need suggestions extension / conversion

[shari87]

we have bought this house and I want to make open plan kitchen living. please advise will it be good idea and also if I convert half of garage in utility room is it a good decision. my garden is not big enough to extend house but I was wondering if we could extend double storey
please pour in your suggestions many thanks xx

Would be useful to know the dimensions of the rooms.

I personally loathe joint kitchen/living rooms but that's just me. If all the rooms are very small, I can see why you might want to knock them through.

hey thanks for the reply
Sitting family room 12' 1" x 15' 3" (3.68m x 4.65m)
Breakfast kitchen 19' 11" x 8' 4" (6.07m x 2.54m)
Lounge 19' 6" (into bay) x 10' 10" (5.94m (into bay) x 3.3m)
Dining room 10' 9" x 8' 10" (3.28m x 2.69m)
Conservatory 10' 10" x 8' 0" (3.3m x 2.44m)

Extensions are really expensive nowadays. It is probably cheaper to buy a bigger house.

How open plan are you thinking and why do you want open plan? I am not sure the current layout lends itself to a good open plan layout unless you move the kitchen or convert the garage fully to a living room.

thanks for the reply.
I feel sometime that kitchen is isolated I don't even heard what's happening in the rest of the house sometimes.thats why I was thinking of knocking the wall down and join the sitting room with it and make a kitchen with big island. but again not sure the practicality of an open plan vs a separate room kitchen and also convert half of the garage in the utility is it a good idea is it worth it?

Do you have a family? If so, how old are your DCs?
We had an extension done 5 years ago and I’m really pleased with the layout but it’s not too open plan - and that’s a good thing. At the time, my DCs were early teens and we wanted an area for them to hang out with their friends and a separate lounge where we could sit and watch telly in peace.
It’s worked really well. Their friends all pop by, they play board games, video games, have parties, host food for friends- it’s been a really social house and I’ve loved that. I’ve got to know their friends well. But I can also disappear into the adults lounge and let them get on with it!!
But of course, we’re social too and do Sunday lunch, Xmas, nights in etc

Have a think about what you want it to be used for in the future and plan the layout around that.

Personally, I would move the kitchen to the dining area. I’d knock down the conservatory to extend the kitchen (with lantern lights and doors onto a central patio, with a barbecue). It could have a dining table and chairs, and keep the current lounge as the main social area, with sofas, telly etc.
And I’d make your current kitchen the lounge haven area. Maybe the sitting room could be a study

I would just knock the kitchen and sitting room together, it will zone really easily then.

Utility room, put it in the garage or the WC looks large enough to stack a couple of machines?

I'm not sure your dimensions are correct OP.
How can the Sitting room be 12'1 x 15'3 if the dining room is 10'9 x 8'10 and the lounge 10'10 wide?

Utility in garage works if you don't need the storage space and have plumping and drainage accessible to it.