Floorplan reconfiguration - help!

[NewNameForMoving]

I want to reconfigure downstairs in this house to have a kitchen/diner and a downstairs WC.

The easiest place to put the WC is presumably directly beneath the upstairs WC but that would encompass the window in the current kitchen which seems a shame as the view out of that window is lovely!

I would want to build a solid wall between the lounge and the current dining room to have the lounge completely separate.

In my ideal world I would put the WC and a basin in the current utility room. Remove all the kitchen fittings and keep that room as an office, then put a kitchen into the dining room to create a kitchen diner but I've a feeling that people who understand how these things work might see good reason for doing it differently.

Any thoughts much appreciated!

Can the downstairs toilet go in the cupboard under the stairs? It should be near enough the existing downpipe and you could steal that little alcove from the kitchen to make it a little bigger. It's much nicer to have a toilet off a hallway rather than off a room.

Yes I agree. I had wondered whether it would be possible to put the toilet in the back of the utility room behind another door but I'd assume that's just a real pain to plumb in not being near the downpipe.

Thanks for replying!

Is it detached or semi or terraced?

And do you know where the drains are on the outside if the building? I am guessing along the right hand side?

It's semi.

There are pipes down the RH side so I'm guessing that's where the drains are. This is a house I'm looking to buy but in order to do so I need to be sure it's possible and reasonable to put a downstairs toilet in.

Moving the kitchen to the left hand side will be expensive and tricky as the drainage is all the other side of the house, so you would probably have to dig a channel of flooring up across the whole house and possibly dig up the existing external drain and lower it to get enough drop on the drainage to prevent blockages.

You could put a loo in the utility but you would need to dig up the sun room floor to put a drain in.

I think the only practical place for a loo is the under the stairs cupboard?

We have the same layout and put our downstairs toilet easily under the stairs, taking some space from the kitchen.

Thank you. This is what I wondered!

So the practical approach would be loo under the stairs and I will have to see if the dining room and kitchen can be knocked into one rather than relocating the kitchen. It'll be a bigger kitchen/diner than we need but could work.

Thanks. This seems the best solution

We also have a kitchen diner but have extended to the back, where your utility and sunroom are.

@NewNameForMoving I would not take any more space out of the existing kitchen. It’s small - I think. I’d get rid the doors out of the sunroom (or get rid of the sunroom!) and build a kitchen encompassing the space of the sun room and extend back along the side of the house. Your entrance to a cloakroom would be off the hall and I’d move the utility room to there too. Then you have the new kitchen and dining area opening out to the garden. The sun room seems to open back to the street, not to the garden. That’s a bit odd. A small loo under the stairs and a small kitchen aren’t that great when you have three reception spaces.

I agree with putting the loo in the understairs cupboard plus a little stolen from kitchen if need be.

Also agree with knocking through kitchen and dining room - especially if the current kitchen window has a nice view, would be nice to have that from your kitchen. Then close off lounge to make separate.

I wouldn’t worry too much about having to run plumbing into the dining room. That’s much less of a job than trying to move a loo as soil pipes are a pain.

Thanks everyone!