Would a five-bedroom house with a small kitchen put buyers off

[Lastgig]

Would you buy a 5 bed house with a 10ft kitchen?
We're trying to sell our house and to date have had no luck. It's a modern house.

We've been quoted silly money to take down a supporting wall between the kitchen and the breakfast room. A new small kitchen would cost us ( due to family contacts) £5k. The wall plus new flooring and moving gas/electrics £25k.
I do need a more accessible kitchen due to my disability but I also need to downsize.

@EnjoythemoneyJane it's supporting.

One friend said you couldn't watch a baby in a highchair which you couldn't.

@Lastgig

Is it also on the books with a local Estate Agent, OP?

They may be able to get interest from specific clients whom they know to be looking for a house of this kind and happy to rebuild the kitchen/breakfast room.

Wouldn’t put me off but I would get the estate agent to amend the details saying the possibility to knock through to create bigger kitchen dinner
and get a quote for knocking it down you can les r out on viewings ( expect an offer to mention and be reduced for this )

The local agent hates the house and we went with a national agent this time.

The local agent wanted me to change the carpets to grey and put in a white handless kitchen. I said show me the buyer and I'll do it between exchange and completion. He had nowt to say in that. He's a well known arse , friend of the stalker

We are looking for a 5 bed house there's nothing more annoying than a house with 5 bedrooms and not enough living space for a big family. A big dining kitchen is one of the things we look for, if this could be achieved by knocking 2 rooms together and is reflected in the price I'd still consider it.

If it's a case of being a 3 storey house with bedrooms over 2 floors and so the size of a 3 bed in terms of footprint/living space I wouldn't consider it. Even worse labelling a downstairs reception room a bedroom, so it's a 3 bed with a tiny fourth and what was the dining room/downstairs office is pretending to be a 5th bedroom! I know it's the estate agent who probably encourages this, but I'm not going to pay 5 bedroom prices for 3 bedrooms and a box!

Could you post the floorplan?

I agree, I think it looks a practical layout and wouldn't put me off from viewing at least.

If you can make the change for much less than a purchaser, I'd do it. The living space needs to match the sleeping space's capacity.

Now the fashion seems to be to have kitchen and dining room separate again-over the last few decades, it was all have everyone in the kitchen cooking and chatting. Sounds nice in theory, but a lot of people hated it in practice, and do like a kithen they can close the door on, and have peace to cook and make a mess the guests don't see! So it wouldn't bother everyone, though some people would still find it a bit small.

No, we've just bought a wreck of a 5 bed house with a 10ft kitchen. But like you it does have a dining room and little utility attached, which we found out floods... ha.

I wouldn't do any work, honestly. Someone will come along and rip it all out anyway so waste of money. Be prepared to accept a slightly lower offer. You'll get someone like us come along and think beyond what they see. I think houses tend to sell best when it's the right area, nice gardens, nice layout and nice and light/uncluttered. The house we've bought doesn't even have a good layout but it has nearly an acre of garden which backs onto fields and lots of wildlife which is our thing.

I recommend an open day. We couldn't sell our house before moving down South again, had an open day and ended up with a bidding war.

I wouldn't start knocking walls down and doing building work if you're not in good health. It's stressful and disruptive even if things go right, it doesn't sound like you need a building project at the moment.

Neither would I spend £5k fitting a kitchen that is sitting in someone elses garage, when there's no way of knowing that it's not going to get ripped out in the knock through that's inevitablly going to be done by the next owner.

What I would do is reduce the price. It's not yet at the price that makes it a viable option, at the right price it will sell. Save yourself the hassle.

I like the layout. I would use the dinning room as an office and the adjoining room as the dinning room. I wouldnt touch it. It will sell.

Your kitchen is quite a similar lay out to ours ... fairly small but sort of open plan to the breakfast room. The floor plan is better than I was expecting from your description.

I think it's fine. I would spend the 5k on improving the kitchen and put something in the house details about how a buyer could knock through to create a big kitchen/diner if they wanted to.

You can't appeal to every possible buyer but some like a separate breakfast/dining room that is also really close to the kitchen.

God no, not grey carpets and a white handless kitchen!!! A new kitchen I hated would put me off more than a knackered one that was reflected in the price. Grey carpets just no.

The kitchen is more than fine, honestly, and having the rooms either side very useful.

Try an open day, it really worked for us. And stay safe..

We walked away from a few 4/5 bed houses that had kitchens no bigger than my 2 bed flat.

I wouldn’t go to the effort to put in a new kitchen though just to sell it.

Floor plan posted up thread.
5 doubles,three ensuite.
Fab house, cheap as chips ( vis a vis the same elsewhere) perhaps too cheap? But I believe if that is the case you get competitive bids.

Yes, I love small kitchens. I hate people being in the kitchen when I’m cooking so small kitchen help to deter people.

I agree with @Aluna

It's a modern house, whatever you spend on it will be wasted money.
Let the buyers decide if they want to knock the wall down. Price it sensibly.

How is the dining room staged? As a study / play room?

It might be that you will get more interest now spring is moving into summer, OP.

My understanding is that people don't pursue plans to move pre-Christmas and in the New Year, but do get out there to look at houses in the spring.

It may stand you in good stead if your garden looks lovely and they can imagine sitting out there with a G & T.

you need to work out if you do the work to make the bigger kitchen will that help the price - or do you reduce the price and not bother with the work.

Seeing your floor plan it’s really easy to open up the kitchen/ diner and still have the utility. I would 100% not replace your kitchen unless you were opening it all up. Your kitchen is lovely. I’d just reflect the layout changes needed in the price.
what’s it on the market for?

It all depends on price if it's priced to reflect the small kitchen and there is space to extend it or combine a kitchen dining room then maybe, although it's still a lot of upheaval.

Wouldn’t have bothered me as I chose to buy a house that needed a new kitchen and adjustments because I’m fussy and wouldn’t want a kitchen you could get on the cheap

I like a small kitchen -keeps cooking smells out of the rest of the house and I can lister undisturbed to podcasts etc, (though now could wear headphones) but I liked being away from tv and family to get on with cooking.
so it’s not impossible someone might want thst

Could you not get a stairlift and stay? If you are disabled I'm sure you can get a grant to have your house adapted, a relative of mine did, they aren't poor by any means and have a nice house, they've had a bedroom moved downstairs and the garage converted into a big accessible bathroom, I think they only paid for extras like fancier tiles etc.