Knocking through kitchen - what would you do with this floor plan..

[FusionChefGeoff]

We looked at this pre Covid then backed out but am seeing the builder again next week so want some advice on what’s reasonable / worth doing.

I definitely want to open up the space somehow so that the table and family space is visible / in ear shot from the kitchen. And I’d love to put a back door in the kitchen. We’ve got a lovely garden and have put a nice big patio in but don’t go out nearly as much as I’d like as it’s such a trek to get through the whole house!

Main problem I’m having is losing 1/4 of the kitchen if we knock through - currently got a tall larder cupboard, breakfast bar and lots of open shelves along that wall.

Not sure I want to completely open up as that will be hard to heat and then literally no where to hide! But if that’s the ‘no brainer’ option then I’ll explore further.

I am very risk averse so something like this terrifies me and I’m not good in chaos so want to keep the ‘project’ as small as possible!!

Any advice or ideas??

If you don’t want to knock through the wall between the kitchen and dining area, could you extend the kitchen at the rear so that it connects to the family room, not all the way but then have patio doors on your kitchen and an internal door to the family room.

Or just say goodbye to the wall between your kitchen and dining room but install partition doors between the dining room and family room so that it’s not so open.

We contemplated a project like this when we moved but didn’t go through with it as we just didn’t want to lose any of the existing rooms. We have no regrets but I imagine when we sell our house in the future someone will revisit the idea.

Could you extend and square off the corner on the top left? Make a large, L shaped kitchen/family room and then if needed, add a pocket door to close off the dining area.

Any supporting walls? We've recently renovated, but an entire derelict house. We knocked through to open the kitchen and diner which had been separate rooms. We also added large bi folds into the garden. Both walls needed steels put in. We have good access either side of the house so they could back up the truck and used a dolly to manoeuvrer the steels in. The house across the road needed them craned over their house! What is your access like as this can add £££ if tricky, but then you might not need steels at all.

create a fire you can see from both sides and then make it so you can walk around either side of it.

Oooh that’s interesting - yes, I suppose we could lose the archway for a single doorway to ‘buy back’ some extra wall space for kitchen.

The really bold move is to take out both kitchen walls (no doubt we’d need some form of supporting column so the house remains standing!) but I’m not sure if that will feel cavernous if you lose the hallway.

I know the obvious thing is to square off the back but I really can’t be arsed with an extension!

Access for steels is a very interesting consideration - I’ll make sure to have that convo with the builder. The dining room and family room is an existing extension so the wall between kitchen and dining room is 100% load bearing.

it does, I think, also have a chimney breast so could look at the fire / log burner idea but might be a bit weird in the middle of the kitchen.

What's with the weird angles on the lounge and utility walls!?

Would it work to:
turn the kitchen into a utility / pantry (? keep the larder cupboard)
turn the RHS (family / dining / utility) into family / dining / kitchen
incorporate some of that waste-of-space hallway into the family area, and
square up those weird walls.

Which way is it oriented? Where is the sun?

Is that a window from your lounge to your hallway?

Is your hallway actually used or is it dead space?

I would square off and enlarge utility (red lines) and knock down blue walls. If hallway is needed then I would invest in good storage there so it is useful and tidy. If not then I would open it to kitchen with new green wall and use the space as a large larder cupboard to mitigate loss of wall space in kitchen.

I agree with this one

House used to stop at living room so curved wall was an exterior wall which now has an internal window.

Hallway is used with large hamster cage and tall boy storage but is a walkway rather than a space. It’s very dark.

No idea on angled utility walls!

Will digest revised floor plan in the morning - brain has just hit capacity.

Thanks so much for the kick start in my thinking this is all really helpful

South facing garden at top of image so family room and kitchen nice and light - dining room and hallway very dingy. There’s a very small porthole style window high on dining room wall.

Move your kitchen into what is now your dining room as that’s already open to the family room and then put huge big glass doors at the end of the family room and along the left side too to maximise light. Your utility would then be next to the kitchen too

This feels like far too much movement - there are no windows on the RHS wall so it would be a very dark kitchen if it was where plumbing already exists in utility. Or would involve sorting taps / dishwasher plumbing etc in family room.

See this is why I backed away first time I find big projects very intimidating

The dining room and family room is an existing extension
Single storey or double storey? If single storey then can you retrofit rooflights to increase the light into the dark centre of the house.

The dining room is double, family room is single and already has double patio doors and a window so is nice and light. Arghhh I’m so conflicted!

I’m very tempted to ask the builder (he’s a family friend so I trust him 100%) to ‘just’ knock the wall down (between dining and kitchen) and put a steel in and the worry about what happens next after we’ve lived in that space for a few months!

I’m very tempted to ask the builder (he’s a family friend so I trust him 100%) to ‘just’ knock the wall down (between dining and kitchen)
I'm glad you said that because I couldn't see a way past this.
New plan is:
-create a huge open plan L-shaped space
-turn the kitchen into a sitting/family space (it's the first thing visitors will see)
-turn dining into kitchen (taking down fireplace-wall will make it lighter)
-turn family into dining
-box off the weird utility (I've called it 'useful') It will be utility, larder, boot room, whatevz.
-create a small hallway for coat, hamster, etc storage
-put a pocket-door on the loo so it doesn't obstruct the sitting room door.

Could also create a french-door on new-sitting, out to the garden.
I know in your first post you said that you weren't sure about opening it up. But it's effectively opened up atm - all the way from the front door, through the hall to the family/dining. My plan puts in a wall, so there is solid draught-blockage (as long as the sitting area door is shut).

I think you might need a door between the stairs and kitchen in case of a fire but that might only be in houses with 3 floors?

OP you have a very nice existing floor plan that I think you could very easily make very fabulous.

Here's my suggestion; knock though current kitchen and dining area to create open plan space then swap locations of current kitchen and family room. You could place sink nicely underneath a window with an island facing bifolds into the garden. You could also have another set of bifold or just floor to ceiling window in the new family room/snug with double internal doors on the opposite wall which will be the entrance into the open plan space.
I've attached a sketch. All the best.