Edwardian house kitchen/diner knock through??

[Blinky247]

We just had an offer accepted on an Edwardian terraced house and there is so much I love about it but I'm used to open plan living and we have a toddler. The layout is quite traditional - front room, middle room (dining room) and galley kitchen which extends out the back. There is also a proper hallway. I was thinking about knocking through the entrance to the kitchen into the back of the hall and into the middle room. It's likely a load bearing wall and would involve shortening the hallway I think?

Has anyone done something similar? And also am I mad to be considering this level of work with a toddler around?

Also trying to get my head around what the next steps are - can we take a structural engineer to look at the house before we exchange? Do I need to get things moving with an architect etc? Worried my grand plans won't be feasible and now I'm panicking! Thanks in advance.

In the first instance can you look at Rightmove to see if any other houses on the street or similar streets have had this done? Either those up for sale or on Rightmove sold?

Can you post a floor plan? Either an architect or structural engineer would have the knowledge to know whether this is possible.

Thanks that's a good idea. Houses rarely come up in this area which is why we've gone for it, but actually the layout is quite typical isn't it so I'm sure I can find some similar ones on Rightmove even if it's a different area

We had exactly the same, front sitting room, middle dining room and back galley kitchen. I wasn't at all bothered about it being done, but my husband was very keen. It was definitely the right decision. We wouldn't have used the middle room at all otherwise, save as a corridor (actually we still do use it as a corridor, but it doesn't feel as much of a waste). We spend all our time in the small front room and use the kitchen only as needed.

It wasn't too major. We got a structural engineer to provide the drawings, my husband made the steel beam (as he was in the steel industry at the time). We got a builder to put the acros in and my husband got 7 of his work mates plus him (all used to lifting heavy steel for a living) to lift it into place. Our builder wasn't happy about this idea, but it went in very fast. Normally you need a machine to lift it. There was a lot of dust and both rooms needed fully redecorating afterwards. We got it signed off by buildings regs.

Consider converting the middle room to a kitchen diner and using the existing kitchen for something else.