How to fix this layout!

[TemporaryName123]

Hello! We viewed a house recently and really like it. However the big problem is the kitchen…it’s just too small to be a proper kitchen dining living space, which is a big ‘want’, probably the biggest! Right now it’s just a kitchen diner. The area marked ‘utility’ is really just a kind of passageway to the outside, with a washing machine in it. The utility is looked into by the kitchen window (the utility and three bedrooms beyond were a further extension to the already extended kitchen). Obvious solution is to just extend the kitchen properly to incorporate the existing utility room space….but then you are down a utility room. Other idea was to make the back three bedrooms the kitchen and the current kitchen a master….but then that’s a long walk from front door to kitchen at back of house…I want to make this work but feel I’m missing a golden ticket solution…we do NOT need 5 bedrooms (though would be nice) but DO want a separate utility, and to maintain 2 bathrooms of some kind…help!

I think my bug bear with these layouts is the living and kitchen being in between the living areas. I think if you can get the living area either at the front or the back of the house and then have the bedrooms in the other area that would work much better. Not sure where to start re layout change though. What direction does the back face?

Totally agree. I think because the house have been extended twice in its time, it’s landed with this layout…its a north west garden (but oddly gets good sun!).

To be fair my thinking is that the 3 bedrooms at the back would be for us. Then the rest of the front would remain as ‘non bedrooms’ (aside from one guest room which would be rarely used). The office would stay the office and the small living room would be playroom.

Make the bedroom next to the kitchen the dining area and knock through. Get rid of the doorway next to utility and rotate around the L shaped units.

I can't wrap my head around the rest of it to see if you could make the utility area bigger by stealing a bit of the kitchen.

Not sure why having the kitchen a long walk from the front door is an issue?

its a long house 🙈! If kitchen is the main living area where you spend 80% of time, I just feel having walk through past all the bedrooms etc; bringing shopping in, bins out etc…just would prefer it closer to front door. Probably personal preference rather than real issue. Interesting suggestion RE dining area, thank you!

Extend the kitchen to the left - nobody will walk round anyway and walk through the kitchen

Make the rear hallway a utility

agree with making dining room kitchen / dining room / living room arrangement

Incorporate the kitchen, bedroom/study and living room into a kitchen/diner, and make the remaining remaining bedroom/hall/living room at that end into a big living room.

Wow some really, really good ideas here!!! Genuinely sitting here now feeling really excited!!

Meant to add

I love love love this idea. However…right now in our existing house we have to walk through kitchen to get to living room…and it’s a major bug bear - going through one room to get to another! So I think as much as I do love this idea, the kitchen becoming a walkway just doesn’t feel right. If that hot press wasn’t where it was I feel like it could be v simple:

I’d split the living room into an en-suite/guest room for the bedroom study and a utility/boot room. Then take out bedroom next to living room and current utility to make one big space in the centre of the house for your open plan kitchen/diner/living.

Sorry, take out the bedroom next to the lounge (so many places to sit!!)

So long bank of integrated cupboards and appliances along the back wall (what would have been hotpress and a bit of rear hallway), smaller but actually functional utility room…then a small living area and dining area. But it’s the boiler being in the HP is the problem!

Thanks @Shouldbehoovering ! The breaking up the lounge is something I hadn’t even thought of, v interesting idea! If we took out bedroom next to utility to make it a bigger space, would be not lose the family bathroom too?

Like so

One day I’ll manage it….

I would knock through from the kitchen into the bedroom next to it and then also into the lounge, to create one big open kitchen/dining/lounge room.

Overwhelmingly sound like the spare bedroom between kitchen and lounge needs to be axed 🤣

Why not have the tilt facing the hallway out of the kitchen and built in - like giant wardrobe doors - in green leaving the rest to be a kitchen?

Oooohhhh…..now this is LOVE! Such a clever idea…like a long, concealed utility wall?

If you have the kitchen at the back could you have a side or back entrance into it?

It looks like all the current plumbing is around the centre of the house. It can get expensive to extend plumbing into a whole new area, so consider that. I like the idea of a central big living kitchen area, even if people do walk through it.

Utility wall but with a second door into the kitchen to directly access the garden door.
Knock through to bedroom next to lounge to create dining area.

I'd make a big kitchen diner with bifolds in the left hand bedrooms .

Green utility wall
Red new door
Yellow knock through