Knocking through kitchen / dining room

[sergeantmajor]

Twenty years ago we were looking for a house with a kitchen diner. We bought ours despite it having a separate small kitchen and small dining room because it ticked all the other boxes.

Now we finally have the budget for a new kitchen and I want to knock through. But DH doesn't want to. He can't visualise it and feels we'll lose the quiet vibe of the dining room at present and turn it into a utilitarian space.

That's a legit concern but I do feel we can style the kitchen in such a way that it feels like a distinct zone within an open plan room and hide away the obvious appliances.

I've shown him lots of pics, but he is set against this, to my dismay.

Can anyone think of any killer arguments for a big kitchen-dining area instead of two poky little rooms, or point me in the direction of some really good visualisation tools?

It is hard because I would have been in your husband's camp until we knocked through. It is a million times better knocked through though.

No killer argument for you, but definitely do it! It is lighter, we wouldn't use the dining room without having done this and it would have just been a corridor. Can have guests sitting at the dining table while we cook or make a cup of tea. The feeling of space makes it much more of a sellable house when you come to sell it and more enjoyable when you use it before then.

It made a big positive difference to us.

For me, the main two reasons are space and storage. I currently have a u-shaped kitchen. I don’t have enough useable work top space due to things like the microwave and toaster being out. The hob is slap bang in the middle of one run, with the sink in the middle of the other. In knocking through the wall, and building a small extension at the end, I’ll have a 4m run of work top. I’ll move the dining table into the extension, and put an island where the table was. The microwave will be integrated into a cabinet, and the toaster into a drawer.

Thanks. We wouldn't get more space in our case but we would get a greater feeling of space. I'm going to look for some 3D kitchen planners in case they will help with visualisation.

How often do you use your dining room now and for what purpose? Who does most of the cooking and how often do you entertain? All these influence the debate.

Can you have sliding doors so you can choose to close off the kitchen if DH wants to?

I dont like kitchen diners. And if you ever want to move youll find it harder to sell and wont make your money back. (Unless you have an extra 2 reception rooms in addition)

IKEA does a 3D kitchen planner - google “IKEA kitchen planner” as it’s impossible to find from their website!

We’re having same discussion here, thinking maybe double width pocket doors.

How many other communal reception spaces do you have? How do you currently use the dining room? That would influence whether it’s going to improve your house for your family or take away a separate room with a door, which can be quite handy with teens!

We had ours knocked through and a separate living room. Great when the kids were little. In our new house the kitchen is separate again and I think we'll keep it as now dc are older it's really nice to have a separate room. But if your rooms are really small I'd definitely knock through for the space.

Look on rightmove for similar houses.

We knocked through to have a kitchen diner 2 years ago, having lived here for 15 years with a separate kitchen abc dining room. It's fine. Dh suggested it. I wonder what it is that your Dh is so opposed to?

If there is a chance you might sell it would definitely increase re-sale value as people want open plan kitchen diners, that combined with the visualisation might help x

We knocked through a couple of years ago. Although I thought I could visualise the new space really well, I underestimated how big a difference having only one access into the space would make. The redundant entry into the dining room is actually useful space that I just didn't expect .
A 3D visualiser will really help

A really good kitchen design is essential to maximise your storage yet keep the zones separate.
I think peninsulas work better than islands in small spaces

I have a kitchen diner (come living room). I have a peninsula to separate the kitchen from the living area, a sofa then backs into it. I then have a table at the other end of the kitchen.

I then have a small separate living room.

I have been having great fun with the IKEA 3D planner, great suggestion and v helpful for visualising.

Our dining room currently is our everything room: eating, homework, WFH, etc. We have a separate living room but not other table or space for mealtimes.

We're currently working on a compromise whereby we knock down the wall between the kitchen and dining room, keeping the dividing peninsula of bottom cupboards and having a dividing cupboard at each end of the peninsula, glazed on all sides above the worktop... if that makes sense? So the space is more separated but still functions as one room.

Not entirely happy with the compromise tbh, as we'd still have two poky rooms and no wow factor, but it would be an improvement on our current situation and I can't bulldozer DH completely.

@sergeantmajor why don't you post a pic of the IKEA visualiser and see if some of the MN bright sparks can suggest something you haven't thought of to get you closer to what you want but still something that DH can get on board with?