Would only 2 downstairs rooms put you off a 4 bed house?

[StripyFrogs]

Downstairs, we have a kitchen, separate dining room, large living room and downstairs toilet.

We are thinking of knocking through between the kitchen and dining room to make a large kitchen diner and there is a large alcove that we could put a stud wall up to make a utility room.

But then we’d only have 2 main rooms downstairs. The current kitchen has a breakfast bar but isn’t big enough for a table. The living room has a fire right in the middle of the room and I can’t see a way to separate it in to two smaller rooms.

Upstairs we have 3 decent size doubles and a big single which we use as a study. Master bedroom has an en-suite and there is a family bathroom.

Would only 2 downstairs rooms put you off
buying a house? Our DC are young adults so we are past the stage of playroom and friends round.

Our previous house had a kitchen diner which worked really well for us, but we had 2 other rooms downstairs

We aren’t planning on moving for a long time, but I don’t want to make the house unappealing for when we do.

I would!! I am divorcing and looking at houses, large hallways and lack of storage are putting me off

I prefer a larger kitchen/diner to two separate rooms.

Halls are biggish to allow for circulation space. This hall has 5 doors off it plus the stairs! It is not that big! I think it could be better designed though.

I’d slice the kitchen to make it a square with the dining room - use the dining room door to access the new space and the current kitchen entrance into a pantry / utility. Water already close by for the WC and if you position the washer dryer on the back wall along the length can be for runs of extra cupboards / bench for sorting clothes

Yes. That’s what it is for anyone who’s knocked through.

@CoastalCalm That would make perfect sense, but there is a small window directly opposite the kitchen door which is why we need to access the space from the kitchen. The estate agent floor plan is terrible!

My plan is to have the door in the middle with a stacked washer dryer to the left and an extra sink under the window with a wall mounted airer that will sit above the sink/next to the window.

We did that with our last house, and this one.
We now have a kitchen diner across the back of the house. It has kitchen with breakfast bar. L shaped sofa and small dining table. Lounge is big enough for 2 sofas, tv etc. Much better use of space.

@MeetMeOnTheCorner I’ve just been to measure. The hallway is 13 feet 9 wide and 8 foot 5 deep. It does feel lovely and spacious when you walk in, but it is big, poorly laid out and has no storage.

@StripyFrogs Yes it looks poorly laid out because of the stairs. It should be big enough for coat storage but you need fewer doors. Do that and it’s much better - can you reconfigure the stairs?

It would put me off because we have a living room and a study. I prefer to sit and read/craft often and don't want to be in the living room where teens or DH are watching tv. And I don't want to have to sit at the kitchen table. Two downstairs rooms would not be enough for our family.

I'm not keen on open plan, but plenty of people are. I think the best thing always with houses is to adapt them in a way that suits how you like to live and not worry about future sales. It's more important to make life as easy and convenient as possible for yourselves whilst you are there.

Our next door neighbours and those opposite both did similar and they both sold straight away in January this year.

I wouldn't consider that to be truly 'open plan'. You have a separate lounge.
A family kitchen diner is a really lovely space. Dining rooms are quite odd rooms in my opinion (and experience).

We extended and knocked down internal walls to create a big kitchen diner, best thing we ever did I think. There’s a sofa and tv in there, big island for us all to sit round (up to 8 can sit) and then a dining table that can fit 22 around if needed (Christmas!) but have it set up for 8 the rest of the time, we don’t really eat there much though.
And then a separate utility and living room which we only really make the most of in the winter as it has a lovely open fire. Rarely used when not having a fire, the kitchen is truly the heart of our home.
No regrets.

Most people we know with 4 bed houses don’t have a craft room or separate office room. The largest houses do of course but many people we know have a craft/reading garden room. 4 bed houses are not all large!

an eminently sensible plan.
Kitchen diner with family space is what people want these days so the kids remain in sight whilst food is being prepared.
I know of one family who hardly ever use their sitting room as 2/3 of the downstairs is now one huge kitchen, diner, TV and garden viewing room where they spend most of their time