Kitchen/Diner layout help!

[TheAngryCarrot]

We’re buying a Victorian terraced house with a tiny kitchen and good sized separate dining room. We’re hoping to turn the kitchen into a utility room, and the dining room into a kitchen/diner, but struggling to agree on a layout. My other half wants to keep the fireplace and wants an island, but that seem…. Impossible? I think we should remove the chimney breast (gasp!) for cabinet space and have a peninsula. Is there a middle ground? How/where would you arrange a kitchen/diner in this dining room?

There is a middle ground, we found it. Our laundry is upstairs, so no need for downstairs utility. And else opted not yo go through to the lounge as it restricts the dining space.

But we have something like the attached. I can share pics if you want.

We moved the back door to the back window in the dining room, so no passing through the kitchen to get outside. We wrapped the cupboards around from kitchen to dining space, like a peninsula.

Ps, I took the liberty of shortening your hall and getting rid of the dining room door too.

I like the suggestion above. Islands don't really work in small rooms as you need two walkways around.

Could you consider a peninsula kitchen? Maybe with an extra chair and coffee table by the fireplace or a breakfast larder there? Depends a bit where you want your sink, but you don't really need loads of cupboards, especially if you have a bit utility. Also definitely look at venting hobs for gaining an extra cupboard!

@Seaside3 that's perfect and a good usable space

@Mintyt it tool me 3 years of living in our house, going backwards and forwards with designs to come up with it. Now I think it's perfect for us.

I think I’d do something along these lines. I’d definitely try to keep the fireplace if it’s original as these small details make a massive difference to the finished room.

Some pics of how fab a fireplace can look in a kitchen

Thank you so much for the suggestions! I’m afraid we really want to keep the door to the living room, as it’s a lovely feature (see photo) and means we can keep an eye on the little ones playing. The fire surround is, I think, original, but not the fire itself, so I’m torn. The other constraint is we need to keep the bit at the top of the stairs free, as there will be a door there, but we could squeeze a loo at the end of the utility? Getting rid of the wall between the dining room and the stairs may be a bit too structural for us, but we could maybe fill in the existing door for counter space. Aaaargh!

I think you could definitely still do it, I’ve amended the plan. You’d have a bit less counter space but I think it still looks pretty generous and you could definitely fit an island in. I’d have a big corner pantry for storage and a fridge freezer over by the table. You’d also get good storage in the utility room. Looking at the fireplace and because you’ve got the 2 rooms running together (is the one in the front of the lounge the same) I’d definitely try and keep it.

I probably wouldn’t remove the wall between the dining and stairs as I think it’s nice to have a separate entrance to the loo, it would make the kitchen colder and I don’t really think you need to.

What I’d suggest though is taking the dimensions of your room and some pics to a few places and getting them to do a good plan for you with/ without chimney breast. There’s someone recommended on here- Karen at one plan? But I’ve also heard good things about ikea’s design service and had good experience myself from Wickes. You don’t have to commit for them to do the work for them to do the plan.

On the example plan I gave I think you could also definitely manage without the island and just have a table in the middle of the room. Our last house had that and it was lovely and much more practical for parties etc. Or you could get a nice island which you can wheel out of the way.