The kitchen diner dilemma: Extend, just knock through or do nothing at all!

[KernowJim]

Hello,
First time post here, so please be gentle 😊

Just looking to get a range of thoughts, advice and wisdom regarding a kitchen diner dilemma me and my partner are trying to get our heads around.

Just to give you a brief background without wittering on too much. We have a 1930’s semi with a decent sized back garden. We’re not sure how long we plan to live here - it’s certainly not our ‘forever home’ but it could be anything between 2 and 5 years before we move. We would like to knock down the wall between the kitchen and the dining room to create a kitchen-diner. In an ideal world, we would also like to extend out into the garden to make a bigger space again.
So, bearing in mind that we’re not sure how long we intend to be in this house. What advice would people offer on what to do.

1. Extend
   Pros: more space, allows us to install additional features (e.g. larder/utility room), could make the house more sellable?
   Cons: expensive, disruptive, more stressful!

2. Just knock through
   Pros: Give us enough space for a kitchen diner, not as expensive as extending, not so disruptive
   Cons: The fact we’ve not extended when creating a kitchen diner could put buyers off when we come to sell the house.

3. Do nothing at all
   Pros: No disruption, not having to spend any money
   Cons: Having to live with a kitchen we really dislike and a dining room we don’t use

I have been wondering if we go with the ‘just knock through’ option, then perhaps we can do it in a way that would allow someone else (or even us) to extend without being too disruptive to the work which had already taken place (e.g. not having to refit the kitchen or move services etc..)

Anyway, sorry for the waffle. It’s actually very useful for me to scribble my thoughts down in this manner.

Thanks in advance.

If you can afford to extend, do it. It will add more value to your house when you sell.

If you're not sure you'll stay, I'd knock through and get planning permission (if you need it?) for the extension. I think.

Just knock through. Knocking out the back wall and extending is a much bigger and more expensive job. You won't necessarily recoup the costs when you sell.

I would say knock through. I live in a 1930s semi and it has changed my life, I love the space and although I have no plans to move it will have added value.

I couldn't afford an extension so didn't consider that as an option although the garden is big enough - besides, I found the work I did have done stressful enough, having an extension would probably have done me in!

Need a floor plan with room sizes on etc!!

Agree you may not recoup costs if you extend...

We did both and I highly recommend it. We knocked through when we first moved in over 5 years ago then extended the bit behind what had been the dining room only last year. That second piece of work included a bit of work on the garden and we now have a usable patio area. The difference for us is that this is our forever home (we love our seaside location) and we had the capital to do it without extending the mortgage.

I'd peruse rightmove for nearby similar houses and see how/ if extensions have improved the flow /added value.

As per previous poster, we're also in a 1930s semi. Original layout was dining room at back with kitchen next to it which had original outhouse type extension (so it stuck out from the back of the house). Lived with original layout for about 5 years, then knocked wall down between kitchen & dining room and then 2 years later did a full double storey extension. Again, this is our not-quite-forever home but we'll be here for at least 10+ years. Also for us there was no possibility of us losing money - market is ridiculous.

Anyhoo, in your circumstances I would knock through. It will transform (for the better) how you use the space. I wouldn't extend because lots of people (certainly around here) look for double storey extension potential (either at side / rear / both). Building above an existing single storey extension is (I understand) not as easy or cost effective as starting from scratch.

ATM, either 2 or 5 years is short term. Knock through but don't spend money on extending because you won't get it back

You would probably spend £40-60k on a single storey extension. Is it worth that cost to your family? I'd knock through personally if it wasn't a forever home

I think with the current economic uncertainty youd be mad to extend.
Knock through and update is inexpensive and will make it pleasant for you to live there. It will be easier to sell and you might see some of your money.

Knock through. We did this in our 1930's not-forever home and it made a huge difference to the way we used the house. The cost of knocking through and getting new kitchen was about £25k in total and when we came to sell the house not only did it increase the value but it also gave the house a real wow factor which made it very quick to sell.

I think we have a similar house although we've just extended. Ours is different though as we plan to live here a long time.
Personally I'd knock through as we hated our dining room too so it'd make a huge difference!

Just knock though. It was what we were looking for when we bought. We have since extended and someone knocking though definitely didn't put us off (also 1930s semi)

I would not extend unless you are staying long term (10+ years).

It is very easy to spend more than 'you get back' on kitchen extensions especially if you want to do a nice job. Building work is v expensive at the moment (raw materials, lack of labour).

Knock through and put a new kitchen in - this won't cost a bomb or be that disruptive and you will get a nice space and I think it will make it easier to sell as most people want a kitchen/diner not a tiny separate galley kitchen.

Thank you for all the advice and feedback. It's much appreciated.

The current measurement are;
Dining Room – 4.55 x 3.20
Kitchen - 2.74 x 2.49

Hopefully this link will work; ibb.co/mM8Gom

It's a bit/very rough but should give you an idea. I've nabbed the layout from a house a couple of doors down which was on Rightmove a while back. The only difference is that we have French doors leading from the dining room into the garden.

Having read all the comments, I'm very much favouring just knocking down the (supporting) wall and designing the layout of the kitchen in a way which would still allow for an extension to be added further down the line.

I'll work on some layout ideas to see how the flow of the room would work. For now, I'm going to assume that we will probably also remove the chimney breast to give us a bit more space to work with.

Thanks again. Feel free to keep the advice coming! It's really helpful. By the end of this process, I should be in a better potion to return the favour to others :-)

We rent abroad. Our last house was a 1920s/30s 'wrapped', renovated and extended property. Kitchen/diner, open plan, etc, and when we moved I breathed a sigh of relief. We are now in a house where there is a separate room off the kitchen which we use as a dining room, but I use to sew or curl up and read if dh is watching something I don't want to on the TV.

The kitchen in the rental we are in now is far more useable in terms of cupboards and work surface than the previous place, and it is not a tiny galley kitchen either. Not as big as my kitchen in the UK, but very useable indeed, given the amount of kitchenalia and food I tend to have in.

I also like to be able to close the door on the kitchen if I'm entertaining, as I am not the most tidy of cooks, so the separate rooms work for me.

Based on your floor plan o would knock through, you could create a lovely space.

I can't see if you have a downstairs loo. I'd be tempted to carve out some space for that if you can, i think they make a huge difference when selling, particularly to families. On the revent series of love it or list it they've done a number of 'knock throughs' that could serve as inspiration.

If you dont really need the extra space I agree an extension doesn't make sense if it's not your forever home

We extended our 1930s semi about 15 years ago.we used the side return where the driveway was to extend the kitchen and added a garage. Upstairs above the garage we have an extended bedroom (was previously the smallest bedroom ) and a 4th bedroom over the extended kitchen - the bedroom door is where the landing window was previously.

Downstairs we kept separate dining room, lounge and kitchen. The kitchen does contain the washing machine (tumble dryer is in the garage because I didn't have the room for it in the new kitchen ). With hindsight I would have preferred to create a kitchen diner across the existing rear of the house and used the side return purely for a separate utility and garage, keeping the current upstairs bedroom arrangement.

Absolutely just knock through for now. You will gain so much by incorporating the hallway as well.

Lose the back door and put one on the side of the house to take the bins out or for a future utility room. I would consider moving the garage alongside the house and having a utility area in the back of it???? Not sure how much that would cost though...

Removing chimney breasts can be expensive if they are load bearing. Be careful about doing this. Why not make it a feature instead? Your kitchen is way too small for modern living and I would definitely knock through and have a kitchen diner.

Your layout is very typical of a 3 bed semi around here but I think you need to judge property prices in your area to see if it worthshile extending or not. Where I live, there is a premium paid for extended houses because they make it easier for families. There is no shortage of people doing the work because moving to a larger house is way more expensive than the extension.

However, the premium is only about what the extension has cost a few years down the line. If you stay and get the benefit in the next 5 years, you are not just looking at the final selling price, you have enjoyed the property and made full use of it. Who knows what prices will be in 5 years? You are looking at making this a home you can enjoy. Extending would also depend on how big the garden is and what you plan to do with the garden around any extension.

There are definitely advantages to having the kitchen separate, but for us opening the area up will work much better. I also like the fact you gain the space which is taken up by the wall.

There is a toilet under the stairs which could do with a lick of paint and some more modern fixtures (nothing too grand).

We'll have to install some kind of post/support as we will need to run an RSJ across where the wall currently resides. Apparently you can run the RSJ further back and then you don't need the supporting post However, I've been told that this can be quite a bit more expensive - I'll get a structural engineer to advice on this. My preference would not be to have a post as I think it will break the line of sight from the hallway to the garden. Having said all of that, I'm also cautious of losing space to lean things against - e..g If we had a post/small section of wall supporting the RSJ, then we could lean the fridge or something else against this.

Moving the back door is a good idea. I'll keep that in mind when sketching out the layouts of the room.

I think a big kitchen can be great as a separate entity but yours is tiny. Whoever is in it is shut away. Many people do not like that these days (even in Cornwall!!)

You do not need posts for RSJs. DH is a FIStructE. We have a beam spanning 5m. Do you need more than this?

We have opened up most the ground floor of our house. I sold 3 chests of drawers. You will have to declutter!!! I managed it.

:-) The 'Kernow' part of my user name is non-deliberate misdirection. I'm from Cornwall but have been in Bristol for a number of years. I'll move back one day.

A beam spanning 5m would be enough. I'm going to get a structural engineer in to get an idea of our options and any costs.

Do love a good de-clutter - I can't wait to clear out the kitchen (that make my life sound very boring :-)! The dining room has become a bit of a storage/dumping ground, so that's going to be a little more challenging to go through.

Sorry BubblesBuddy, I missed your previous post and have only just read it now. Fair point on the chimney breast - I'll get some costs and also have a look for some ideas where others have incorporated it as a feature.

The garden is about 90 feet, so we have the room and there is definitely scope to get the costs back - as long as we don't get carried away with a high end extension. However, I'm not sure we're up for the disruption. Although we have some savings, it would still be quite tight and there are other things we would like to spend some money on. I guess it's just about prioritising what we would like to get out of the house while we are living in it.