Help with house layout - ^diagram^

[TweakMyHouse]

Recently moved and need some ideas for the layout of our house.

There’s a front living room I like and a back living room with original 1900s huge window (orange in picture) which looks into the garden.

The kitchen is old but sound single story and the dining room is dark.

Between the dining room and back room is a huge fireplace I don’t think we can reasonably remove.

I’d like to knock the kitchen and dining room together.
But really like the idea of a door, or doors to the garden.

If I didn’t like the original window I’d do something there, but I love it.

Would a single glass door where the blue window is make the dining room too corridor like?

A door or doors somewhere else?
Help!

You could knock the kitchen into the dining room and put some matching cabinets in the dining room and match the flooring, to make it more of a kitchen-diner. And a glass door where the blue window is.

Or move the toilet under the stairs and put a door at that end of the room.

Or could maybe knock the walls on either side of the fireplace, depending on the structure, and make it a central feature to a larger room.

How much do you have to spend? I think extending the kitchen to the same width as the dining room and knocking them through, with doors into the garden on either the side or the end would be amazing.

Knock thru kitchen and dining room.
Move kitchen into dining room bit, table in single storey kitchen bit.
Replace existing back door from kitchen and small window above sink with full width glazed doors.
Make blue window a full length window to match those doors. It doesn't need yan opening door

@SleeplessWB has the best suggestion if budget allows

What direction in the garden oriented (NSEW?) - what is the view to down the garden ? And across to the right? That will tell you what you want to be looking at and where to put windows/doors for views and light.

What are you going to use the back sitting room for with the nice window? Would this be a nicer place to put your dining table - I would then consider taking out the fire place, putting the kitchen in the old dark dining room and make the existing kitchen into a large laundry / utility / pantry etc.

But if you want it to another reception/TV room I would extend old kitchen across put glass as an L shape - across back and facing right - put dining in there and new kitchen in old dining space.

I agree with SleeplessWB "I think extending the kitchen to the same width as the dining room and knocking them through, with doors into the garden on either the side or the end would be amazing."

You could put bifolds along the length of the new wall (90 degrees to the original window in the living room) to let in loads of light.

Lots of ideas

I’ll add an updated diagram in a bit.

I like the moving the kitchen into the dining room idea, friends have done that, but in their house the big fireplace was on the opposite wall (left side rather than right in the pic).

The house is a bit complicated. It’s 5 bedroom over 3 floors, big rooms. But the kitchen lets it down a bit.

One neighbour has done the full width dining room extension, and it does fit the house better. But it has eaten a huge amount of their garden.

We’re in a city, and the garden isn’t huge. I’ll make the outline clearer and the orientation on the next diagram.

I really like the idea of corner bifold doors replacing blue window and round the side of the kitchen. But doesn’t solve the size problem of the kitchen vs rest of the house.

The back room is a playroom at the moment, I like having separate rooms rather than full open plan.
If I could have 2 living rooms plus a huge L shaped kitchen/diner/utility I would. But that’d be a whole different house and price bracket!

Sounds like it would be worth investing in making the kitchen diner spacious and well planned if its a big 5 bedroom house - If you want to keep the playroom at the back then do what suits you......you could maybe divide off some of that play room to use as a laundry / utility so that all the noisy messy stuff is away and space freed up for a lovely spacious kitchen - with dining area in the old kitchen - skylights and and glass walls/doors to the garden - would be gorgeous