Jan Johnson, I agree. Cooking fumes are always going to be a problem in open-plan living. Extractor fans get fancier but even some experts agree they're not that efficient. And even if they are, they're usually placed over the hob. What about the oven? Most ovens - Agas are an exception - blow the smells straight back into the kitchen. Very nice if you're baking bread or cakes; not so good for roast meat or anything containing onions. Like most things in interior design (flush-faced doors, blocked off Victorian fireplaces, fake-stone chimney breasts, feature walls) open-plan is a fashion. When it falls out of favour, we'll all be putting back the stud walls the previous owners demolished.

Thanks for these. Im not sure if we can do the extra corner bit for number five, but I do like the layout, it will depend on cost, also don't need two tv areas, as we have a front lounge in the house anyway. the office was supposed to be a mixed use room, as a playroom with kids storage and also an occasional bedroom, so sofa bed In there. I know many people have hobs and sinks on islands, but I just think i'll end up dumping things on there.. I have four in the family, two adults, two kids, but we have a lot of people round for entertaining and parties, so space is what I'm after, but was also looking for somewhere the kids can go out of the way from adults if need be. As for kitchen, the reason for having large larder is to put not only food/drink spare fridge in there, but also things we don't use all that often in the kitchen, equipment etc.. I like everything clean and hidden away. The office on number 5 would be separate anyway as this concept includes sliding doors, which fold into the wall, so only entrance would be from outside, not sure if I can afford these yet though. Please keep suggestions coming, or alternatives, all welcome as I can't visualise.. thanks

Hi all, Thank you for your comments; I appreciate them! Natasha - the units you have suggested are very much what I had in mind. We will have a shaker kitchen and the media unit would also be shaker style and would have 4-6 cupboards with the TV in the middle with book shelves either side. Part of the reason we kept a partial wall was to make the space more usable. I can’t envision how the fully open plan room will be able to meet all our needs, but I am open to ideas! I feel that open plan would be more impressive, but potentially less usable. With regards to the doors. I do plan to reverse the doors both into the kitchen and family room part, but couldn’t work out how to do it on the app I used for the floor plan. It is a 1920s house and we have the original doors which we are planning to keep. We are also keeping a lot of floor space as when the table is not extended, we still have young children with lots of Lego and trains etc. I plan for these to be hidden in the cupboards at bedtime. J - we haven’t installed the kitchen but we have ordered it and paid a big deposit. Some of the units are bespoke/irregular sizes and I don’t think we would be willing to change this. I have attached a photo of our rendered kitchen plan. Thanks again for your comments. It is good to have other people’s opinions and ideas.

You need to consider lots of things when designing overall floor layouts - walkway space, where the sun comes in from, how many inhabitants live here and how many likely guests etc - your kitchen dining for example doesn’t look to have enough walkway space around it and looks too small for six as you’d be overlapping plate space etc etc For projects like this, if you plan to live here some time, it’s worth booking a pro ( like a concept planner ) to either check things through with you, ie working with you to get things right - taking on board all of the info available and coming up with a viable safe design. If you click on my name or icon, you can have a look at the sort of design I’m talking about - as we have some past projects on our pro page. Nb. If this is just a house flip then what ever you do will probably be redone by new owners anyway, so not so important !