New year, new floorplan

[Sally2hats]

2 floor plans to look at if you’d be so kind. They’re a bit shoddy but you get the idea.

Current layout has front living room (big and period features), 2nd living room and dining room with wall and massive chimney stack in between. Not attractive and no fireplaces.
Small Galley kitchen, no utility and loo/shower at the end.

Second picture has front of house the same, but back knocked through. Kitchen where dining room was open to dining room with big doors to garden. Utility room in old kitchen. Keep showerroom.
Taking wall/chimney out would be a big job, but potentially worth it.

I like the knocking through idea, but concerned about losing a separate living room and devaluing the house.
But I don’t like current dining/kitchen, I feel it’s too small for the size of the rest of the house and dark.

Context is it’s a 5bed semi, 3 stories, old house. Small ish garden (can’t enlarge footprint of house). No garage/no space for garage. Small shed.
Otherwise love the house. Worried about making wrong choice on the ground floor.
Budget - who knows, all theoretical right now.

Rather than separating the rooms, I would be inclined to make the second living area a dining room, the current dining room a kitchen, and the current kitchen a utility room. I think it would feel a lot more balanced for the size of the house, without such major work.

I like the 2nd layout (I think that's what the OP is advocating). If you're worried about losing a living room, you could install folding doors between new dining area and kitchen - something like this?

Those folding doors are really nice, hadn’t thought of that.
Yeah to confirm it’s keeping the front living room, but losing the back one to the kitchen/diner.

Other cheaper option is re-doing the kitchen and removing wall between kitchen and diner. I think that’d be nice, but not as wow as the open plan, and think I’d regret not going all in.

If it was a choice between buying between 2 houses, all other things equal, I’d buy the open plan back one.

How long are you planning on living there? If you would prefer it and won't be selling in near future then I wouldn't stress too much about impact on value.

Fwiw, I think it would add value but without knowing area no idea if more than cost of work. If you wanted to check, local estate agents could probably advise.

I don’t think you’d be losing a living room so much as gaining a great living space.

I like your idea best but if you’re fighting shy of spending the money Ragamuffin’s idea is good too.

I’m also finding in the era of personal devices, that people don’t need separate rooms quite so much as we did in the days of going to watch the other tv...

If it's a semi, what layout has next door got?

I think the full knock through would be worth doing.
Note that this will mean you can lose one of the doors from hall to back of house - preferably the one on kitchen side as this will allow you to a longer run of units
But even a galley kitchen is going to give you a big utility so consider using it to the max with all laundry plus overflow kitchen storage.
This will enable you to reduce number of units in main kitchen and maybe give you space for an informal sitting area to compensate for losing a second living room.

I would say put the utility where the kitchen is, then have a kitchen-diner with a double sided fireplace and open up the alcoves to either side of the chimney stack. I would keep a door between the kitchen and utility (can't see one on your plan). I would also block up one of the doors from the hall to the kitchen-diner, which would allow for a longer run of units.

Plan 2 looks good, I expect it will completely change (for the better) how you use you’re home and you won’t notice having ‘one less room’ at all.

I’d keep the existing wall and door between the proposed kitchen and utility, no point paying to put a steel in there and it’s often good to be able to shut the door on a utility.

Also be aware that removing the chimney breast could be quite costly. Though I do think it would make a lovely space knocked through.

I personally would prefer the separate room if I was buying but as someone suggested would move the kitchen to the dining space but keep the wall between that room and the the second living room x

You could do something like this to the kitchen diner

Next door have a kitchen extension the full width of the dining room, and kept the 2nd reception. but their garden is a different shape - works for them but wouldn’t for us.

We’re not planning to move for a long time/ever. It’s a really great home in a nice area with good schools.

The double sided fire idea is lovely, but the chimney breast in the dining room is massive. It would have had an old range in it so very bulky into the room.
Considered putting the cooker in there, but the arch of the brickwork is too low to stand and cook at.

Thanks for the estate agent idea I spoke to one this morning who knows the area and they reckon it’d be more appealing with an open plan family/dining/kitchen and separate ‘front room’.

Lots to think about. Thanks for the ideas

Plan 2 would definitely be my preference; having a dedicated utility area would allow you to separate laundry and would still afford a large open kitchen area with a combined diner and a large opening to the external space.

I'd be tempted to say keep the wall between the kitchen and utility area in the second picture to separate the two and allow for a more conducive room layout for kitchen design, but that would depend on the sizes of the rooms.