Creating openings between kitchen and dining room, is there a minimum width?

[Dancergirl]

So at the moment our kitchen backs onto the dining room. On that kitchen wall there is a full height larder unit in the middle with base level units on either side. I want to take the base units away and create an opening on either side of the larder to walk through to the dining room if that makes sense. This will let more light into the kitchen and connect the kitchen and dining rooms better.

Only problem is, the openings will be quite narrow. Do you think this matters?

Will there still be an alternate route to get between the two rooms that is wider? Building regs forbid you from making your home less accessible than it currently is. But if there's a separate doorway elsewhere that is staying then the width won't be an issue.

As long as they're as wide as a normal doorway or significantly wider then they should look fine. Narrower would be impractical and just slightly wider than ood doorway would look most odd.

ood = a, apparently

How narrow (in cm/inches)?

Just measured it, the two sides are slightly different. One side it would be about 61cm wide and the other about 51cm. I must admit the narrower one would be quite tight.

Yes there is an alternative access to both rooms - there are normal doors to both the kitchen and dining room off the hall.

They'd be narrower than a normal doorway. I also measured the kitchen door and that was about 72cm, not sure if that's standard or not.

can't the larder unit be shuffled left, or right, to where a base unit stood, making one doorway

or have I misread it completely?

I think it would look odd. Can you rejig the units so that you have only 1 larger gap, or otherwise make window sized gaps above the base units?

sacbina no you've got it exactly right. Yes could shift the larder one way and have one gap but would lose the symmetry.

tryan funnily enough my first thought was just having window sized gaps above the base units! Then I thought of this idea as I like being able to walk through.

symmetry v unuseable doorway........

That's true..... Really appreciate all your input, MN is great!

So you think that's better, with the larder pushed to one side and a bigger opening? Or maybe I should just go for the windows as per my first thought......?

If they're different sizes it wouldn't be symmetrical anyway. I think it would be a mistake tbh. If it's for light put windows instead. If it's for access move the larder. I think you wouldn''t regret having access from the kitchen to the dining. In fact it might be worth considering taking the wall down altogether.

You lot are all very wise

We've made a few mistakes in the past with house decisions so this time I want to think carefully to get it right.

Taking the wall down completely isn't an option as we only did the kitchen about 6 years ago and there's nowhere else for the larder to go. Plus I don't really like completely open plan but do like the idea of rooms being linked.

burnished I think you are absolutely right. Either do windows or move the larder. So I could push it right over to the left and have the opening on the right. Do you think that would look ok?

It would depend on what's on either side of the opening/larder IYSWIM?

And would moving the larder result in blocking off a piece of worktop?

I think we need photos TBH

There is currently a base level unit on either side of the larder with a small worktop on top which we use for kids' artwork junk. We'd remove these units if we decided to move the larder.

This is it

So, the larder is deeper than the wall by the door to it's left so can't be moved that way, and if you moved it to the right the radiator would get in the way of openig the bottom right hand door properly? Or am I looking wrong?

Just replacing the base units with 'walk through' gaps would look odd understatement and be utterly impractical. To my mind, the spaces above the wall units as they stand are too small for 'windows' to look decent. It looks like the best option (if you must have holes in the wall) would be to swap the narrow base unit with the broader one and add a serving hatch type gap above the broader one which would then be by the door.

Maybe the larder would fit on the wall were the radiator now is? giving more space for a door / window thing. Would be a faff though, moving the rad and electric poit above the right hand base unit.

I think you'd have all the disadvantages of open plan (noise, cooking smells) and none of the advantages tbh.

A gap narrower than a doorway would soon get irritating and unless your kitchen is large you may miss the storage more than you'll enjoy the (awkward) access.

Are all 3 doors part of the larder unit? If so there are a few issues. Firstly the openings would be waaay too narrow. It would look really odd. Secondly you need to make sure there's enough clearance for the radiator so that its not in front of any new opening.

Is the kitchen dark? It looks bright in the photo. Do you really need more light?

I assumed that you had no table in the kitchen but it appears to be a decent size.

Tbh I'm not sure that you'll gain much for all the effort, expense and mess of knocking through. Your kitchen looks lovely as it is.

Another question.....what is the wall made of? Is it just plasterboard or is it a solid wall?

The tall door on the left is the broom cupboard and the middle and right doors are the larder.

It looks bright as there are lights on. Kitchen faces north so gets very little natural light.

Thanks for your comments burnished - my dh will love you if you talk me out of this! I can already see him rolling his eyes at my suggestion!

Think it's a solid (brick) wall