Kitchen diner living and utility room layout dilemma!
Hello, we are currently extending to make a large rectangular kitchen/dining/seating area with a utility. There are two windows along one side of the room (which get evening sun and are slightly overlooked by neighbours across the road) and a window and bifold doors to the back garden on the other side (which get morning sun).
We have three outline ideas for layout, but are suffering 'paralysis through analysis' as to which to go for, if any. But we need to order our kitchen and settle on a plan! Apologies for the pencil sketches. Door into kitchen from hall is a bottom right of sketch.
Layout 1
- table and seating area at garden side (but will table and dining chairs feel cramped, or will it be strange/cramped having utility as you walk into the room?)
Layout 2 -
kitchen and seating area at garden side, more sociable space, utility handy for kitchen (but we might feel overlooked at table, and no morning sun at table)
Layout 3
- we like this feeling of space, but maybe utility will be useless as so small and not sure how we can layout the kitchen to fit as so much window along this wall!
All ideas/advice appreciated! Thank you.
Comments (16)
9 years agoRelated Discussions
Kitchen Diner Living room layout help needed
Comments (4)I have a slight aversion to kitchen islands and any thing high that resembles a breakfast bar - I have no idea why - maybe because of the linear quality and I'm quite keen to keep the openness rather than section the room off, but I do really like the sofa arrangement in the corner - thanks so much for your time and input...See MoreKitchen Diner Living Layout Plans - Advice Please
Comments (31)Hi Keswing, I had exactly the same problem with my hubby!!! Haha! The great thing with concept planners is they will pass their trade discounts onto you! We actually used Gina from Create Perfect on here (but she does exactly the same as OnePlan) who I would highly recommend and the fab thing was that even after her fees it saved us money because she passed on all the trade discounts! I highly recommend getting in touch with OnePlan and Create Perfect and getting quotes from both of them. If you ask them both to send you the list of companies they get trade discount with then you can show that to your hubby and knowing you're in the market for some serious spending on a kitchen and presumably a bit of new furniture then you'll be able to show it's cost neutral! :) We saved over £1,500 in our kitchen alone through Create Perfect getting us discounts with our chosen suppliers (probably worth noting that it doesn't limit your choices as the kitchen company we chose from her concept plan she'd never dealt with before but she set up a trade account just for us, the same for our underfloor heating and actual floor) Hope it helps and good luck!...See MoreHelp with a new layout for the kitchen, diner & utility area?
Comments (7)I’m confused about the layout. It looks like the entrance is directly into the kitchen area. Perhaps it would be useful to create a hall with storage. This then also means there is no access to the garden- would French doors from the lounge be useful? You say there are table in both rooms and the space is crowded. Presumably the plan is to reduce to one table- would you actually have to take down a wall to make that change? It seems like your parents are short of living space. Of course an extension would help but perhaps there are other possibilities such as converting the smaller bedroom into a full downstairs bathroom with laundry facilities. The cloakroom could be a new entrance in order to free up space in the kitchen area and create more space for dining. Since you are likely going to do some work to the house consider if there are things you could do now to future proof it. This means a walk in shower and a comfort height toilet, a raised washer and dryer, an eye level oven, door handles rather than knobs, innovative pull outs to make access to wardrobes and kitchen cabinets easier. If they don’t already use it consider smartening up the larger of the two downstairs bedrooms so it’s inviting rather than an inevitability. You might also consider outside lighting for security, relaying uneven patios to remove trip hazards, an electric garage door etc. And if your only concern about an open plan arrangement is cooking smells consider a really great extractor such as a Bora cooktop extractor....See MoreSmall Kitchen/Diner/Living Room Layout Help!
Comments (6)Consider putting the tv in the alcove with a bench seat in front. A rise and fall table can tradition from a coffee table into a dining table as you need it. Folding dining chairs can be hidden behind the sofa until you need them or consider having an ottoman that can be either extra sitting space in the living room or dining seating as required....See More
9 years ago- 9 years ago
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- 9 years agoPersonally I prefer this space without a sitting area because I think that the kitchen is more impressive.
- 9 years ago
Hi there,
We had exactly the same problem about 6 months ago and despite all the squared scale paper in the world, I just couldn't imagine how it was going to look and went round and round in circles!
Have you considered a concept planner? We used one and despite the fact I was standing in 3 separate rooms with doors, windows and openings in completely different places, she worked off the architect's plans and came up with photo quality 3D renders showing exactly how the different options would look. We even had a YouTube video of the 4 different layouts, so you could see how it would look as you walked around the room.
The pics below show the room I was stood in as our concept planner did the 3D renders, how they actually looked and how the room as turned out. I am a huge fan and find the whole thing quite fascinating- it's like looking i to the future :)
Thanks to using them, we were able to order our kitchen before the building work was done, so didn't have to go without a kitchen for ages!
How the 3 separate rooms looked when the plans were done by our concept planner...
A few of the 3D renders that she did at exactly the same time...
And how it turned out..
It's completely cheating but it makes it a lot more fun and in our experience a lot less stressful :)
Best wishes,
Claire - 9 years ago
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- 9 years ago
I agree with Jonathan regarding a sitting area to have a more impressive kitchen. You can always add a banquette to the dining table for comfy seating
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- 9 years agoHi again,
It was a lovely lady on here called Gina from Create Perfect; if you search Create Perfect on the Pro page you'll be able to find her and read all her reviews too.
Just drop her a message and she'll send you a simple pricing structure and a few different options to have a think about.
It was hundreds not thousands and she passed on a lot of her trade discounts to us too, so that offset the cost as well.
I love the suggestion above of banquette seating and also think it would give you more flexibility on the space. We actually had built in seating for our dining seating and Gina did all the designs for us, so we were just able to give it to the carpenter to make, as she'd already done all the hard work like the measurements and angles :) our space was a bit tricky so we had built in seating down both sides but in a lovely square room like yours you could just have it against one side.
Hope it all helps!
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PRO9 years ago- 9 years ago
Jonathan