Garage or drive?

[creampie]

We're looking to convert our double garage into a kitchen. We can either do a long narrow kitchen and keep a single garage, or do a kind of L shaped kitchen, keeping a quarter or so as a garage for bikes etc but not big enough for a car.

The kitchen layout would be much better with the second option, but would we lose a lot of value/resale potential by having no garage?

We have a double driveway with lockable gates, and we never bother putting the car away in the garage because we don't really feel the need.

What would you do? Thanks for your opinions.

I would do the second option. Who actually uses a garage for a car? Isn't it for bikes and lawnmowers and diy stuff? If we had a garage it would be clogged with clutter... I would prefer more living space!

Second option sounds great!!

I can't think of a single person i know who uses their garage to store a car. As Becky said they are largely used for storage of bikes, Garden stuff and a utility at the back. I'd prefer more living space personally so the second option would be best for me

Second option - it's perfect - kitchen, attached semi-outdoor utility for bikes/washer etc. If you have easy parking on an enclosed drive, it's a no-brainer.

Garages in the UK are an absolute pain, and it's not like your car is going to be sun baked or hailed to death in the UK (I might revise that opinion on garage if you live right on the sea front or somewhere a car will suffer outside!)

We converted our double garage into a large playroom for the children with a storage area at the back across both garages for the lawn mower and tools.

The council did assess whether removing the garage would force you to park on the road but like you we had a large enough drive for more than 2 cars.

I would do option 2 in a heartbeat.

Nope very little sun here unfortunately! I think the second option would be much more sensible. My husband is flapping about Loss of resale value, but I can't see us moving for absolutely ages anyway

I wouldn't buy a house without a garage personally. I would probably consider a half garage if there was also good storage in the house and a decent sized shed. Currently in our garage we have bikes, scooters, lots of camping gear, a bike rack, files and documents, old school books, tools, power tools, suitcases, decorating stuff, paint, a few toys that are waiting to be got rid of, tennis racquets, outdoor toys and several boxes of things related to my husband's 2 hobbies. Gardening things are in a small shed but it's not big enough for bikes or anything else.

There will still be storage space equivalent to a garage in size, it will just be very wide but only about 2m shallow so you won't be able to actually get a car in

How does that work in terms of light coming in to the kitchen?

Will probably do what verity said and keep the double frontage but walk it off about 2m in

Wall not walk

I.e. would you get an extra window at the front with the single garage option?

Apple it currently has 2 double windows running down the side so we'd make one of these into patio doors and one into a half size window

Bucking the trend, we keep 2 cars in our double garage and it was top of the list of requirements when we moved. Do most of your neighbours have them?

Most houses around our way have integrated garages converted to living areas. If you have room for a large shed I'd convert the lot.

Extra living space is worth more than a garage. It may be a deal breaker for some buyers with motorbikes or vintage cars or something if you don't have one, but they are a minority's so wouldn't have much of an impact.

I think it depends on area. Certainly where we are, additional living space is more valuable than a garage so there are very few people who have a full sized garage anymore. Lots of people have exactly what you describe, a storage space, then use the other part of what was the garage into a playroom / utility / add it into the kitchen.

It won't reduce the value of your house (it wouldn't here anyway), it will add value as you have additional square footage as living space.

I think a good sized storage space would be fine for most people, if it still has a garage frontage then you've still got easy access for bikes which is one of my issues with no garage.

We converted half our garage to extend our kitchen slightly and add a utility. We love the use of the space and it's 100% better than it was. The front half of the garage is plenty of space for lawnmower bikes etc.

When we remortgaged the house however they did say we'd down valued the house. But when we came to move it hasn't put buyers off at all - in fact has probably improved saleability. And the purchase valuation was inline with asking price. So although it cost us and we didn't add value it definitely made us enjoy our home more. I'd say do whatever you think you'll prefer to live with. You'll get the value back from enjoyment.

the second option seems clearly the winner to me. If it would be the difference between an ok kitchen and a great one, go for the great one. Great kitchens sell houses.

If you have a double garage I assume you have quite a big house? Buyers of bigger houses tend to expect a garage, and in our road lots of people keep their 'fun' car in their garage. It might be worth a chat to your local estate agent if you're intending to move quite soon.

In one of our previous houses we converted half the double garage into a playroom. We kept the double garages frontage but only had half the space for storage. We never used it for cars. It was no issue when we came to sell it.

If you left the 'half' as a garage, would it actually be big enough to use as a garage for modern cars? Just thinking that half a double garage is probably smaller than a purpose-built single, as the double wouldn't have the additional space required for opening doors etc once a new wall was put in. May be worth checking as it would overcome your DHs arguments!