Kitchen at front or back?

[Scandikitchen]

We’re looking at a house that needs much more renovations that we’d ideally like to do. The kitchen needs to be completely redone and I started thinking about moving it completely. I’m originally Swedish and have been used to other styles of houses, but living here for 25 years have made me more British it seems when it comes to house planning!

Swedish houses normally have the kitchen at the front, near the entrance, and then the lounge would be at the back, towards the garden. Often with two doors, one from the hallway, one to the lounge. Privacy in the evening, nice to see the garden, easy access to the kitchen with shopping bags etc.

UK houses often have the kitchen at the back. So I’ve always thought the Swedish way is more practical but now that we’ve potentially looking at redoing it I’ve started wondering if there’s anything I’m missing. If anyone has any ideas or input about why it’s better to have the kitchen at the back it’d be great to hear (or more reasons why it’s better to have it near the entrance). I know it is more unusual to have it at the front but resale value isn’t that relevant, planning on living there for a long time. (On current street there’s actually a house that’s redone it and I think it looks really nice when I walk past :-) )

I’ve added a pic to explain, left one English, right one Swedish (random pictures). So the kitchen would either be in the ‘L’ but probably with an island so would have some of the ‘back room’ as well as a kitchen. Or it’d be at the front with a wider lounge towards the garden. It would all be open plan.

Thanks to anyone who has any thoughts :-)

I've lived with both and like both. We have a sofa in our kitchen diner (the kitchen is in the middle of the house in our current house, and often sit there and like the view of the garden.

Both my kitchen and living room, stretch from the front of the house to the back - according to previous posters, you could say I have the best/worst of both worlds. I can honestly say I'm not bothered by people possibly seeing me in my PJs, although I have privacy film in the front windows, so I doubt they can actually see much.

If your garden is east/south then yes I think kitchen at back of house (if you plan to spend a lot of time in there) and then lounge at front for relaxing late afternoon/evening and getting west facing sun.

I'm not sure it matters? Maybe factor in when the sun gets the back or front of the house?

My kitchen is at the back of the house - think that is most traditional really - but my sibling has lived in their new-build house for 6 years and it has the kitchen at the front. So long as you have a flow between the spaces I don't think it matters? Though sibling's is much more open plan than mine is. I'm happy with a little bit of separation.

My house has both kitchen and living room at the front, each on either side of the front door. I've never see a house like it, though it's not unusual in any other way. The house is on rising ground with a fence that gives complete privacy to the front garden. One of the kitchen windows is a corner one, overlooking the drive with a view down the hill and neighbours' trees, and part of the street, a very quiet suburban one.

Passers-by sometimes do glance up as they pass, as the window is where I food prep and cook. The house was built by its owner and the back has a family room and deck and used to have cubby-house in the back garden, so the children weren't supervised in that sense. This would have been in the mid-80s, a very quiet suburban Melbourne so possibly a different parenting style.

I like it, but I think it's because of being able to step out into the front garden, one I use the most.

I love my home but if i ever had to rebuild it i would move the kitchen to the front for exactly the reasons in your op OP. My neighbours did some work on their property years ago and moved their kitchen to the front though and i don't like it. It seems weird to me to seem them at the sink, it somehow seems private, so i would put up shutters.

I was thinking that.

Nearly all my friends and acquaintances who live or have lived in new builds that have been built since 2010 have had the kitchen at the front.

The exceptions are those whose new build house was one of a handful of properties that was build amongst existing properties, then the kitchen is at the back like the rest of the properties on the street. I presume that is due to drainage/sewage.

DS moved into a new build recently with the kitchen at the back

Follow up question if anyone with some experience of this or any architect might see this... We didn't get the house we were looking at but are now thinking of another one. The kitchen is the issue, it's small and not what we want. We'd need to knock down a wall to make a bigger kitchen diner if so, but we're not sure how much work that would be. This wall is bearing and there is also a big radiator on it. So it must be a lot of work, but is it overwhelmingly much..? Any thoughts much appreciated...

(I could add that outside the kitchen and the dining area there's an extension with a stud wall betweeen a laundry area and a loo on the kitchen side, outside the dining area it's just an extension of the dining area.)

Thank you so much for anyone who has any experience or knowledge to share :-)

Two main reasons why I like the kitchen at the back -

Washing machine is in the kitchen and we hang out the washing in the summer so this is easier

If we are entertaining in the garden or just eating outside in the summer, it's easier

My very British house's layout is almost exactly like your "Swedish" layout. 😁

I personally love to have the living room at the back with views and access to the garden. But I do think the modern fashion for a huge kitchen/family room at the back is a bit different from just "kitchen at the back" - it sort of IS a living room at the back, but just under another name. I would be wary of a house where the only back access was LR though, just for cleanliness - I find so much muck comes in on feet from the back garden - mud, leaves etc. I wouldn't want to be having to deal with that on a LR floor, much easier on a tiled kitchen, utility or porch of some kind. My ideal would be to have french doors or similar to a LR with a second back door going into the more functional parts of the house.

Imo, I think it's best to always have the kitchen round the back. Just for resale purposes. I think most buyers like a traditional layout. It also depends on the size of your kitchen. If it's a small kitchen purely for cooking but no seating area or way to spend in it other than to cook, i think it would work in the front. If it's a kitchen-diner i think it's nice to face the garden if you have decent views. good luck

I have the kitchen and living room at the back (some people with the same house style have knocked it through so it's one room). I like having it at the back because I have young children and can see them playing in the garden. I also like looking out at the garden when they're not there! But we don't have any space at the front of the house, so if the kitchen was there I'd just be staring absent mindedly at people passing, which they might find a bit bizarre.

Probably for me it depends on the whole house layout, and what's key is that the kitchen isn't isolated but part of/ right by the main living space.

Thank you very much for the additional thoughts :-) I'm still on the fence with my thinking!