Ground floor layout- comments please (open plan kitchen, utility&hall)

5 years ago

Hi,

We are planning an extension to create an open plan kitchen/dining/living area, a new utility/boot room and new hallway.

We have drawn up our plans (please see below images) and would appreciate feedback please.

We had hoped to have a downstairs shower, but can't see where it would fit. We had considered splitting the utility room into a downstairs bathroom (with shower), and utility, but thought it looked too small, as we would have wanted external access from both the shower room and utility room.

Please see plans below. We are planning to have skylight in utility, and roof lanterns above dining table and living area but couldn't add into the 3D plans.

Many Thanks!

Everything in yellow is part of the extension. Internals dimension for the important bits are shown (utility room is wrong, should be 4.4m). The wall highlighted in red can't be removed as it would be too expensive.

Overall site layout

Floor plan

View from door into kitchen by the utility room

View from blue arm chair

View from end of kitchen

View from hall by the toilet.

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Jonathan

5 years ago

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Comments (18)

jessa61
5 years ago
Do you need the seating area in the extension? I only ask as that would give you three sofa areas so I wonder whether you would end up only using 2 of them anyway? If so this would then free up space which could be used for a downstairs bathroom. The downstairs bathroom could go where the utility is and the utility where the sofa area is.
Carolina
5 years ago
You could perhaps make the downstairs loo larger (nibble some space off the kitchen) and incorporate a shower in there. Would make one of the front rooms a possible bedroom.
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I think the flow through the three rooms at the back would be perfect if you like to entertain. I hadn’t noticed the existing utility, referring to my comment about squaring off the dining room, could a small utility be popped into that corridor area? I can’t get an idea of the size or whether it would be possible but would mean you’ve got a utility off the kitchen. I wouldn’t remove the wall between existing kitchen and dining room if you’re removing the other one. You could have it as a formal sitting room, a kids playroom, a cinema room, an additional guest bedroom? Options are endless but I’m sure you’ll find a way to make it more useable than a dining room! If you do decide to do double doors into the existing family room I’d do glazed so you can see straight through into the garden when you enter the house.
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What you might find is that if you take this info to a kitchen designer that the layout provided will be completely different to what your architect has (surprisingly) come up with. Personally as a designer, I’d have a completely different take on this room area - but then I Design Kitchens and space concepts for a living - (but ask me to design a building with roof angles and all that that entails etc and I’d be out of my depth a little ! ) So it’s just a case of choosing someone who specialises in this particular area really - we are independent so we don’t sell products that would include a profit - so we charge for our services and work with you over a week to thrash it out - but then you can shop around easily by dropping in a copy of the plans and asking for their best price and haggle for discounts that are often far greater than our design fee. Alternatively you can book loads of studios to each send over their sales people to each come over and measure and each then design a scheme and each then try to win the sale by inviting you to go through their ideas in their studio. Although this is ‘free’ it’s maybe a tad more time consuming, repetitive and you don’t usually have much input. If you click on my name or icon you can read some comments from past clients who’ve tried this way !
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minnie101
5 years ago
It looks like a lovely layout, particulary like the seating/reading area. I would also close off the access to the kids room as Jonathan has done keeping his layout on the main runs. I would keep your island but with L shaped seating so it's more sociable plus a garden view. I might also consider a prep sink on the island. Would it be possible to extend the wc forward to the stairs and then nab the desk area in the kids room for a shower (moving the kids room door!)? Just personal opinion but I'd consider access to the boot room from the hall too
minnie101
5 years ago
Forgot to say I'd also look into the building regs about installing an extractor fan in the same room as a woodburner
Jonathan
5 years ago
Slight variations to my earlier plan
Jonathan
5 years ago
Actually Minnie is right about the wood burner. The issue is that typically a fire draws up air and smoke rises up the flue but when you switch on your kitchen extractor the fires draw fails and smoke often finds its way into the room. The solution is to have an external air supply for the burner and your stove supplier should be able to help you with that (needs to be considered in the early build). Alternatively have a different fire feature such as electric or flueless gas fire.
CupofTea
Original Author
5 years ago
Thank you for all your comments.

@jessa61 we would like to keep the living area in the open plan space. It will overlook the garden and gets all the evening sun. The main living room I suspect will just become a TV room/snug, and the other front room is a playroom/office.

@Jonathan thank you very much for the floor plans. After much consideration, we have decided that we don't want to close off the access from the playroom into the open plan area. This room is north facing, and doesn't get much light. If it was cut off, we feel that the children won't hangout in there and would be quite dark.

@Minnie101 we like the idea of adding L shaped seating around the island- thanks! Thanks for the note about the woodburner

@Carolina thanks for your suggestion about enlarging the downstairs toilet. We were in two minds about this, as not sure if it makes the kitchen look unsymmetrical and creates too much of a break between the kitchen. It would be great if we could put it there.

We've drawn up revised plans- please let us know your thoughts.

Thanks in advance

Does the shower look too protruding? Please ignore the kitchen colours- a mistake!
CupofTea
Original Author
5 years ago

one more image
Jonathan
5 years ago
Sorry- I don’t like your plan.
In my opinion the space between the sink and hob is where the work happens so you are actually a bit tight for space.
I think the door from the kitchen to the playroom is a massive fail- firstly you are inviting the kids to run past the cooking area, secondly is splits the kitchen and there are safety implication for having a walkway through the kitchen, I also think it makes your kitchen plan feel disjointed.
I also think that if the children are young they won’t want to be in the playroom, they will want to be where you are.

If you are worried about the playroom being dark this is easily sorted with better lighting and a pale coloured floor. Alternatively make this the grown up room and the kids playroom near the front door.

I also think that putting the sitting area around the corner in the extension makes it feel enclosed and a little tight because of its location.

I think you have put too many stools at the island and in reality people rarely use more than 3. In my opinion better to have fewer comfortable seats that are spread out with room to eat.

I also think you missed an opportunity to have a cupboard near the front door to hide coats, shoes and a vacuum cleaner.

I think that if you want an extra shower it may be easier to put this off the bootroom- a bigger utility/ bootroom area may help later to keep sports equipment/ dogs/ ironing etc etc out of sight. There is a privacy argument to put it where you have but I suspect the wall you have moved to take a corner off the kitchen is a job that will require a steel.
Annabel Mulcahy
5 years ago
I like your plan. Our kitchen has two doors entering from different parts of the house and it works well instead of having to travel to only one access point. Also I think larger rooms can take two doors. I also like where your sofa area is situated as it gives a lovely view of the garden but feels nicely tucked away separate from the main food preparation and serving areas. Love the cosy log burner too!
minnie101
5 years ago
Just personal opinion but I do agree with Jonathan re the kitchen and swapping the playroom. Ideally you want your dishwasher and bin either side of the sink too. You also don't appear to have room to stack dishes at the side of the sink. I might also limit stools keeping them away from the left run. My brother didn't include a prep sink in his island and as my SIL does all her prep at the island it is a complete pain moving to the sink to constantly wash hands, prep veg, drain stuff for serving etc.

i do however love the seating area! It is a tad cosy admittedly so I wouldn't choose deep sofas but the fact it's away from the kitchen with a garden view for socialising, reading, drinks, playing games etc is great IMO. It's also a good place for guests to sit if you don't want them at the island.
Jonathan
5 years ago
Hmm cosy..... the space is supposed to be 3.7m wide (although that may be an external measurement and it may be smaller.
Each sofa will be a minimum of 90cm deep although most are 100cm deep. A small coffee table will be 60/80cm deep. Presumably you won’t press the furniture up to the glass or the wall so let’s allow a few cm for behind the sofas. So if you get small furniture you can just about get the ideal 60cm legroom but in my opinion since you are planning a massive island and a dining table for 10 small sofas will be out of step with the room.
minnie101
5 years ago
I'd assumed that was the internal measurement. I calculated it earlier and had assumed a 2ft wide coffee table and between 16-18 inches for leg room (I think that's the recommended?) between sofas and table. Mine is currently 60cms away (moved when we got a puppy) and you can't actually reach the table, it used to be 18 inches which I think is still generous. Some of the mid century style sofas do come up rather slim.

Having said that I suppose you do need to take into consideration how/where the doors open though :)
PRO
User
5 years ago
I'm no concept planner, but i did feel that the original plan needed a tweak. The utility / boot room was very large and no provision was given to shoes / coat storage as you came in through the Hallway.

I really like Jonathan's last two plans, it makes for such a great spacious square room with a much better kitchen layout.

One of the main things I wasn't keen on with your plan was the sofa area. A comfortable distance from a log burner would be at least 2m away, they pack heat out. Thus, as the area is quite tight I think in reality you'd end up with one sofa branching backwards in to the dining area just to get far enough away from it. It will end up just being a corner for the fire, which you won't see from anywhere else. You need to have it central to the room, not just to make a feature of it, but to make it usable, you need to able to see it, to feed it. So, I agree with Jonathan, I'd re-jig and have no fire, well, at least not there. The lounge area is smaller than the Utility.
CupofTea
Original Author
5 years ago
Thank you all for the comments. Positive or negative they are all appreciated.

Some valid points made. If at all possible we don't want to block up the entrance into the playroom as it would isolate the room.

In regards to the worktop space, we'll look at this again. The island was drawn up at about 3.3m long so we intend to do most prep there, and had thought about adding in a prep sink.

This layout of kitchen is what we roughly had in mind:

http://blakeslondon.com/south-west-london/c271qjlxv0sdtgs00ph1tda1k8y3j5

The internal dimensions of the sofa area is 3.7m and we have the option to go out further if need be, but based on our calculations it all fits (& we could put side tables rather than have coffee table). We also would like to keep the living area there as it has the best view down the whole length of the garden and gets the sun all evening long.

The hall storage/design wasn't detailed in the plans and the cupboard we added looks like a table on the floor plan. There will be plenty of built in storage.

We'll revisit the plan and see what we can come up with.

Thanks again.
Jonathan
5 years ago
last modified: 5 years ago

With a door to the playroom
PRO
User
5 years ago
last modified: 5 years ago
Going back to your original Plan:- It has to work for you as it's your house, and, you know best how you want to use it. I tried keeping just the Utility ( without shower room ) and making the living area larger :-

However, I still thought that the Utility was too large and wasting too much space.

So, keeping the toilet by the Playroom / living areas and not amending them at all, I tweaked the kitchen / living / utility. I think this gives all round better views of the whole room and is very similar to Jonathan's plans.

I said previously I wasn't keen on the little separate living niche, and especially not, if you want a log burner as you won't be able to see it from anywhere. I also took on board the view of the garden, so I span the table through 90 degrees, which means that if you are having a big meal with friends and family, you can all see the garden and see the playroom at the same time.

I made a little niche for the living area so that the display cabinets are tucked backwards very slightly along with the fire, but still giving a square feel to the room. The living area and fire are now visible from everywhere and so is the garden.

I put the Utility behind the living room wall, and also made room for the downstairs shower area.

You could of course, if you felt that it would be of better use, put the door for the downstairs shower area in the Hallway instead of accessing it from the Utility area, but that's down to personal choice.