Too early in the morning for me but first off......you mentioned needing space for pram.....the pram might not be needed in 2 years time.....it might be 2 years til this extension is complete?

Also why have a separate dining room and have a kitchen/diner?

Thanks for your questions Ellie. Definitely want 1 big kitchen/diner room and do not want a separate dining room.

We would like to keep the understairs storage by the front door for lots of reasons - a pram for the next few years but also we both have a lot of equipment for jobs that we take to and from work so very keen to keep this storage by the front door.

Looking forward to your thoughts.

Vicki

Sorry, I now see dimensions of the new kitchen/diner would be about 4.3 X 4.3m? What do you need in this space? Kitchen units with Island? kitchen units with small breakfast bar? I see why you would need dining room space but I would prefer dining room opened up into the new space.

The kitchen/ diner would be 4.3 metres x 7.5 metres. Although we would like to lose some of that space to a laundry room/ downstairs toilet.

Very open to the kitchen/diner design & layout - we love the idea of a kitchen island with some bar stools and a separate table.

Assume now you were actually talking of opening it all up as one space! Told you it was too early for me!

Personally I would be looking at turning the bottom of the stairs so you go up from your front room. I would open the front room to the hallway with a big square arch and use the front room as your all purpose room now but tidy it up and dress it as a living room later when you come to sell.
If you really need a downstairs wc put it under the stairs with a macerator.
I would not split the back room but instead use that as your living room. If you need additional dining space consider if building behind the kitchen gives you a more useable space than a side extension (because a kitchen with island leave no room for a dining table in a 4.3m wide space).

Could you post your upstairs layout too, please?

Like this

Are you sure you want an island? As it would require a lot of space.

And yes, I used the extension for a loo and utility.

Some more layouts:

I'm not sure why but I can't see your original sketch and dimensions.

One of the most popular layouts for these houses is to gain a utility and downstairs toilet from the dining room and to use the other portion of that room as extended living space for the new Kitchen diner.

Can you re-post your plan and dimensions?

Thanks very much for all your thoughts - really useful. I'm going to get looking at all these suggested new plans!

Maths Wife - hope these will be visible for you now.

My advise would be to NOT create an extra hallway, like in your drawing. Waste of space.

Hi Vicki, I quite like your new layout, although i'd give it a little tweak. I can see where you're coming from, and i think you can get a slightly better layout with even more storage.

It's a basic plan, so i haven't placed the oven(s), hob, sink etc or added in any wall units, it's a basic idea.

I know that by putting the Utility on the left it gets rid of the front to back aspect of the house through the front door. However, a view through, does not top trump space for storage when you've got children to think about and all that come with them! Yes you could move the Utility over and join it to the W.C, but i actually prefer the door less through and through, which is quite handy with small children running around. Also, when you look from the back door down the length of the kitchen it seem longer as you look straight through to the wall against the stairwell.

I'd turn the stairs so they start in the hall. I know that u the loose ur cupboard but you'll have less hallway. Thus more room in the dark part of the dining furthest from the windows to put the storage wc and utility.
wc and small cupboard accessed from hall and the utility from kitchen dinner living.