Open plan kitchen/dining/living layout dilemma

7 years ago

We are thinking of completely reconfiguring the downstairs layout. The current layout is terrible mainly because the location of the kitchen - it is in the middle of a long narrow house with no windows which means it is very dark. And it is too small for a family size kitchen. Ideally we would like to have a brighter and bigger kitchen open out to a dining area, a family living area with sofa/TV etc and a play area. Any suggestions on how to best achieve it?

One idea we have in mind at the moment is to knock through current dining room and kitchen and then switch their positions. So starting from the front of the house, it will be kitchen, open out to dining area followed by a play area and then living area open out to the garden. The new dining area (current kitchen) may still feel too cramped given its width so maybe we should dismantle the wall incorporating the corridor so that apart from the new kitchen at the front, make everything open plan??

We are really scratching our head and could not make up our mind at all. So any comments or new ideas will be very much appreciated!!!

Featured Answer

Tryphic

7 years ago

I would seriously consider looking at hiring an architect for this. It could be a very expensive mistake if you knock down walls unnecessarily! Given that you are effectively clearing the whole ground floor, it may well be worth your while to get a professional to advise.

Sort by:Oldest

Comments (8)

Sunny Day
Original Author
7 years ago
Thanks Tryphic. This is a modern house built a few years ago so all the partition walls downstairs are non-structural walls.

Another friend suggests keep the dining room as a separate TV/snug area and then open up the rest as a big kitchen diner play area. That may involve moving the kitchen to the current reception room though.
Related Discussions
Need help with open plan kitche/living/dining layout...
Q
Comments (76)
Hi jonathandb1972, yes our architect suggested and prefers accessing the ensuite via the changing room too, but I'm not convinced. It will reduce usable wall space in the changing room and walking through one room to get to another just feels wrong (if you know what I mean!).
...See More
Need help with designing kitchen/dining/living room open living plan
Q
Comments (10)
Thank you for your response. We had plans pretty finalised until we found out that we can keep just that long wall into the large space as it is a load-bearing. There is an opportunity to put a door in though. I am attaching what it looked like with all the walls that we can now remove. We have also been tinkering with ideas which I am adding as well. I added some comments on the plans as well. What we want to have is a dining area with a large table that seats 8-10 people. We want enough space for two people to work and cook in the kitchen. Thus, we were thinking of an island or an L-shape workspace coming out. We'd like to have a utility room to have space for all the cleaning utensils. Washer and Dryer will be upstairs in a separate laundry room. The living room is nothing formal but an area to relax and watch TV. We'd like to have an L-shaped cough in there for a family of four (2 kids under the age of 10).
...See More
Open plan living / dining / kitchen layout - advice please
Q
Comments (3)
Hello Karen, WOW what a fantastic project and this open plan space looks incredible. I feel the positioning of the living area and dining area works well and makes complete sense from what you have said about the views etc. My concern is the kitchen as I feel the current position/layout is a bit of an obstruction and to me the space does not flow efficiently and effectively. I would switch the island around so it sits the opposite way and then you could potentially have your hob on the island which will sit in front of the tall units where your ovens and fridge will be. This way the kitchen layout will work a lot better. I have attached a quick sketch below so you can see what I mean. Also this way it will give you more room around your dining table meaning the whole space will flow a lot better. You have asked quite a few questions here so I would be more than happy to discuss all of this through an online video design consultation. I provide a personalised design service by working closely with my clients to create a space that reflects their personalities and way of living. I would love to talk in more detail with you about this exciting project, so please do get in touch and we can look at ways to see how I can help to create your dream space. Regards, Hannah
...See More
Open Plan Kitchen/Living/Dining Design Dilemma
Q
Comments (7)
Oval dining tables are able to seat everyone comfortably and a good choice. Not so easy to come by however! Maybe a glass top table would add a bit of sparkle/bounce light around the area? If you have kids an oval or round extending to oval best. My dining table is oval with extra leaf added to round top and I keep it as extended. Might be easier to find round to oval than just looking for fixed oval top? Choose a sofa with neutral but washable loose covers (ie machine wash) and add colourful cushions to make a statement. As your wood in new kitchen is dark and warm tones, follow the warm tones with dining table/chair/sofa legs in dark wood.
...See More
s14ladj
7 years ago
When we bought our house a very large extension was converted into kitchen diner and a family space opening out to the garden. Lovely as it is, you need to be aware that you are exposed to kitchen smells and sounds in such a place. I think you should convert your current kitchen into a sort of laundry room/larder/working kitchen and keep the noisy appliances there: washer/dryer, dishwasher, large sink, a large oven for the family roasts and maybe even an extra fridge. Use every available space for appliances and storage. When entertaining a crowd or running the appliances, by closing the door (sliding door would allow more space) you stop the noise and smells form invading the main area. Invest in better 'daylight' kind of lighting in this kitchen to resolve the darkness problem - very few professional chef's kitchen have windows. Then you can use the space in the corner of the reception next to it to create a 'show off' social hub kitchen with maybe an island/breakfast bar, coffee machines, wine cooler, smaller fridge, induction cooker, steam oven, smaller sink. Your everyday cooking and baking can be done here with family. When feeding a crowd you could do your 'big' cooking and transfer the ready meals into your show kitchen and keep them warm and leave all the mess behind in your working kitchen. This still leaves enough space for dining area in the reception and allows for the current dining room to become a TV / library snug. Plus no knocking of walls.
Jonathan
7 years ago
What budget do you have in mind?
PRO
Create Perfect
7 years ago
Hi, yes I would consider looking at the front (dining room) being a more formal snug area. Open the back up to become and open plan dining and kitchen with casual seating area.

If you know you don't need an architect it maybe prudent to work with an interior designer to ensure you get the layout, lighting and furniture placement right for you needs as it's still a big investment to make. There are many smaller packages like 3D visualisation packages or layout consultation packages which may be worth investigating.
A S
7 years ago
Hi, I think taking the kitchen to the back may be a more effective idea which can serve as a kitchen-diner and possibly a play area, overlooking the garden. You could also use this as a living space but I would prefer to keep the two separate. I would use the old kitchen which has no natural light as a utility/storage room for WM, etc and the front room as an additional living space.

It is always useful to get professional advice to ensure you know how to locate and situate things in order to gain an idea of how things will look before you end up spending much more than required. it may also be useful to sketch up 3-D diagrams so you know how you can use each space properly.

Good luck

Ax
Claire Nicholson
7 years ago
Hi there,

We recently reconfigured our downstairs as part of a complete renovation and have to say that having a professional on board was a life saver!

We used Gina from Create Perfect (above) and she helped us work out how to configure the space to work best for our life.

For what you'll spend on the building work and / or a new kitchen you'll probably be very pleasantly surprised by the cost (hundreds rather than thousands)

A good designer will come up with 3D images of different layouts and configurations and from there you can pick your favourites and get them to take them a step further so you end up with 3D renders and also YouTube videos of 'walk arounds' in the space, so you can see exactly how the space would look and feel.

Here's a few from ours if it helps... we're not finished but it does show how much Gina helped us with a vision to take three separate rooms through to a new layout for our downstairs (we have a separate lounge not included)

Separate rooms to start with and a floorplan I was brain dead from looking at...

The 3D pics we had to help from our designer...

And a few of how it looks so far (lots still to do and most of the furniture still missing / makeshift at the moment but you'll get the idea)

Without the help of a professional designer in deciding the new layout goodness knows what we'd have ended up with! There's only so many times you can look at a floor plan and try and imagine how it will all turn out!

Good luck whatever you decide- sounds like an exciting project
Sunny Day
Original Author
7 years ago
Thanks everyone for the great suggestions! I think keeping a separate room at the front seems to make lots of sense. Actually a lot of my friends live in Victorian terrace house and the most popular layout is to have the double reception (2nd reception as play area) and kitchen diner at the back open out to the garden. However one key difference of my place vs their are the size of the two room at the front. The current dining room is only 13 sqm and the current kitchen is only 9 sqm. And the width is a lot narrower (2.9m in mine vs usually 4-4.5m in theirs). I wonder using front room for living room still works given the size and width esp if we want to put sofas and TV there?