Open plan kitchen/family room help

[Susieblue18]

Does anyone have a picture of an open plan room that’s around 9m x 3.8m. Planning a kitchen at one end, living area at other and dining table in middle (hopefully) but just can’t work out how to lay out the kitchen part. Wall isn’t down yet which doesn’t help. Thanks

This totally depends on your room layout (ie. Where walls, doors and windows are).

We have 3.8 wide and just over 9m but both our thin ends of the rectangle can’t be used for worktops. So it wouldn’t have worked for us to have living.

We are going to have worktop down the entire length on one long side and then a giant table

We’ve just done our extension which is a whisker short of this size. I couldn’t imagine fitting a decent kitchen, dining room and living room into the single space.

You could fit a table in the middle but you’d feel as if you were eating in the kitchen, not a separate dining area (nothing wrong with that but worth mentioning).

We’ve gone for a kitchen, island and dining area in our extension but we knocked through to make it open onto the living room.

As others said you'd need to see doors windows dimensions etc to comment

Assuming it's 9m across width of house and 4m deep
I think your best bet is going to be a kitchen diner layout with "snug" and I'd be very careful with furniture dimensions (go smaller sized)

I used the ikea kitchen planner software to visualise different layouts when I was trying to formulate our plans.

This is the plan, wondering if it will be too squashed now. Kitchen area would extend 3 m into the room

This doesn’t have to be the way the kitchen is layer out, just an idea. Was thinking about tall units along the back wall and an island but not sure if it’s big enough

I think it’s a bit bitty!!
I would get rid of the kitchen sticking into the room, and get rid of the separate dining table. Then have one longer island extending from the kitchen into the dining space, so acting as a kitchen island and a dining table in one. You can change the material of the worktop to wood and make it round etc… in the dining area space.

The dining table isn't in proportion to the sofas on the plan, which may be giving a false impression of how well that layout would work.

Do you have lots of people over for meals? If not incorporating seating around the long worktop would be less cluttered than a separate dining table.

How many people are likely to be sitting in the living area - is there enough seating for everyone?

Is this a forever home or are you likely to sell in a few years? I understood there was a move away from open-plan living/dining/kitchens for numerous reasons which may affect resale.

If you have 9 metres of space, you’re going to need around a third of that for a table (90cm across with a recommended 90cm of clearance either side).

That doesn’t leave much room for a kitchen or a living room.

I honestly think by trying to cram in three rooms, you’re going to end up with three squashed spaces rather than two really stunning, spacious rooms.

We have a similarly proportioned space for our kitchen diner and have it split ~5m for a galley style kitchen, then a small peninsula then ~4m for the dining area. Our kitchen is narrower (more like 3m) then it widens for the dining area. The space feels generously proportioned but not outrageously so, putting 3 rooms into the space would feel very crowded. We have a biggish house though and also have two largish sitting rooms.

Do you have any other sitting rooms? It's difficult to see from your plan but it looks like your sitting room in the room is at the front of your house with the original bay window and there is some kind of additional room at the back - what is that? If this is your sole living space in a small narrow house then yes you can make it work. You've basically got 3m x3.8m for each 'function' which is manageable although with no walls you'll be struggling for storage so you'll need to be very minimal with your possessions. I think keeping the sitting room as a separate room with a wall dividing it will give you a more useable space, particularly if you have a family.

We are 8.2x3.2.
So a fair bit smaller, but less than a meter in each direction in a 5 bed house.
We have an armchair in the space, but no way I'd want a full sofa - in fact we had a 3 seater sofa in here until we could get the window removed to get it into the living room. It could be done, but we blocked the sideboard to do it, so it wasn't a long term solution.
Kitchen similar to your design, but with a door to the utility (will there be a space for washing machines etc or is that going in the kitchen too?) in the short wall of the kitchen.
Then a table usually set up for 4, but can take 8, a sideboard, a Woodburning stove, and an armchair.

If it's a 2 bed house, with a small kitchen desired, you would be able to do it.
If it's a big family home, I'd say each space will be slightly undersized.

At 9m long you can allow 3m for each ‘function’ and the kitchen can overspill very slightly into the dining space, but only by 500mm or so.
your plan of tall units on the rear wall and an island in the kitchen may be your best bet. 3.8m wide is sufficient for an island - 600mm depth for tall units, plus 1m either side leaves you a 1.2m deep island altbough I’d go slightly shallower.

I don't think that layout is bad - but the peninsula looks wide - is the idea that it's a breakfast bar? You won't fit stools there with the dining table there. So I'd narrow that a bit to give dining area more 'breathing room'.
I like the idea of the peninsula though as it does offer a bit of separation.
My own house is 10.8m deep, wider in the middle than yours and that's where the kitchen is with table at the back garden end.
I think you need to be careful about functionality. I agree a separate dining table is essential, but shop for a narrower than normal one. Even 10cm narrower will make a difference.
If it really doesn't all got comfortably, get rid of the peninsula, though that does remove a lot of work surface! Try taping out the measurements on the floor - sofa, chairs, table and dining chairs (think about how much room to pull them out) etc.

Mine has a similar layout. I'll take some photos for you now

This is mine. We think it works well

ooo your kitchen is lovely!

Thanks all, just not sure what to do. For anyone who has a peninsula, how wide is it? I thought it should be wider than a standard 600mm even without stools but not sure? If I did a wall of back tall units and an island there wouldn’t be much worktop area. This is the bigger plan, so we have a separate livingroom.

Your room is lovely. Would you happen to know what size it is or have a plan of the layout? I’ve maybe been thinking it has to be split into 3 sections but maybe could be done a bit differently. Thanks

Think the whole thing is roughly 10.5 x 5m. So a bit bigger than the space you've got to play with. However we found that not splitting it into three segments made better use of the space. And our island doesn't have stools, it's literally cupboards and a sink

@Susieblue18 i would focus on fitting a kitchen you want and a dining table the side you want. With any left over space you can decide what kind of living area you can have. You have a separate lounge already.
Not sure about others but my kids hate watching TV in the kitchen when I am cooking due to the cooking noises eg extractor fan (and I have a quiet one) and opening and closing drawers etc

@mklanch thank you! I took a year to plan it. Really pleased with how it functions

Actually I think you’re right, we should focus on kitchen and dining then plan what seating to put in the other end once we see how it looks. I’m now thinking the kitchen may look a bit boxed in so might go along the back wall and the sink/window wall with either a peninsula or island and not put anything down the other side. Thanks 😊

In my new kitchen being built now my peninsula is 90cm deep without any bar stools as dinning table very close by. Wanted unit wider than usual 60cm as want to serve from it as my dinning table will not be very wide to save on space.

In a 4 bed family house I'd prioritise having a utility room rather than a seating area in my kitchen diner. Nobody is going to want to watch TV or have a conversation in a room with a washing machine and a dishwasher.

Agree. We have 11m x 3.5 and did exactly this as also have a separate lounge like you do. Our kitchen layout is similar to what you have proposed with a wide peninsula and bar stools. We have most meals here, kids sit here and work/do arts etc.

We currently have a small dining table, sofa and some toys because children are younger side and still like to be where I am! As they grow up, there will be a much longer dining table and probably just an armchair as the children are the only ones who play.

We designed it so the kitchen would be everything we want in the long term and the rest is flexible as children grow and needs change