Redesigning kitchen/diner

[Jank8]

Hi, we're looking at following the herd and knocking the wall down between kitchen and dining room and making an open plan kitchen diner. Also nuilding in a ery small utility along with a new kitchen. We have got no idea where to start! We don't think it's a supporting wall. Do we need an architect? Can a builder advise? We also may move the kitchen from one wall to another (plumbing/gas would need moving) Again is this something a builder can advise or do I go to each indidual trade or the kitchen designers? So overwhelmed with everything so would love some advice please! X

We had a structural engineer round to look and do the calculations for the steels as we knew ours was a structural wall.

For the actual work, we started with the kitchen design for the space. We had the wall taken down first then we knew what we were working with. We costed the kitchen units and fitting of the design we liked best. Ordered the kitchen and appliances, etc. Builder and electrician then worked together on the first fix. (Before that we had the gas supply to the old cooker capped off.)

Then the plastering was done. We did the painting ourselves. Kitchen fitter fitted the kitchen. The flooring was put down then the kitchen fitter came back to fit the plinths and new skirtings to the room - he was a carpenter so it made sense to have him do this.

It was a lot of work for us - sourcing and buying everything and project managing. We got everything completed for the price Magnet quoted for their (on sale!) kitchen units alone. We got the kitchen from DIY Kitchens - we visited their showroom twice, but we're not very far away.

I saw some photos of the work in progress recently and was reminded one of the best things we did was to buy heavy duty polythene and cover the units and appliances whilst the work to remove the wall was being carried out. The muck and dust from demolition and plastering work is immense.