Kitchen 3.5m x 3m - is eat-in possible?

[Blueskies80]

Evening all.

We are in a 1930s house and have a kitchen of 3.5x 3m currently with units/worktop all around the walls (we have an exterior door too), so no seating at all. I'm looking at re doing the kitchen and would love to have an eat in kitchen- would like to contain the food mess from the children to the kitchen Does anyone have a kitchen of this size with a table? Does it feel cramped? I'm thinking of a small table pushed against one of the walls (the one with the retro hatch) with three chairs around it.

Other option would be to knock through to our lounge diner to create a kitchen diner, but this would then mean closing up (possibly with doors) our lounge (which would be quite nice in many ways).. But would be expensive and disruptive I expect. Also not sure I want to encourage the kids into the kitchen as sometimes feels safer being in a separate room when cooking.

Any thoughts very welcome indeed and thank you x

I am sure if you remove one wall of cupboards and cabinets, it should free space for a small table. My parents have a table and 4 stools in their 3m x 2m kitchen!!! Admittedly they have a huge larder somewhere else and also, very useful, a long shelf over the table almost at the ceiling. Go for it!

Your kitchen sounds very similar to ours. Ours is/was a couple of ft longer but about the same width. However, we only had cupboards down one long side and one short side (the other short side had the door into the hall) and the other long side is the wall between the kitchen and the dining room - sounds like this is the wall where you have your hatch. We had an Ikea extending table against this wall (think its dimensions are 90 x 90 but can extend at both ends, separately). We had stools which stacked, and which fitted underneath it. It wasn't ideal but worked great for us (3 children, me cooking).

Having said that, we have just knocked that dividing wall down between the kitchen and the dining room (our lounge is already separate). It has made a HUGE difference. We seemed to have gained much more space (I think the wall was pretty thick because there was a chimney breast on it in the dining room which is now gone too) than we had in the 2 separate rooms if you see what I mean. I wish we had done it years ago although never had the money and the dust was immense. Still have to properly kit out the new room, but even without it finished, we all seem to be hanging out in there. We're having a little island unit for the children to eat out, plus a dining table and it really seems to be working as I intended.

Hi Mandy! Thanks. Our hatch is along a shorter wall, which is where table might just squeeze in. A longer wall is on the outside so where the sink etc will be going and the other longer wall will be I think next to cooker.m
I'm trying to visualise it all. Basically want to be able to plonk dinner on the table right there for the kids rather than cart it around through a doorway and keep the mess there. Having said that, we could use the hatch to help get dinner on the table (currently it's been tiled over by previous owner).
I can see that a kitchen diner would be a fab hanging out space and a social able kitchen though. But reckon it would cost 2k to knock it down so I'm not sure... Hmmm decisions decisions! Hard knowing what will suit in 3 years time and if it will be different to what will suit us now!

IKEA Bjursta tables start from quite a small size can extend. Have a look to see if the shape would suit your room.

I am thinking of getting the small 50 x70cm size and fitting castors on the bottom so it could be used as a trolley for extra worktop space if needed. Great idea to get stools that fit underneath too as chairs can take up a lot of room.

Thanks for the tip iggymama- will take a look at those. X

We are in 30s house with similar size kitchen ,with external and internal doors too. We have L shaped kitchen with one wall free. Against that wall is a table pushed against the wall with 3 chairs round it, and two shelves on that wall take our plates and glasses. Worked ok for 3 of us for about 5 years, until our second child came along, and our other one, now 10 got bigger. There is just not the space to have the table set up for 4 comfortably, so at the moment 3 of us sit and one stands. Can't cook properly without bumping into chairs or people. one of us stands! We are now planning an extension that will give us a kitchen diner/family room.

you don't say how many of you there are or kids ages, but once your kids start to grow and use the kitchen themselves, you will really appreciate any extra kitchen space. It might be worth spending the money now on kitchen diner than doing up kitchen only to do kitchen diner a few years down the line.

Hi lovingmatleave, thanks for your thoughts. we are a family of four, dd who is 3 and ds 1. Might have another one at some point too.
At the moment I try to get the kids out of the kitchen but can see when they are bigger they will be in there doing things themselves- what age does that start though?!
I sot of envisaged giving the kids dinner at the table and then me and dh could have dinner there later on, ie we wouldn't all sit there together, and when we do have a big meal together at weekends we would sit in the dining room. But you're right it could be best to go for the long term solution now. I'm not sure how long we will be in this house though, maybe until dd is 8/9 so another 5/6 years. I think we might get both options priced and see what we can afford.

My sister has a similar sized kitchen with a double set of french doors and two other doors off it - they have the extendable Bjursta as described above and it works really well.

I have done a lowered piece of worktop with chairs in small kitchens with a mirrored wall above which works well

www.dmkbb.co.uk/accessible-kitchens/wp-content/uploads/Accessible-Laminate-Kitchen-by-Access-Matters-1024x682.jpg this kind of thing along one wall obviously without the hob and with a few chairs.

I would knock the wall out.

Play with the Ikea kitchen planner. That should give you an idea. You'll probably increase the value of your house more by knocking through though. Is it a supporting wall?