Really small galley kitchen - would you?

[AngryFeet]

We are thinking about putting in an offer on a house and the only thing putting me off is the tiny kitchen. Here is the link www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-40161755.html

Too small or workable?

Might go and have a look at the one MmeLindor has linked. Around this area houses seem to be going for asking price or above and they are going fast (have been watching rightmove for last 18 months). There are very good primary school in Sanderstead and Warlingham so people are willing to pay the money.

it's pretty much what we had till recently. it's all a matter of being organised, for example i'd def move the cleaning stuff (top right in pic) to somewhere else (bathroom possibly?) that gives you an extra cupboard. and then i just DO NOT do clutter: no breadmaker, baking trays stored inside oven when not in use and is that a dishwasher next to the door? if yes, dirty stuff straight in there so it won't take up any space.
the garden looks great but what on earth were they thinking when putting in that wallpaper!?!

Looks like you could easily extend into the dining room without much hassle. Make that a utility room Is much cheaper than buying a bigger house.

Why's this one not shifted though? Ask the estate agents what came up on other people's surveys - I think they have to tell you if they know.

garden is lovely too!
hopefully other people have just been put off by the furniture and decor (easily changed)

No purplewithred I think my DH is talking crap too. My Dad said to offer £275k but DH's Dad said to offer £295k final offer .

This is our first time so I am not sure how to go about things but I thought £275k as a first offer was ok. DH is happy to spend up to full asking I would rather not go over £290k.

Conversations will need to be had tonight!

No, and I'm renting a HA home. A small galley kitchen would be a deal breaker for me even if the rest of the home was a decent size. I cook too much, and my kitchen is twice as wide as a galley kitchen and still too small!

So I wouldn't.

Bonzo - it has only just come back on the market last week. Before that a sale nearly went through but both chains collapsed so the owner waited till after xmas and put it back on. There was a survey done by the previous buyers - I got the impression we couldn't ask for the report on that?

Do you have a budget for moving a few walls? You could be half in the house and half in the conservatory which would be lovely, take a slice off the side of the dining room too? It would need a t shaped steel beam so a bit of a bugger whilst it went on but would open everything up beautifully
I would go bonkers in that small space, especially if you like cooking , I would have to expand it.
The garden is fab and the room sizes are great, and with a good school it seems pretty good to me

We just spent £20K knocking out the wall between our old kitchen and utility room (at rear of garage) and installing new kitchen to creat a usable kitchen-diner. This also involved creating a new back door and blocking off other doors. Anyway, only took a month to do and redocorate after, including drying-time between builders and kitchen fitters. Absolutely worth it as the kitchen layout before was totally useless to my cooking style and drove me crazy. We bought the house always intending to extend the kitchen one way or another and just had to wait a year until we had the money. It was annoying waiting at times, but gave us time to work out exactly what we wanted to do.

So I would buy it, but make sure you have the money to change it.

I was expecting something really bad but that is way bigger than my old kitchen! That was a galley kitchen - it had a walkway down the middle that was only wide enough for one person. If you opened the oven door fully you couldn't get past. This is merely a small kitchen, and workable.

Really kindness? I have been spoilt with a big kitchen where I am living now so lots of things seem small in comparison.

By the way the white thing on the far left is actually a gas boiler not a dishwasher. Very annoying and hopefully can be replaced easily by something wall mounted.

I would eventually turn the dining room into a kitchen/diner, the existing kitchen into a utility room/ store kids craft stuff/ extra fridge etc. and the conservatory could be a kids playroom/ hangout or be turned into a more formal dinig area in future

I think you could spend quite a lot on the kitchen and knocking through on the fist house, so depending on your final offer it makes the other house seem potentially within budget. But yes a lot depends on what price you could get it for.
Do think the garden looks good for house 1, do you know which way it faces?

It is an east facing garden pannacotta which is actually fine by me as we are currently in house with a south facing garden and the heat tended to get too much for me in the afternoons so I would go inside whereas with east we can have a sunny morning on the patio and the afternoon will be sunny at the bottom of the garden where we would put kids trampoline, playhouse etc (over 90ft garden in the house in link). Also the conservatory shouldn't get too hot hopefully - our current conservatory is even worse in summer than in winter.

DH is very keen to buy somewhere a bit rough around the edges and do ti up ourselves which I agree with but think he is jumping in headfirst without looking at what else is around so not realising we need to bring the price down to get a proper bargain. Which is why I will be having a chat with him tonight about not being a moron . For someone so intelligent sometimes he acts like the village idiot.

I grew up in houses just like that and you can be confident that just about everyone on the street will have done something to their kitchens. I'd recommend asking the new neighbours whether they have changed theirs of not and, if so, what they have done. You'll get to have a nosey at loads of other people's houses and get lots of good ideas.

FWIW one of my childhood houses, we had the wall between the kitchen and the dining room taken down and a teeny weeny extension built - probably only about 7' square - on the end of the kitchen. This provided a huge family room/kitchen-diner living space for not a lot of money

Knock through from the kitchen into the dining room?

I would knock through to either Dining Room - I think if it was me I would use Conservatory dining area - could you make all 3 a giant open plan kitchen/dining/family room?

Looks like it could be lovely - with work... loving the sound of the hessian wallpaper!

Definitely go in with a lower offer, £275k sounds just right. Emphasise lack of chain, and ready to move fast, and he might just take it.

have you checked Zoopla?

If it was me, I would put the kitchen in the dining room, would be lovely big kitchen with large table in it. Then I wouldn't need separeate dining room. Would use current kitchen as utility and conservatory as family room/playroom/study/ second living room

There is plenty of space, it is currently badly designed.

But actually, the kitchen space isn't that small, if you empty all their stuff out and think about it a bit, you can fit a lot into a small space if well organised

I agree steppemum, the kitchen would be a good utility and the dining room a lovely sized kitchen diner....

Ok you have given me some great ideas thanks :) Going in with an offer of £270k (pushing luck possibly)

I'd do it. It's a good price. I'd actually think about losing the garage completely and go out sideways top and bottom. You'd get another bathroom in then too. Our friends have done the same and you would never recognise the current palace from the original 3 bed semi.

Good price for the area.
Knock through to make a kitchen diner.