Hi you're right the walkway arrangement is a problem. Would've been better if house had been built with a back door instead of at side. Blocking door up sounds expensive?

I'll admit I don't actually know as I'm getting a quote for doing that and lots of other building work at the same time. I'm blocking the back door up and changing a window to french doors.
After getting a bit stuck on my kitchen design I found a visit to a showroom and a home visit from the planner really helpful.

That sounds interesting. My daughter has just bought a new build and her kitchen is at front of house with living area along the back with big French doors to garden so no back or side door. Are you having to move the boiler? I've had a good few kitchen planners round but not found anything I'm completely happy with as yet.

Maybe remove part of the wall and keep the basic unit layout but with a semi open plan layout. That way you still can't see the washing up from the diner, but you can see over the worktop and talk to family / guests while cooking.

My boiler is in the kitchen but not against the wall I'm removing so the plan is to disguise it in a larder style cupboard and keep it where it is.

I'm not sure that removing the wall will give you any extra cupboard & worktop space as there aren't making other full walls to put units against. The only possibility would be an island but I'm not sure the space is big enough plus you wouldn't have much room for a table. Blocking up the side door seems a good option if it's feasible to use patio doors instead for outdoor access.

I agree with the above that knocking into one room will not necessarily give you extra cupboard space. If you did knock through which would look good then you could extend the kitchen units in the dining area or you could have a dresser/cupboards in the dining area for crockery etc. I would look to loose the doors to the garden from the kitchen.

Many thanks to everyone who has taken the time to reply here- really useful comments. Plenty to think about thanks again.

At Broadway Kitchen we would suggest that you do knock the wall out to give you one big kitchen/diner as this gives a really practical space. We would also try to hide the boiler behind the kitchen units so that you wouldn't even know it was there. To be fair that is easy for us to do as we manufacture all our own kitchens so can make them to what every size we want to fit any space we want.

I'd lose the side door and put in doors from the dining room to the garden. Knocking through will actually give you less cupboard space as you currently have a whole wall for base + wall units. If you knock through, you'll prolly have an island losing all the wall cabinet storage. You'd then need to spill the kitchen into the dining room changing it into an eat-in kitchen rather than preserving a more formal dining room. All boils down to personal preference and lifestyle.