How can I provide a nicer kitchen entrance from the hallway

4 years ago

Hello

I'm at the easy stages of updating my kitchen and hallway and I'm after some ideas around a new kitchen entrance. I have inherited a bi-folding door that gets in the way when opened as it's folded inside the kitchen.

I first thought about removing the door but thought a kitchen door is always a good idea for smells and noise, etc.

I then wondered if I could use a sliding door but most seems to look pretty ugly. I'm now thinking about pine french doors that open into the hallway and would remain pinned back until needed however I'm wondering if there are better ideas.

Has anyone had a similar design issue and/ or does anyone have any thoughts on solving this issue so it looks nice as well as practical?

Attached are some photos of my hallway, width is 109cm, height is 290cm. Here is a possible idea for french door.

Thanks in advance

Nick

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PRO

User

4 years ago

I'm guessing that you don't have an ordinary door at the moment because the layout of the kitchen dictates that this is impractical? If you're changing the kitchen then you could have an ordinary door opening in to the kitchen which is the most practical when carrying things back and forth.

You could have small french doors opening out in to the hallway, however, you would need to move the door jam and bring the doors forward so that they don't hit the edge of the wall. Also, you have a radiator in the way of one of them sitting flush with the wall, so i'm not sure that will work so well. You could possibly pin French doors flat 'ish' against the wall inside the kitchen if there are no units or rads in the way.

I wouldn't use a barn door in your home, they will not gel well with the others or the style of the house in general, plus you always have to contend with the fact that they protrude from the wall and for me the gap behind them spoils the look as you have to accommodate the architraves and skirtings.

What is it that you don't like about the current door?, it's quite, nice and in keeping with other doors in the hallway.

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Comments (12)

KK1000
4 years ago
Barn doors don’t have to be ugly, you can have them in any style you like glass, mirror, flat panel, county....
Nick Middleweek thanked KK1000
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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.
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Nick Middleweek
Original Author
4 years ago
Hello,

Thanks for your replies.

I have inherited a bi-folding door with the 15+year old kitchen and it gets in the way when opened as it's folded inside, into the kitchen.

I am updating the kitchen, it's layout, the door, hallway, stairs, etc as part of the project but the kitchen is relatively small (210cm x 301cm) with the door in the middle of the kitchen's length, accessed from the hallway. Having a normal door opening into the kitchen will take up more floor space than the bi-fold door. Ideally I just get rid of the door but I'm trying to find a way to keep it.

Yes, the radiator, sorry I should've said in my original post, will be replaced and moved to the opposite wall. Good spot :)

As for the door-jamb, I'm fine with the current door-frame to be pulled off and rebuilt to suit the new door.

Here are some photos I've taken this morning showing the bi-fold door from the inside...

Here is a possible kitchen layout. I would like to avoid the doors opening inwards so they are not an obstacle.

Thanks again

Nick
PRO
Shahina Mulla
4 years ago
Hi there,

It does seem that you are working with some tight spaces. I understand where you're coming from when say you want a kitchen door to keep out the smells and noises.

You could stay with bifold doors which open into your kitchen. Bifold doors which open into the hallway could work, but in terms of the overall look the can look a bit bulky in the hallway.
Your current bifold door is solid wood which does nothing but darken the hallway and kitchen. If you choose to stick with bifolds, I'd suggest a door which is majority glass, something along the lines of a crittal door or any door with a lot of glass planes. Just to let light flow freely and to open your space up.

French doors would be the better alternative. Especially french doors opening out into the hallway. Aesthetically french doors would look amazing in your hallway. French doors are both functional and a design element. Again like above, I'd suggest glass french doors. Finding French doors to fit a small doorway might be difficult, so you might have to get your doors custom made.

I've attached an image to help describe what envisioning. Hope this helps.
Nick Middleweek thanked Shahina Mulla
Jonathan
4 years ago
What is the room next to it? If it is a living room could you move the door to there?
Nick Middleweek thanked Jonathan
E D
4 years ago
Looks like a nice period hallway.

No expert, but are there building regs re opening doors into a (narrow) hallway?
Nick Middleweek thanked E D
Nick Middleweek
Original Author
4 years ago
Hi Jonathan, thanks for taking the time to reply and creating a mockup drawing. That area is a staircase.
Nick Middleweek
Original Author
4 years ago
Ellert (E D) - There are no UK Building Regs. to prevent this.
PRO
User
4 years ago
I agree with Shahina, doors opening in to the Hallway stand the possibility of looking a little odd. I'd consider putting up a false wall in the kitchen for a slim profile pocket door. One door that slides back and forth and out of sight covers all of your needs. Even though it's a small kitchen, i'd rather lose the 11-12cm on the one wall, and plan a great kitchen around that.

I see that you planned to have a space for a fridge freezer I think, then a gap and possibly a small seating area ( not sure ). This wastes space........so go for everything integrated and if possible lose the seating area.
Nick Middleweek thanked User
Nick Middleweek
Original Author
4 years ago
Hello, thanks for the idea for the kitchen layout. I've been using RoomSketcher myself and have been evolving through about 20 different designs :-) The one rule I am working with is that the kitchen MUST have a breakfast bar or a bistro table for breakfast and lunch.

Unless I'm missing something, Shanina spoke highly of the french doors, "Aesthetically french doors would look amazing in your hallway. "

My Mum does have a pocket sliding door, they are pretty practical but I'm not really a fan of them but haven't ruled anything out just yet. I think if I were to use a sliding door, I would prefer to build the pocket in the hallway side.

Cheers,

Nick
PRO
Shahina Mulla
4 years ago
It all depends on your budget and how much money you're willing to put into solving this. If it's an old building, there's a lot to consider structurally before shutting down doorways and creating new ones.

At the end of the day, the layout of your kitchen is more important than the door. So I don't see why the kitchen design and layout should be altered because of this.

You have a few different styles of doors to play around with, sliding, french, bifold. It all depends on personal preference and what you feel comfortable using.
PRO
User
4 years ago
HI Nick. Yes you're right Shahina did write that about French doors. I was stuck on the bi-folds in to the Hallway looking slightly cumbersome.

I'm was sure that somebody wrote about fire doors, but I can't see it, maybe it was a different post ( i read a lot ). Best to check with the local building control department as I believe your property is a top floor flat ( if the hallways leads to the stairs ), therefore, I think there are regulations that might need adhering to. This comes from an article at :- Arma.Org.UK

" Replacement or removal of internal flat doors and internal layout alterations; Like flat entrance doors, certain doors inside your flat i.e. the kitchen door, or if you live in a maisonette all the doors between a room and your staircase, are also fire doors. Their purpose is to prevent a fire from spreading from the room it started within, to another room and to stop the fire and smoke preventing you from leaving your flat. As such if you want to remove or replace any internal doors or alter the layout of your flat in any way, you must attain building control and [the Landlords], so we can ensure that the work you want to carry out won’t prevent you being able to escape if a fire starts in your home. If the work you plan to do includes any work which will involve knocking or drilling a hole in any wall, floor or ceiling i.e. to install a flue or run any cabling, we also need to ensure that the integrity of the wall, floor or ceiling is reinstated. So in the event of a fire, in your flat, your neighbours or the communal area, that the fire and smoke aren’t able to pass through the hole into another part of the building. "

The above may change what you can and can't have.

The whole point of the false wall for the pocket door was that it was hidden inside the kitchen and therefore would not change the facade of the Hallway. Putting the false wall in the Hallway wouldn't work well in your property as it has period features all round.

I put in the french doors that may or may not work and went with this as an alternative plan. Although you don't get the average 'walk room' of 1m around the little island ( you get around 80cm), the island is on wheels and contains two stools, so it's very versatile. I had in mind something like this, although i have seen albeit far more stylish ones available, just didn't have that much time to go googling! The washing machine is under the drainer of the sink.

This gives you the impression of a more spacious kitchen as without the butchers block on wheels the space between surfaces is around 1.8m