Help please with 1930’s Kitchen diner layout…
Given the hike in costs of materials recently, I have given up on the dream of large rear extension to my 1930's semi and we are going to have to work with the space we have. I could really do with your help with deciding what is possible in terms of layout. Please see rather old plans of the original downstairs layout (draw up when the loft was converted before we moved in 15 years ago).
We blocked up the original back door and knocked an opening through to the small galley kitchen, to add a u shaped kitchen withe dining table opposite. Being SW facing it is a lovely bright room, the dining area being the most used space in the whole house. It has served us surprisingly well over the last 10 years, although the kitchen is cramped and there is hardly any room for food prep.
Our plan was to knock the wall down completely between the kitchen dining room and flip the kitchen across to the dining room and take out the chimney breast. Our dining room measures 3.946m x 3.445m and the kitchen is 2.1m x 2.99m. Our builder has suggesting pinching some of the hall space by taking down the stud wall between the kitchen and hall and having a glazed door into the kitchen inline with the wall between the dining room and front room. I like this idea as it will give use more space. I have set my heart on having a row of units along the left hand wall with a kitchen island but will this fit or look too cramped and will we still have room in the old kitchen for a decent sized table to seat 6? I have around 60k to spend but want new windows and new boiler has to come out of the budget too.
Comments (20)
PROOnePlan
2 years agoRelated Discussions
Help with layout of 1930s house
Comments (14)No worries. It was blocked off before and we had to trapise through the whole house with shopping bags to get to the kitchen and it drove me mad. We didn't have side access then though so guess now I'd go through the new side door. I had sliding doors on the utility to save floor space but the family never shut them and it looks untidy so I'd make it a normal door. I have units to the right of the utility and I'd move these to the left side to avoid having to dog leg round them to get to the kitchen. Side door position was governed by drains and waste pipe position but if I'd been able I'd have moved it so it wasn't in the middle of the wall so I could have more of a run of units....See MorePlease help me decide on my lounge / diner / kitchen layout
Comments (15)Thank-you very much for the comments. I hope it will be a great space, but playing around with it and changing the design at the last minute is getting a bit stressful! This is the design that the build company showed us initially - just their initial thought as it how it would look. I found feeling the area where they had positioned the fridge/freezer very tricky. We want a free-standing french larder style fridge and the doors and level of matching with the rest of the units didn't seem like a good fit. The support pillar for the steel that crosses the island in the attachment below has also been a real annoyance. It sticks out 23cm, so it can only really go through empty-ish cupboards. Clearly anything to the left of that steel is difficult to vent. On the design in my intitial post, I was intending to have a dropped ceiling element that stretched just beyond the steel. This would let me have a powerful extractor and exit the flew onto the flat room (hidden by the drop ceiling 'box'). I like the idea you describe of a full wall of units, then island, then table. I guess Jonathan's proposal is similar to that. While I love the efficiency of the "4 double door" hideaway I just don't like the aesthetic, so will need to think about something else. Bringing it back to what we need... Utility room: enough to stash the washing machine, store the vacuum cleaner and hang a few clothes. No need for a sink. Free Standing, 90cm wide fridge, nicely framed either by wall of kitchen units. Waist height oven with an additional "top oven / grill (broiler)" - so at least one full height column. Good size kitchen island with at least two seats. Approx 90cm induction hob, plus a gas domino hob. Powerful, externally venting extractor over hob. I'm relatively open to moving the kitchen/living area to wherever it works best. I'm also not desperate to have the hob on the island (but that would be nice). As far as I know, the builders haven't done anything that can't be easily adjusted at this stage - but I think that will change in a couple of days - and they are planning for the kitchen to be in the old part of the house. As for rooflights - I thought, perhaps wrongly, that it would be light enough with the big bifold doors. It is an east facing room, and the old room had some sliding paitio doors and it felt bright enough. So I have left roof lights out on the basis that - but I'm also concerned about noise. (Cheaper too!). The biggest window we can gave without incurring significantly more cost is 1800mm x 1000mm - I'm minded to be 2 or 3 of these in that middle section. Thanks!...See More1930's semi needs new kitchen, plumbing and layout help please!
Comments (3)Hi Rosey, Hope these answers help: There are plenty of different ways you could redesign the space so it would be good to get really clear on what you want to base designs on. For the drains this is not that unusual, and is likely to mean that it is a shared drain, so it's owned by your water utility company. This might be worth checking. Yes any raised external platform / patio would need planning permission and may be refused on the grounds of overlooking and reducing the neighbours privacy. I am running my Free 5 Day Get Ready to Redesign Challenge in a few weeks. You will find this useful because I created it to help people in the situation that you are in - feeling overwhelmed and not sure where to start. So if you'd like to join in that you can do that here: https://www.i-architect.co.uk/readytoredesign.html I hope this helps! Jane, i-architect.co.uk...See MoreHelp please! How do we make this 1930s semi's kitchen family friendly?
Comments (6)Would it be within budget to do a small extension just now - filling in the covered corner and extending it out as far as the current outrigger - then opening that all up to the current kitchen? That would give you a big square kitchen with views to garden. It would also allow you to keep your dining room as it is and separate (which you will appreciate more when kids get older) - so that's your snug/office with views to garden. And if you can put the utility into the back of the garage then it'll be right off the kitchen and could also incorporate a bit of pantry space. The toilet could hopefully be accessed from the hall under the stairs. Then you don't need to do a much bigger extension later. It might take a bit longer to save for this rather than 'just' knocking down a wall, but it provides a long-term solution which is overall cheaper and less invasive - and I think it'll be a better use of space. You could start the work now by installing utility and toilet in current spaces, but it would be best to have one big plan so you are not re-working areas if you move through the work in phases....See More
Laura
2 years ago
Emma Neal
2 years agopaula_hatch
2 years ago
Julian Cheese
2 years agotitiankim
2 years agoLaura
2 years agoTitiankim that is what we are hoping to do. I would be interested to know how the layout works for you. What size island did you manage to fit in ? what did you do with the space where your old kitchen is? I did go to a kitchen showroom yesterday with our measurements as someone suggested. They suggested an L shape with an 1800 x 900 island facing the garden to make use of the width of both rooms. I was pleasantly surprised as they managed to fit in a corner larder too . (Not my choice of flooring or work top) . Obviously this layout will be costly because of work involved but would give me a much larger kichen and there is still scope to extent later on if required. does anyone see any obvious pitfalls with this layout ? And what are you thoughts on sinks versus hobs in islands?
kazzh
2 years agotitiankim
2 years agololalola73
2 years agoLaura Clarke
2 years agoI suppose I may be expecting too much from the space, wanting a larger kitchen with island and to still have space for a table and chairs. Probably what I haven’t explained well is the wall with the oven on now cannot lengthen at full ceiling height as the other side of the stud wall is an under stairs cupboard currently housing the washing machine. Here is the 1/20 scale plan I took with me showing the room dimensions.
Laura Clarke
2 years agololalola73
2 years agololalola73
2 years agomckenna_deirdre
2 years agomckenna_deirdre
2 years agoLaura
2 years ago
kazzh