Help! No kitchen window! How to add value

[Sweett00th]

I’ve seen a three bed property come up which has dropped in price. Whilst the kitchen has small skylight there is no window! I’m not much of a DIY expert but is there a way to improve this so more light wuthout spending so much! My one thought is knock down kitchen wall so opens into dining room/living room? I want to keep third bedroom.

Attached floor plan

The second house is much better. You could always replace the shower with a Japanese tub bath.

Removing a stud/plasterboard wall is relatively easy. A messy/dusty diy job but not too involved.

If its a brick wall it means builders in etc. And a v big and costly job.

Your drawing doesn’t show if the kitchen wall joins another house or not. If not then perhaps tou could have a window put in above the sink? A job for builders but not as involved as removing an internal structural wall.

If its just light you want then look at LED light up panels?

As others have written - downstairs bathroom is a pain.

All the best.

Not that helpful but we once had a kitchen where you had to turn on the lights to use it even in the morning. It was pretty depressing.. We ended up doing a big extension and knocking down walls to get light in.

I would personally look at another house.

That’s everyone, I don’t think I could have bathroom opening into dining room/living area. I think I’ll keep looking

*Thanks

I would def increase your budget and get the best house you can afford. For your full budget it looks like there are plenty of options with few compromises and lovely big, bright living areas, kitchens and upstairs bathrooms.

For me the central heating boiler in the bedroom is the real now no. Isn't that illegal these days ?

I would either buy it and save like crazy for a few years, do a double height extension and move the bathroom upstairs or keep looking...that's an awful layout!

@HotGlueGun

Totally missing the point of the thread but... the bins out front. Is this where they have to live permanently? Do you have access to the back garden other than through your house?

Bins at the front is normal in terraced housing. My bins are at the front, as are all my neighbours’. There’s no access to the rear garden except through the house.

Add more skylights. Cost a couple of thousand.

Don't knock down the wall to the living room - apart from the fact that you'd only have one room downstairs, that is almost certainly a load-bearing wall and will need a bloody great steel, structural engineer to calculate the required size and building approval.

@titchy

Add more skylights. Cost a couple of thousand.

Don't knock down the wall to the living room - apart from the fact that you'd only have one room downstairs, that is almost certainly a load-bearing wall and will need a bloody great steel, structural engineer to calculate the required size and building approval.

As well as getting building regs sign off as fire risk with opening onto stairs so may need expensive misting system and wired in alarms.

Good idea to move on from it, the layout is a disaster (kitchen, location of bathroom, lighting situation downstairs, lack of upstairs bathroom)

I agree with the pp if you have a larger budget, use it for the 'perfect' house - you wont regret it once you are living there :)

Bins at the front is normal in terraced housing.

Not in nicer areas. People do drag their bins through the house or at least make an enclosure at the front.

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-96893624.html

What about this one? Really close to stations and amenities too.

Kitchen is so small in that one but very close to station. I love to cook so would struggle with this one

That's really a 2 bed house that someone's tried to make unto a 3 bed by slapping the bathroom in the kitchen. I thought you needed two doors between a kitchen and bathroom? The bathroom should be upstairs but it will use a bedroom.

Kitchen is so small in that one but very close to station. I love to cook so would struggle with this one.

I think it would be easy to knock through the wall and make it a great kitchen with a lovely island. A bit more money to achieve that though. Who knows if they might take an offer as a lot of people might be out of by the kitchen situation. But it’s a lot of house for the money anyway.

@JoJoSM2

Bins at the front is normal in terraced housing.

Not in nicer areas. People do drag their bins through the house or at least make an enclosure at the front.

I am in a very, very nice area with £1+million houses. They are terraces. Bins are at the front. There’s nowhere else to put them. No-one would drag them through the house. A wheelie bin might eve be too big to get through the door -not that I’ve tried.

Some first time buyers I know nearly bought a house with a downstairs bathroom. They are really hard to sell. Google it. I didn't realise they downvalue houses because of this.

@daisypond

I do wonder where you are. I really haven’t seen bins sitting at the front in 1M areas.
Not that dragging bins through the house isn’t gross.

This bins chat is bizarre. Most townhouses in Chelsea are bins out the front—if you’re around at night on certain days you’ll see maids out with them!

I would say that the wall you're suggesting you'd like to knock down will be a sporting wall. If you knock it down, you'll need an RSJ to hold up the floor above. It's expensive, though not prohibitively so.

What is either side of the side walls of the kitchen? And what is outside at the back? Could you move the bathroom to the wall next to the living room, and have the kitchen at the back with a window to the outside?