Kitchen / Diner knock through

[bondbaby]

Just starting to look at having my kitchen knocked through into the rear reception room to create a kitchen/diner space. The house is a traditional 1930's semi with the classic layout of front/back reception rooms and TINY kitchen. I know this is quite a common thing to do so I'm just looking for any advice / do's & dont's about the process and if anyone could give me a ballpark figure of what theirs cost that would be great! Obviously cost will be affected by the quality of the kitchen and we're looking at mid-range Howden's but any recommendations for similar would be appreciated. I've attached a copy of the floor plan - this makes it look as though the two reception rooms are connected but they're not!

Hi op, we knocked through a structural wall (yours might just be a stud wall?). So had to get a huge steel. Paid just over £3k purely for that element. Plastering and decorating was separate.

Think our Howdens curved soft-close kitchen cost about £6k (including larder cupboards and clever pull-outs), £1.5k on appliances (bought online), quartz tops/upstand for c. £3k. Really pleased with it

A few years ago we knocked through and needed huge RSJ. Including new ceiling (lights etc) and new flooring plus decorating it was about £8k ish I think. Have yet to update the kitchen though.

Thanks @RolloTomassi & @Zoozoo101. Those figures aren't wildly different to my initial guesstimates so that's reassuring! Can either of you give me a rough idea of how long the work took? Rollo, did you use Howden's design service? If so, would you recommend?

We sort of did I think? Initially we designed a kitchen using the ikea thing online. We then went to Howden's with the basic layout, and worked together to improve and make it what we wanted. Didn't take long and I have to say Howdens were superb in their customer service and product knowldge. All staff very friendly and easygoing, which no doubt can vary by branch, but from our experience I would definitely recommend. Swear they're not paying me for this 😂

Also to add - allowing for LVT flooring, electrics, plumbing, decorating, the £8k suggestion by PP for the knock-through is probably comparable to ours (assuming yours requires a steel. If not hopefully you'll come in cheaper 🤞)

Oh and the lead time on the kitchen was bob all. They had all the stock ready and were easy on delivery dates. The fitting took a couple of weeks all-in.

The physical knock through (obviously done first) took a couple of days. Decorating/flooring/electrics was more spread out but didn't drag on!

Thanks Rollo, really helpful! The wall is load bearing so will need a steel, apparently the cost of that is going up by the week at the moment . Also contemplating whether to have a chimney breast taken out to give us a wee bit more room but that might be stretching the budget too far! Do you mind me asking where you are? Costs seem to vary quite a lot around the UK, I'm in the NW and contractors all seem very much in demand at the moment so I guess that will also push prices up.

Sure, we're in Leicestershire. Took a few attempts to find a builder who was up for it, once they came out to quote it seemed to be one of those jobs that was neither big nor small enough and they just disappeared! But builder no4 was the charm, and in hindsight all went pretty smoothly. I think it helps if you can be quite clear and simplistic about what you want so the job doesn't seem too faffy, if you see what I mean.

I do think now is a particularly expensive time for materials, and the trades are obviously busy - but actually we got done pretty much on time with no mishaps! Also the weather is turning now so hopefully you'll have less competition from people requiring outdoor work like extensions, driveways, decking etc