How to fix awkward layout downstairs?

[silversixpence]

Our new house has an odd layout in that you have to walk through a small room (was a dining room) to get to the kitchen. We will be extending the full width of the house and want to have a better layout, but either way you'd have to walk through the living room or dining area to get to the kitchen. Any ideas how to fix this?

Knock together the living and dining room then build a wall at the back to create a corridor running at 90 degrees from the hall into the kitchen.

Knock kitchen and the reception room to the right of it together to have a big kitchen /family room and block off the door to the dining room.

Then possibly knock front reception room and dining room together to make a bigger living room at the front?

We can't knock the living and dining rooms together as all the pipe work runs up the wall between the two and the boiler is also sited there.

3boys we are considering that but have had a woodburner installed in the back reception room, I suppose that could remain a living room area in an open plan room though.

The wood burner would still be lovely in the family room. I would keep the room at the front as a 'grown up' living room and make what is now the dining room into a playroom (possibly leave both doors in in that case). The layout would be similar to a friends house and it works really well. Wish we had space for a child and toy free living room...

Put TV etc into front reception room and use it as a cosy snug. Knock through kitchen and back reception and extension to create large open plan family living/dining space and use dining room as more formal dining room (whcih can double up as quiet room for study)

I would knock the kitchen and big reception room together too. The wood burner should be fine there or move it to the front reception room. The dining room would either become a utility room or study, or both if it has 2 windows and wouldn't end up too narrow if you stuck a partition wall down the middle.

We had our house re-modelled 6 years ago, we got an architect involved, they had fabulous ideas we would never have thought of, well worth the money spent.

Husband wants the dining room as a study but we also want a bathroom and a utility

Could we get away with having both where the existing utility and corridor to the kitchen are?

Also the reception room has a lovely original arch about 1m from the end of the room which we'd like to keep ideally - would it be possible to knock through after that to make the open plan kitchen/living area? Although the we then end up with the same issue of walking through a room to get to the kitchen

I would also recommend getting professional advice ..... You mention one option not being possible because of the boiler and pipe work location? This can all be moved. Ok, there will be a cost to that. But the cost may be fairly minimal in the grand scheme of things, especially if it means you get the best option.

Having said that, I'm not a huge fan of completely open plan. So my own idea would be just to keep the front reception room as is, and also the dining room in the middle - but not getting too hung up on their current names. Block up the door from dining room into kitchen. Extend existing corridor through to what would then become one big kitchen / diner area at the back.

Could you knock the wall at the dining room a bit and make a nice side entrance with hall for yourself and friends, and use the original front door for vip and letters

this house has a similar layout

How attached are you to the conservatory?

Soupdragon We are using it for now but it will have to go when we extend.

We will get professional advice too but a creative solution will stop me racking my brains until we do

Having recently watched Georg Clarke's "Ugly House" series where they sorts out layouts just like yours, I would also now recommend seeking professional advice from an architect.

I think keeping the arch makes it trickier. I would be tempted to:

• replace the conservatory with a single story extension, high sloped roof with skylights
• maybe mirror the arch in a similar place in the current kitchen.
• Knock down the dividing wall between reception and kitchen,
• move downstairs loo/utility to dining room
• kitchen in the block where it already is, dining where the wood burner is, family living space in new extension.

Did you put this on on Houzz too ? It looks familiar ?!?

Hi yes I did and on here ages ago but didn't get many replies! Sorry to keep confusing you!