You’ll get a huge amount of light in opening up the wall and adding a breakfast bar, looking at the space I think it would be a choice of one or another (table or breakfast bar) not both, otherwise you won’t really benefit from the modification as far as space goes. Do you have an alternative location for the freestanding fridge freezer and how do you feel about loosing the wall storage (my guess is you are going to use the one over the hatch as the new end-unit?).

One thing to remember is that if it’s your main living area and open plan kitchen/living area can be very noisy when cooking, there’s also the smell‘s etc to consider.

Thanks for the response. If we knock down the wall we can push the kitchen out and make room for an integrated fridge freezer - otherwise it would have to stay where it is which makes the hatch smaller.
It’s a really frustrating space to work with as it’s not huge and none of the houses nearby have done much for us to look at and get ideas.
Noise and smells from the kitchen is definitely something we’ve thought about, the hatch option would definitely be better in that sense but I worry it looks old fashioned

There are some good kitchen planners on here (not me!) so it might help to add all the dimensions if you’ve got a floor plan

Get rid of the hatch. The light flowing in will be lovely.

Good point Minnie, I’ve attached the floor plan we have. And agreed daisy, personally I think the breakfast bar will look better but just need to figure out if we can fit everything we want!

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I don’t think the hatch adds anything to the rooms so I would remove the wall but not in its entirety.

It’s a narrow kitchen but I wonder if a U shaped kitchen might work. This would necessitate blocking the kitchen door that leads into the hall. Access to the kitchen would then only be from the lounge roughly located where the hatch is now. Leave the base units that house the sink and hob where they are and run slimline base units along the kitchen/hall wall. I have heard of people using wall cupboards for this purpose. You could perhaps have open shelves above.

Going back to the wall with the hatch. Take it down to base unit height on either side. Or slightly above to screen the work surfaces from the lounge/dining room and take it down to ground level where the hatch currently is to allow access.

You would of course need to relocate the radiator but that shouldn’t be too much of a job.

Do remember that open plan isn’t always great for everyone -if the kitchen is your one place to escape to, opening it up to the lounge will see that evaporate and you may find you don’t get a moments peace anymore !

That’s true OnePlan but not for me. I created an open plan living, kitchen, dining with large French doors opening out into the garden a good many years ago, long before it became fashionable. The reason was simple I was fed up being tied to the kitchen sink and missing out on all the fun in the other rooms. I had a means to shut off the kitchen but I never used it. My family grew up in that space and we shared many memorable times with our extended family and friends there. Not once did I regret taking down that wall.

We had a teeny tiny kitchen for many years, and one day we decided to knock the wall out between the kitchen and the dining room (after checking it wasn’t load bearing) and it was the best thing we ever did. My house is small but being able to open it out created so much space and light, at least compared to how it was. With you, I would keep the hall wall, but knock out the hatch wall. You may have space along the right hand wall for another cupboard or two and the fridge. I would add a nice table and chairs rather than a space consuming breakfast bar, but I have included one in the pictures below.

Thanks for all the responses, really helpful! We hadn’t thought about blocking up the hall wall and knocking down the hatch, this could definitely be an option.
Whatever we decide on, we definitely want to try and get as much light into the kitchen as we can. Thanks again 😊