Small kitchen with this layout - how practical?

[Otty13]

Hi everyone,

We've viewed a house that we really like (good location and in our budget) but it has a tiny kitchen with this layout (see picture).

We really like the rest of the house and location but the kitchen is what is making us hesitant.

Has anyone ever had a kitchen with this layout and how practical or unpractical was it? I really like cooking so a bit worried it would be too small.

Do you have the budget to knock down the walk between the kitchen and living room, block up the hall door to the kitchen and have a small u shaped kitchen? Could put shallow depth units on the left side of the kitchen

Or

Knock down all internal walls and have an L shaped kitchen that you walk thru to the living space. May even be room to have a peninsula to separate the kitchen and living space. Lots of flats have this layout

I lived in a small rental flat for a year that had exact similar layout. The only difference was that the hob and sink were in the same line with a very small prep space.
It didn't quite work because we only had one of those small fridges (under the counter) with no proper freezer and no dishwasher.
Would you consider move the layout and open up the walls?

I was originally thinking of opening those two walls but someone flagged that it might not pass building regs to have kitchen open to the stairs. But I guess if we only opened the section of the wall between living room and kitchen and block the kitchen door that could work.

it's a bit of a shame it's not slightly wider to have more space for a proper u shape kitchen.

We'd have the budget for work and changing the kitchen. The kitchen is from the 90s so quite dated. I'm just hoping it would be possible to open at least part of the wall to create a more open plan design.

Check with BC before deciding as it may be you only need a protected fire corridor if you have a 3rd floor, or loft conversion

How many people will be using it? We used to have a kitchen approx 3.5x 2.25m and we struggled for worktop space. So really only one person could cook at once. How does it compare with your kitchen now?

I'm in that size kitchen at the moment while we save for extension. There really isn't enough prep space and I'm afraid to say I cook from scratch a lot less often as I don't enjoy it in such a small space.

Is laundry in there too? It would be too small for us but we are family of 4

If you are going to remodel then you could look to fit washing machine and tumble dryer under the stairs, ideally stacked so there's still room for coats, shoes and vacuum under the rest of the stairs

This was my sisters house many years ago which had the same layout you posted. They made the living room slightly smaller and opened up the kitchen into the hallway. That gave them a much more open kitchen with a dining area.

That’s almost the exact layout and dimensions of our house. Family of four. When we redecorated the kitchen we got an induction hob as it doubled as worktop space when not using it, and have an eye level oven on another wall so not taking up under counter space.

My husband loves to cook, but really only space for one person when using the kitchen. You get used to it I guess and it works for us but if I had the chance I’d love more room. If everything else is right about the house though and it’s what you can afford it’s not the worst compromise. We saw smaller kitchens in our house search!