealant. If the kitchen is so old that it's unuseable then put in a cheap simple IKEA kitchen, same with the bathroom. Your own taste shouldn't really come into it if you are staying there for such a short time. You'll just lose money if you do extensive and personalised updates.

My next door neighbour has just done exactly that and it’s worked out really well.
Our houses don’t have a through hall and the stairs are the same side as the kitchen.
Her back room is now a fabulous big kitchen and her fomer kitchen is a “garden room” with dining table and French windows at the end.
(She’s also added a small porch area to the back room with a big Velux window and more French windows and that’s now the access to the garden room as the previous access corner has cupboards)

I think you need to think about how you access and use the garden - through the current kitchen? - and how that would work if it becomes a snug sort of area. We have a very similar layout and some friends have done what you're thinking, ie moved the kitchen back and the back area is their living room - it's a pain to have to walk through to get into the garden, obviously mud on the carpet, walking food through for eating outside etc.
I would refresh what's there if you're only staying 2-3 years and let someone else do the side return configuration.

This is a very very rough approximation of what neighbour has done. (Ignore dimensions as it’s a different house altogether but layout is the same.)
Big black blob against chimney breast is a breakfast bar one side and has units the other side - dishwasher & washer possibly - it’s definitely something plumbed, as I nearly tripped over the pipes in the floor when she was giving me a progress tour!

I think her former kitchen is probably about 10’ x 7’.
Also it’s got a pitched roof over most of its length (small shower room above stairs end), and they’ve taken the ceiling almost up to the ridge and fitted another huge Velux window.
The transformation is amazing.
(She won’t be moving any time soon though. It’s been a big job.)

I think you'd lose money and/or possibly have difficulty selling a terrace if you did what Lotsachocolateplease suggests. Open plan puts a lot of people off.

Your idea sounds good, OP. Unless you entertain a lot I'd be tempted to do away with a dining table - have the island as your eating area - and put a sofa in the galley.

If you are only staying for 2-3 years, I think you will be spending a lot of money that that you won't recoup and may possibly devalue the property or make it hard to sell.

1. The galley isn't really wide enough for a dining table. It would be just about big enough if you don't mind squeezing past. You might think that is worth the compromise for your dream kitchen with an island but a lot of buyers won't like it and think that room is a waste of space. The first thing they will be thinking is to move the kitchen back to the galley or it will highlight that they need to do an extension.

1. Most buyers will want a downstairs loo. A wet room with a loo is an added bonus. A utility room with a loo is a bit grim and looks like you've had to squeeze the washing machine in because the kitchen is too small rather than having a separate utility as a luxury. Unless you can fit a loo in the store under the stairs and convert the wet room to a utility, I would leave it as is. If a utility room would really make a difference to you, you could convert it without adding a loo. There will still be buyers who would prefer a utility to a downstairs loo, but not so many who would want a "lootility".

I'd knock down walls between kitchen and dining room and extend/incorporate kitchen units into that room. You might even be able to carve out a utility room/cupboard at garden end of kitchen.

This is similar to mine -I have a through reception, with a door from the back reception into the kitchen. My kitchen is wide enough for a dining table though, and I use the back reception room as a dining room also (with a large table in).

Have big sliding doors all along the side of the kitchen that can be opened up.

When I moved in, the kitchen was at the front of the house. Like you I agonised over all the different permutations and went for the standard back room, but I did seriously consider having the kitchen in the middle room, with the front room as a dining room. There are lots of examples on pinterest of that kind of layout. In the end, I thought keeping it as standard is likely to make it more sellable. Having the doorway knocked out between kitchen and middle room makes it much more open plan.

@SwedishEdith

I'd knock down walls between kitchen and dining room and extend/incorporate kitchen units into that room. You might even be able to carve out a utility room/cupboard at garden end of kitchen.

Hard to find a picture but more like this.

I definitely would not knock through between front and back reception rooms.

Mine is similar to the picture @SwedishEdith has posted - the doorway is slightly narrower. It works really well for us. We do have a smaller table in the kitchen too.

@SwedishEdith

Our house is the same layout as OPs and ad the pic your have posted there. I really wanted to open up the kitchen space like that but it was prohibitively expensive - that is a supporting wall and you'd need to put a steel in (they told me). We instead opened up the 2 reception rooms, as is quite common in these houses (needed a steel!) and it is still the best decision we could have made. The other thing about OPs idea is that small window onto the side return - ours is south facing but it still wouldn't brighten up a whole room. It's nice to have a big, light-filled kitchen, imo. That small window wouldn't give enough light!

Typos: our house is the same layout as the OPs and as the pic you have posted.

Interesting thread. Ours is the same layout but with the back room on the same side as the staircase. We can’t afford to do a side return extension either. I have looked for design ideas online but they all seem to be based around filling in the side return.

We are debating whether to knock through the kitchen and dining room to make a larger kitchen diner.

However I really like the layout SwedishEdith has posted, but we’d need to take out an internal wall to make that work? The staircase would then be open to the kitchen and DH thinks that wouldn’t be allowed due to fire regs.

I still have the wall in place between the dining room and the staircase. It possibly needed a small steel to open up the kitchen into the dining room.

It works for us - the dining room is still a viable room - most of the people I know who have a side return extension do have a big kitchen, but in return the old dining room is just a corridor from the front room into the kitchen.