Advice on layout

[Brasso4]

Hi all, looking for your expert advice!

We live in a 1950s detached house, which I love, it has lots of space and a lovely family feel, iykwim? The trouble is, the kitchen is not really working for us now that we have a family and we really want to find some way to create a kitchen with a dining area just off it or an eat in kitchen. The kitchen area is very quirky, due to the variety of changes made over time and encompasses:
A front kitchen section
A back section (with cooker and hob)
A utility
A shower room
A storage area, old back of the garage (front has been converted into dining room).

To make the most of the light, we want to keep the kitchen at the back. One plan is to make the storage area into a very small shower room, knock through to existing shower room, keep ut ility and then knock through to conservatory, this would give us a larger L shaped kitchen with a new conservatory as a dining area.

The other option would be to knock down all walls (this would require RSJs etc) and create a large kitchen with a small WC off, lose the utility and create an en suite to our bedroom with a new shower.

I have no plans to move for many years, my DH and I have settled jobs and my parents and ILs are both moving to our city, we are not too concerned about adding value but do not really want to devalue the house. DH and I are really struggling!

Any thoughts?

It's very difficult to advise without a floorplan but I would question (a) how much you use the downstairs shower room - if it's just nice to have, rather than crucial, I would get rid of it to extend the kitchen, can you perhaps put a downstairs loo under the stairs instead? (b) how useful the storage area separating the kitchen and dining room is - in my mind's eye that means leaving the kitchen, and going through another room or along a corridor to get to the dining room, which isn't ideal (c) if the room next to the kitchen isn't a dining room then I would consider swapping the dining room with whatever that room is and knocking it through to the kitchen (d) don't get rid of the utility room whatever you do (or at least relocate it somewhere so that you have one) (e) don't build a conservatory, build a decent extension.

everybody wants ensuites nobody values a downstairs shower room. I would do a large kitchen but it would be ideal if you could put in a utility area no matter how small

Thanks lalalonglegs and Fiddledee, that is great advice. Unfortunately, an extension would make the back of our house far too dark and we have been advised by a builder to have a conservatory (or at least a glass roof) currently the dining room is at the front of the house and we do go down a corridor to it, which is why we want the dining area in the kitchen but would like to keep it as a formal dining room. Really useful about utility/en suite. The storage area would work well as a downstairs loo. We also need to bear in mind costs - I would like to try to keep to £30k in total (probably won't do it if it is more than that.)