Kitchen/diner knockthrough and bifold doors?

[BadPoet]

I know it's completely the wrong time to be thinking about this and I suspect I should be shopping/card writing/wrapping instead but dreaming about our kitchen project is helping me avoid 'the twitch'. So:

Currently have a kitchen and separate dining room, together running the length of the back of the house. The dining room has completely useless French doors, awkward to open and use as they open out on to about a foot wide concrete path then a sloping shrubbery. The kitchen has a window over the sink looking over the patio, and a back door. All three face the same way.

I want to knock through (wall is non load bearing) and swap the room functions, having bifold doors to replace kitchen window and back door in what will become the dining/family bit and the French doors replaced with a window in the new kitchen.

This seems logical to me and makes better use of the indoor and outdoor space. Would plumbing and gas be a nightmare and are you allowed to not have a proper back door? We are in Scotland if that makes a difference. if anyone more in the know than me could give me even a rough idea of cost that would be great too...new kitchen will be ikea and I can work out the cost of that.

Thoughts welcome!

I don't think gas and water will be a problem (especially assuming you have a floor with a void under it rather than concrete). I don't think you have to have a separate front door but I think it's wise to have a single door incorporated into one end of the bifold set up so that you can slip in and out without having to slide the whole thing across, iyswim.

Costs depend on how long you want the run of doors to be, what materials they will be made of (anything from upvc to solid oak) and how much structural work will be involved in getting them in place. You say you have a window and door already in that space but modern building regs might mean replacing the support that's already there.

thanks, of course it makes total sense that you'd want that for nipping out and emptying bins etc. I will hunt for some links and pics :-)

Hi, we are just nearing the end of doing something similar, but we kept the kitchen in the same place.

The bifold doors we have are 3 panels, you can just open the end panel like a normal door, ours are about 2.5metres in total but they are in our extension so did not have to fit them into an existing doorway. If you are widening an existing window you may need an RSJ or lintel. You really need to get a builder in to advise. Bifolds are aluminium and cost about £2600 fitted by a local window company.

You will add to plumbing costs if you move location of the kitchen, but as poster above says, it will depend on your floors etc as to how difficult that is.