Would you install a prep kitchen?

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we are looking at refurbishing our kitchen / dining room. One idea we had was to extend out and make a big kitchen diner space that connects better to the rest of the house and makes the most of the light. This would leave us with an awkward space where the existing kitchen is currently. I actually like the kitchen and was wondering if if I could integrate it into the new kitchen as a prep kitchen. It’s popular in the US but does anyone have one in the U.K? would it put you off buying a house?

house is quite upmarket (big Edwardian Villa with big garden) at a price point where prospective purchasers are very picky. I think the thing that lets it down is the small dark kitchen which was designed for Servants 100 years ago but now with modern family life is where we spend all of our time!

I would have a pantry and a laundry room with pulleys on the ceiling.

I agree. I’d have a big pantry over a prep kitchen any day.

Me too. I love a pantry. We went with a laundry room for our one bit of extra space, but if I were blessed with unlimited space (and unlimited funds!) I’d love a stylish pantry with lots of labelled jars, and ten kinds of herbal tea.

I have a Edwardian house too (smaller and less grand than OP’s I reckon) We also struggled with a smallish kitchen so moved it to a bigger space. Anyway we haven’t had enough cash to convert the old kitchen into a super duper posh laundry room as I would love - so it’s stayed as a second kitchen/utility room (a bit like Augend’s parents) with the washing machine and tumble dryer in it.

The second fridge in there we use all the time for all the cans of soft drinks etc and it’s really useful for overspill if there’s a party. The butler sink in there is good for flowers/messy jobs as well as hand washing laundry. We only use the second dishwasher if we have more than a couple of guests over but it’s a godsend then, the second oven we have only ever used at Christmas, and the second hob we only needed when I cracked the induction hob in the main kitchen.

Anyway it’s made me think that whenever/if ever we have enough money to do it properly I’ll ditch the oven and hob but keep the dishwasher and fridge. And it’s useful to have some work surfaces to dump ugly stuff on and cupboards to hide ugly stuff in. A drying cupboard would be dreamy so without budget limitations I’d stick that in too.

Just read you already have an annex with a kitchen so it us already a non-cash buyers nightmare 😂Are you holiday letting the annex or is it more clearly for a nanny/housekeeper? If you are not letting the annex, I would integrate it into the main house, take out the annex kitchen, turn the annex kitchen into a clean laundry/housekeepers cupboard, and have a bootroom off a seperate scullery/pantry next to your kitchen diner. I think that would be the most desirable use of space and would create no trouble with lenders (even rich people still depend on mortgages, even if it is just for the school fees or renovations).

I don't see the point of a prep kitchen.

Just bear in mind that the cloakroom night need to be bigger than you think. Mine is 9'6" by 6'6" (so probably your space once you've divided it and put a wall in between) and fair enough it's got a double buggy in it, but it doesn't feel very spacious and there's not the room I hoped to have all shoes properly accessible so most are in a big box etc. And mine is just storage, no sink or anything.

A pantry would be much more useful to me than a prep kitchen.