Making downstairs open plan - what would you do

[worriedhousemover]

Hi All,

I am looking to make my downstairs open plan. I would like the kitchen, dining and living room to be all open. I have toyed with going big bang 8-3m extension across the entire back and opening it up that way, converting the existing lounge into a playroom. Or I could utilise the wasted space in the hall and knock a few walls down to create an L shaped area - what do you think?

I would prefer the keep the utility room if possible.

Thanks

Think I'd be tempted to square the ground floor off and then have kitchen/ utility at left hand side. Dining table and a large window and/bi-folds. With a casual seating at r/hand side. So you can look straight down hall to the garden and don't get bogged down with viewing kitchen detritus.

Cupboards in hall / reading/ music nook with sudden door into loo?

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Make down stairs loo part of but separate of the utility ( where you've not it now is odd.

Be careful not to devalue your house. Most people prefer at least one closable room to escape to/that's cosier and easier to heat.

I would do the kitchen and diner but keep the other two rooms separate.

I have an open pla. Down stairs and I hate it! It’s not cosy expensive to keep warm an now my kids are getting older I only have my room of they hav friends round and access to the tv

I agree with you , I do have a separate kitchen but the front and dinning room and stairs are open plan and it's a absolute bugger to heat .
Half way up the stairs is the warmest spot !
Also decorating is more of a headache, Do you do it all the same colour / flooring ( or as it's original separate rooms

You already have lots of space, how will it be better open plan? Serious question. To me it just sounds cold, draughty, noisy, with cooking smells all over the house and lacking walls to push furniture against!

I’d do as you’ve suggested. Keep the lounge as is (use as playroom as you suggest) but have the kitchen, dining room and living room together as open plan.

I'd keep the wall to the smaller lounge so you can use it to as a playroom if you have children, or a snug/TV room if they're older.

We considered knocking our kitchen and dining room areas together but practically we can't as it's a very old house and the beams are in the wrong places. But we're so glad about that now. At Christmas for instance, the kitchen was full of pots and pans and steam dein the Christmas pudding and we could shut the door on it while we enjoyed our dinner, and later play games without looking at it!

I know a lot of people are questioning why but in our last house we had it all open plan and much preferred it. The kitchen, living room and playroom were all connected with no doors so you could see the kids all the time. There is already a completely separate lounge so if you need to go somewhere closed off you can do.

We have kept our living room as a separate room but the rest is open.
what was a surprise for us was the additional cost to make it all fire proof. The fire doors were a fortune but part of the building regs so non negotiable. (We also built an extension).

we had to have a fire door on the kitchen.