Size for an open plan kitchen/diner/living room

[wheretoevenstart]

Hi

Just after some experiences/opinions on measurements required for an all in one kitchen/diner/living room. We will be keeping a separate reception room at the front.

I'm struggling with knowing whether the existing space will be enough when knocked together or whether we'll need to extend. If you've done it I'd love to know what measurements you ended up with and how the space feels. And if anyone wants to share photos I'd be made up!

We're currently building a 6mx6m extension and hope to do what you have suggested. We also will have a separate snug and front room. Still in early stages of build and meeting 2 separate kitchen designers this weekend so hope to have a better idea then of it's feasibility. At the very least I'd like to be able to fit a small sofa in there also but we'll see! I'll let you know what designs we end up with!

We have an approx 7m x 6m space which has kitchen, dining table and a sofa, plus the piano. It is definitely big enough for us (2 dc) though not if it had to be a proper sitting room as well (we have a separate ‘formal’ sitting room).

Probably not the best person but we have l shaped 8x5 plus 5x5, it's perfect for a kitchen, dining area and living area (if you have the space to extend) we kept our front living room as a second space as with teens it's helpful!

@Stylinit that's not far off our dimensions. Can I ask what type of kitchen layout you have used to maximise space? I'd love an island with space for stools on one side of it but not sure if it's a good use of space. I also want a table (though thinking if getting One with benches so we can push under when not using). On our architect plans there is a rough kitchen design of 3.5m of kitchen units on back wall with the same length island.

I'm not sure we'll get to quite some of the dimensions you guys are planning, which is a bit of a worry. I think we're looking more towards a max width of 5.6m but we can go out pretty far. I'm just not sure how well it'll work that way round, most of the ones I see online are either pretty much square or wider than they are long. We'll have a separate utility.

@Stylinit I'd also love an idea of how you have it laid out if you don't mind. @Mummyshark2018 that's the kitchen layout I'd like ideally although I'm not sure we'll get stools in as well. I'm wondering about a built in bench seating arrangement but that would work better with a peninsula I think.

Ours is roughly 9m x 5 m
To fit a dinner table in you need a minimum of
220/240cm, depends what width of table.

Not a great pic or diagram but gives you an idea.

Personally I’m not a fan of islands except in really huge spaces. We could get a lot more worktop & useable space with a u shaped kitchen. Plus the seating works really well as we entertain & cook socially a lot so everyone can be sitting around chatting at breakfast bar & on sofa while someone is cooking. Then we go over to the table to eat and don’t have to look at the kitchen mess thanks to it sort of being round a corner with the utility & dresser.

We’re lucky that it’s a reasonably square space which helps a lot. It is on 2 levels though (sitting & dining areas are one step lower than kitchen) and has 3 different ceiling heights! (original kitchen in 30s house extended twice over time - not by us). This helps to zone the space though - kitchen & living area have really high ceilings and dining room is quite a bit lower but again this helps to define the space.

We definitely had to work with what was there, it was never a new build / new extension blank canvas!

For a typical permitted development extension.

The island has crockery/cutlery and pan drawers

Basically kitchen area including walk past is about 4.5m x 4, then sitting & dining areas are both about 3 x 3.

People’s usual comment on seeing it for the first time is ‘wow what a big room’...it isn’t huge but the space works well to make it feel spacious iyswim.

Thank you @Stylinit that's really helpful and I'm sure it looks great. Here's our initial plans (only architect drawing), meeting with kitchen designers at weekend. Our space is a bit smaller than yours but more square as our utility is separate. Also we have bifold doors at the back. Would welcome ideas about best layout!

@lalafafa your design is not far off ours!

Mummyshark2018 😂. What other doors/windows do you have other than the bifolds? Also our bifolds were going to be a 15 week lead time. Get them ordered as soon as you start.

Yes they've been ordered already by our builder thankfully. We have 2 long and narrow windows (55cm x 150cm) either side of the current kitchen units (we get amazing late evening sun from that angle) which I was very insistent about with our architect. We also have 4 velux windows. Do you think that will be enough?

Our Velux automatically close when they sense rain. You may want another form of ventilation as well as the Velux and bifold, we had a door inserted on an outside wall to the garden as another exit/vent.

We’ve also got a seemless floor from the kitchen floor to the garden patio. The patio is slightly lower than the kitchen floor by a few mm, but you wouldn’t trip IYSWIM. We’ve also got the same tiles going from kitchen to patio so it looks like one huge room when the bifolds are opened.

Thanks @lalafafa that sounds fab, can you send a pic when you get a chance of what that looks like. What tiles did you use?

www.google.co.uk/search?q=kitchen+to+patio+flooring&client=safari&hl=en-gb&prmd=isvn&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiS7PnnrI_hAhX5UhUIHV2RCU0Q_AUoAXoECA4QAQ&biw=414&bih=622#imgrc=0o2U1dnlYRf_qM

Something like this, you can get indoor and outdoor non slip.
www.towerceramics.co.uk/

Thanks for all the replies, some useful info. @Mummyshark2018 will you be having dining as you enter the room and then seating by the bifolds? I can't quite make out the dimensions on yours, how much has the architect allowed for kitchen?

I'm trying to decide about built in bench seating, it would save me a lot of space but would it look weird next to a corner sofa?

Ours is 6.05m x 4m. We have a small sofa (140cm) that is at one end with a TV. We have a circular table that seats 5/6 but extends to seat 8 in the middle of the room and then the kitchen on the far wall and part way down the inside wall with patio doors on the outside wall. We considered bifold doors but it faces south and felt it would get too hot in the summer. It all fits fine and feels spacious. It depends on what you want to fit in the kitchen though - if you want a bigger sofa then our room would be too small, but for us the cost of the extension was £25k and we weren’t gaining much more usable space. My friend was going to extend, but after seeing ours hasn't bothered either!

That's really interesting. So is yours 6m wide? Do you use the sofa as your main sofa?

It’s a very bad drawing done on my phone, but this is very roughly our layout, there is also a window above the sofa (the old kitchen one). The boxes are the sofa and TV the table is the circle and I have roughly marked in the doors. We have about 6m of countertop, a built in oven, FF and larder units.

we do and we don’t. we have a main living room, but most evenings we sit in the kitchen on the sofa watching TV as it gets more channels! We also have a dresser between the patio doors and sofa that didn’t fit on my diagram! A lot of flats fit everything in one space smaller than ours! I went round a lot of show homes before we decided not to extend. Taylor wimpy have a house with a very similar size room to ours that had a living/kitchen/diner that convinced me - and most of them were smaller than ours. I would recommend this if you are not sure because it really helps you get an idea of layout in different spaces!