New house layout help

[FelicityKate]

Hi, can anyone help me with ideas for this layout? I’m hoping to buy this house but the big downside for me is that it doesn’t have a kitchen diner. I’m going to be newly separated with three children under five so ideally I want to be in the same room as them for cooking / eating (I’ll have shared custody so when they’re with me I don’t want to be in a different room from them the majority of the time iyswim).

My initial ideas are to knock through to the garage (maybe keep a third of it as a store at the front) and move the kitchen into the current lounge. Then change the kitchen into a utility / boot room. The utility is the one thing that I will miss from my current home (first world problem alert). However, the house is a three bed so this might not be in proportion? I see this as potentially a long term home so want it to suit us but also don’t want to ruin any resale chances.

I could just knock down the wall between the kitchen and the lounge but think this might look a bit odd? And noisy!

Any opinions anyone? I’m currently talking myself round in circles!

If you converted half the garage it would be roughly the same size as your current kitchen roughly. Too small for a separate lounge. Why not just put double doors between the kitchen and lounge so you can choose to have it open plan or closed off? Do you need the garage for access to the garden?

... if not and there is room for a shed in the garden I’d look into converting the whole garage personally

Can you put in a big open window, or double doors (or a single door) between the kitchen and sitting room?

Or if you have the money (and room for a shed) convert the full garage into living space

Thanks - that’s a good idea re the double doors. No I don’t need the garage for access just worried about losing the storage space. I am definitely overthinking everything...

I mean this kindly but honestly, if you are wanting to reconfigure so radically perhaps you'd be better buying a different house. Not only will it probably work out cheaper, but living through building work as a single parent with 3 small children is not going to be any fun.

It is really common in 3 bed houses to have a small galley kitchen next to the dining area, and knocking through is a relatively simple job. Are there no houses like that available?

If you are going to buy this house and absolutely need to 'fix' it, I'd just put a door in between kitchen and living room, or even just an old fashioned serving hatch so you can see the DC! But in the current set up they'll only be 3 steps away down the hall and you'll be able to hear them.

also where will you put a table? It looks like there is space allowed for it in the kitchen although a lot of people end up putting a big fridge in the space. If you knock through, will you lose space for a table either side of that wall?

Can you not just swap both rooms around? Back room becomes large kitchen dining family room where you will inevitable spend most of your time and a small snug type lounge at the front.

"I mean this kindly but honestly, if you are wanting to reconfigure so radically perhaps you'd be better buying a different house. Not only will it probably work out cheaper, but living through building work as a single parent with 3 small children is not going to be any fun."

I second every word of this. Alterations like that are expensive and extremely tough to live through. Proceed with caution!

I would agree that unless you can afford to live elsewhere during building work it sounds like an awful lot to manage.

That being said if you have the budget I would perhaps look at converting the garage to kitchen diner then kitchen to playroom/ study?