Kitchen/diner or combined kitchen-diner? (With diagram!)

[newmumwithquestions]

Please help me decide....

We will be doing our kitchen. Lots of work to do first, but we need to decide what it will look like in the end.

We have a large rectangular room. One end will be half open to the sitting room and at the other end there will be French doors onto the garden.

Our options are (see diagram):

1. cupboards/worktops running down the full length of one wall, curving slightly to form a small ‘L’ where there will be a sink overlooking the garden. Table in main body of room, so easily accessible from worktop. Fridge probably at other end of room.

1. Cupboards/worktop running down half the same wall, with possibly more at 90 degrees to separate the room into a ‘dining’ and ‘kitchen’ area. Kitchen island.

I always thought I’d prefer 2, but I’m living with something similar to 1 at the moment and I love being able to cook and supervise the DC (2 and 3) at the table at the same time. So I’m erring towards 1.
More set ups are similar to 2 though... why? Am I forgetting something? Will I change my mind once the DC get a bit older?

I would go for number 2 personally as I prefer the layout and the

I prefer 1. It is very like how I have my kitchen which is brilliant from a practical point of view. I don't like the positioning of the sink right at the end of a run of units.
However I generally dislike islands unless they back onto a room and I also dislike peninsula units.

I’d go with two.

You’d be able to see them without turning fully around when cooking/prepping dinner. Particularly if you have the extra worktop.

Otherwise they’ll always be directly behind you.

Also I had a table set up similar to A in my first kitchen and visitors would sit at the table but pushed the chairs right out which made it tight getting past - much easier if the table is out of the way.

I suspect 2 is popular because people like islands and it gives a better work triangle. Also visually it makes a long thin room look squarer. It tricks the eye into thinking the space is more generous. 1 would make it look longer and thinner, and a corridor effect is not as popular.

I am short so I like a kitchen table to be extra work surface, which fits with 1 well. However that does tend to put fridge, sink and cooker far apart especially if you have to chicane round the table all the time.

I like the idea of 2 table type spaces, eg breakfast bar and table, which 2 gives you. The table can hold stuff like homework, projects, adults' work, puzzles that need to stay out a while, and you can still serve food at the breakfast bar. When they are 2 or 3 nothing stays out for long so it's ok to clear the table for a meal, but as they get older that gets more difficult.

I’d go with 2 as you can basically keep people both adults and children out of you’re way while cooking but still have them in the same room. I found that when you have people over you can keep them behind the kitchen surface in the table area particularly when they’re standing up talking to you.
It also gives you space both sides of the surface when cooking with kids or good off putting food out for people to serve themselves

I'd go with 2 - the island space (with stools) would allow casual chatting/helping with food prep and then the table allows for eating/homework/colouring in etc. I think having the table in diagram 1 would lead to the table becoming an extra workspace/dumping ground rather than space for family/children to use...

Another vote for 2 here (with the additional worktop in) - various reasons, but mainly:

1. I like the idea of self-contained kitchen where things are "around" you rather than walking from one end to another;
2. I think it's probably easier to supervise - you only have to turn your head from the cooker, or can be at the worktop looking at them at the table rather than having to turn round fully;
3. Perhaps nicer for entertaining esp with the double doors leading out to the garden - can put food there and have people drifting in and out (I feel like there's more chance of people getting in the way if the table was in the main body of the kitchen which is probably less important day to day but more of a pain if you have guests);
4. More light at the table when eating, especially in winter - something nice about eating in daylight rather than artificial light (this is a spurious and somewhat personal reason!)

Visually I'd probably go for 2, that's what you'd see in magazines.
I prefer the 1st one though as you can keep an eye on kids, run out in case of an emergency and you have a better flow towards the doors in the back. The dining table across kind of ruins that for me.

Actually, I’d go for something totally different. I’d put the kitchen at the back, with a peninsula in front of th glass doors, either to the left or the right.

I’d put the dining table parallel to the glass doors and the peninsula.

Then I’d have the sitting room the other side of the dining table (ie where it is).

I like this demarcation of work / eat / rest. I like the busy-ness of even the most minimalist and spotless kitchen being away from the resting space of the living room. The dining area is the middle ground.

Also, children coming in and out of the garden in the summer, bbq etc - want to keep all that in the kitchen area.

Also (!), I think you’d end up with a workspace that’s easier to use. I’ve never liked working with my back to the room, along a wall. It makes the kitchen seem like it’s just a row of cupboards in the dining room. I want to do my stuff in the kitchen either looking into the rest of the house or into the garden, not at a brick wall.

Sorry not what you asked, thought I’d throw another option into the mix!

Just re-read that: the peninsula obvs wouldn’t be right in front of the glass doors! It would be where your L is in drawing 2!

I prefer option 2. I would have thought option 2 would be easier to keep an eye on DC because they are at most 90 degrees from you rather than behind you?

I'd go for 2 but... are the patio doors your only access to the garden, as once you have the chairs in place then you may be having to move them every time you need to bring something through, muddy DC will be rushing in and possibly dirty/damage the furniture, if you have a dog or need to open the door frequently it will become a bind. If the room is 4m wide and your diagram Is nowhere near scale and the doors will be totally clear then ignore.
I think 2 gives a much more convivial dining area. Although the disadvantage is that you have to walk past the kitchen in order to get to it - again, depends on whether you're a messy cook or not. I might not like inviting The Big Boss round and having her walk past all my M&S ready meal wrappings! (That's a joke btw...)

We have the layout of 2. With breakfast bar seating for 4. Works really well in creating a space where everyone can be in but separate. Breakfast bar is great for multitasking homework & making dinner.

I have layout 2. Works really well. Can stop supervise kids at the table and it keeps them out the kitchen.

Another vote for 2. Have you thought about having a long island parallel to the run of units along the wall, instead of a peninsula?

I have something similar to 1 at the moment and I find it annoying to keep walking up and down the row of units. In our new design we are doing what wow suggests and have a longer island unit parallel

I prefer the idea of number 2 and the spaces are better defined especially if you haven’t got a separate dining room.

Hmmm I’m hearing you. Most of you prefer something along the lines of no2. Not what I wanted to hear but what I thought I might! To answer some questions:

The room is big, about 4m x 8m, so at the moment we have a 8-10 seater table quite happily with a run of units without falling over things.

There is another door in the kitchen - it’s at the side immediately as you walk in the room. But it’s never really used. It goes out to a scrappy bit of garden with shed and oil tank. The view from the French doors is much nicer and the reason we bought the house! So you’re drawn to the view at the end, and this is where the main garden access will be.

I am a reasonably messy cook :-) but I also like the kitchen being the hub of the house and don’t care if anyone sees the mess! I spend a lot of time in the kitchen and want somewhere that everyone can come into, chat, etc. At the moment everyone ends up at the kitchen table to have a cup of tea. I like that. Also the DC follow me in but because the room is all in one they have room to cause havoc not directly under my feet. I guess I’m scared about loosing that.... but I appreciate that they grow up quickly and this should be a long term plan...

@Plumbsofwrath

So you’d walk from the sitting room, past the table, to the kitchen area? That could work...

Errr what’s a peninsula? I’ve googled it but got confused - is it a bit of worktop at 90 degrees to the rest?

A peninsula is essentially an island which is attached to other kitchen units or a wall, usually positioned at 90 degrees from whatever it's attached to, whereas an island is completely separate and you can walk all the way round it.

Where you've put 'maybe worktop' on your second plan, that's a peninsula. You can put kitchen units under them if you choose to.

We have option 1 and its great. Now 6 years on DC are 11 and 14, the extra space in the middle is brilliant. They've skated on it, flown drones, and also done various art activities. They now often do their homework at the kitchen table. Works for us.

I have one and it works well with little kids

@newmumwithquestions

Yup, that’s right. Past the living area, past the table and chairs which will be the same height as the peninsula, and into the kitchen. I would make the opening to the kitchen on the same side as the door into the living room, so you don’t have to walk between the sofas or around the dining table. If the reason you bought the house is for the views into the garden, I’d leave those doors as unobstructed as possible. Is there a window to the left of the doors? If so I’d put the sink under that window, the stove on the left hand wall, and the fridge where you have already planned it. The whole of be opposite wall could be pantry / worktop / floor to ceiling cupboards / dresser. Then you have your peninsula behind the dining table.

I’m not a fan of stools at a breakfast bar, people trip over them and just dump their stuff on the worktop. Annoying when they could just sit at the table two steps away.