Kitchen diner layout help

[HazelWong]

We have recently bought a house with the attached slightly awkward kitchen diner layout.

What we would like is an open plan kitchen diner with a good amount of storage space and worktop space in the kitchen. We can't figure out if we could achieve that by just knocking through the kitchen and dining room or whether we should extend (if so just back by a bit or side return extension).

Slightly put off the extension idea by the disruption - we have two young kids - but we do plan to stay here for a long time so maybe it's worth it?

Any opinions welcome - what would you do with this space?

A side return is very expensive but would be amazing.

If it’s out of reach then knock out all the walls in the kitchen/utility/diner; that’s basically what we have and it’s great. You could also potentially build a small utility/laundry next to the downstairs bathroom

Will a side extension mean you lose the Back door in the double reception? That would make the room very dark.
Personally I think you have plenty of space if you open up walls between diner and kitchen and utility. You could have a galley kitchen with dining table by the patio door. I like the suggestion of moving the utility next downstairs toilet where the boiler is, so you don't have the washing machine in the kitchen

A layout that I have seen on this type of house and really appealed is one where:
•the front living room is retained
•the back living room is reconfigured to provide utility, loo and lots of cupboards in the hallway
•the back has a side return and is a massive open plan kitchen/dining/living

As a cheaper option, you can just open up the back of the house but you’ll have no utility room.

Thanks everyone for your thoughts.

I think we could afford to do the side return but have a few qualms:

We actually quite like the side return space as it is - we have a big shed, space for the washing line and the bins so that's all put of the way and we can enjoy the main garden

It probably would make the back living room very dark. In principle, I like the idea of making it a utility etc but it's a beautiful room with a lovely fireplace and ceiling rose etc and it just feels a bit of a shame to lose that

We may be adding a bathroom upstairs and so may be able to lose the shower downstairs and so could use that slot for the washing machine and drier.

I think I am leaning towards just knocking through - but need to get a kitchen designer round for a look. With the space we have, I am a bit worried that it's too wide for a galley kitchen but too narrow for an island