Yup I agree with Kazzh - a straight run on the right and a long peninsula off the garden wall could be an option maybe too ?

It does seem pointless swapping the kitchen across if we still cannot fit an island in and I certainly like the idea of saving some money. A peninsula would definitely give me more worktop space for food prep. Thank you both.

I agree taking the extra space from the hallway and knocking down the rest of the wall between the kitchen and dining room will give you a lovely space. You could even increase the size of the windows or doors on the back to flood in even more of the SW light. I would take your proposed new plans to a number of different kitchen companies to get quotes. You will get some great ideas from them on getting the most from the space.

I definitely agree with your builder bout stealing space from the hall. I think an island will be squashed so I would leave it out. Instead I would line up the back door with the new kitchen door to the hall and focus on the sight lines and space. For additional cupboard space build cupboards on either side of the chimney breast for storing less used items. They will also tie the dining area in with the kitchen better.

Don’t worry about the glazed door, you should be able to get a view right through the house front to back this will make the house seem bigger.

We flipped the kitchen and dining room in our 30s semi when we knocked through. We blocked the door to the old dining room and had units along that wall and the fireplace wall (we opened up the fireplace and had a range cooker put in). There was room for an island in front of the fireplace. The door to the former kitchen is now the entrance to both rooms and means you can see straight through the house to the garden.

Titiankim 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?

So you were thinking of spanning the whole space, across the present kitchen & dining, with the kitchen? and incorporating eating into the new layout and doing away with a dining area all-together? In the rough design you have posted - am i reading it correctly that it is the total space using both rooms?

I suppose a question to ask is how do you use the dining area now? you have indicated it is the most used room in the house. Is that because of the table or the light? Would expanding the kitchen across both rooms be the best use of space? Yes - it gives you a large kitchen, but at the expense of two current spaces. Of course they have generated a design based on what you have specified. It might be worth sitting down and seeing their thoughts on how a layout would work in just the expanded kitchen side? otherwise you may find that having expanded the kitchen, you may be always thinking about that extension to provide the 'living' space that you have sacrificed. You might be surprised about how a well thought out kitchen doesn't always need to be large in footprint to feel spacious and easy to use.

I've just measured our island and it's 70cm by 124cm. It has pan drawers with a narrow cupboard at the side for heavy cast iron pans. It's my main prep space, so no hob or sink. The island could've been much larger (wider or longer) On the side facing the old kitchen (now the dining space) we have a vintage sideboard (when the kids were younger we had a little IKEA table and chairs there). The kitchen was bespoke so we could fit maximum storage into the two fireplace alcoves and so we could integrate our existing freestanding dishwasher and fridge freezer, rather than having to buy new appliances. Bespoke might sound expensive, but it was actually cheaper than a quote we had for a kitchen from a supplier selling standard sized units (and is also solid wood, so should last longer)

I’m not 100% sure I have the dimensions or orientation correct - hopefully I have.
I definitely agree with taking out the stud wall between the kitchen & hall. I presume you will replace it but further away from the back wall of the house which will lengthen your kitchen.
If you keep your kitchen in its current room I think you could have your run of tall cupboards as proposed in the new kitchen plan but switch the orientation of the island to run in parallel to that wall. Put the hob on the island and you will look towards the dining area as you are cooking. Having the island parallel to the tall cupboards is also a more modern look.
If you take out the wall between the kitchen & current dining area too you would have the scope to make that run of cupboards a bit longer too by taking them over to your double-doors.
I think you need to make that whole space at the back of the house feel like one large room (kitchen diner) - which could be achieved by including some of the same kitchen units in the dining side.
Are you keeping the fireplace if you keep the kitchen in its current space?

I 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.

Just realised this is not the scale plan lol, it was just the sketch to show dimensions.

I think you have plenty of space even so. You can run your kitchen cupboards further along the back wall to the double doors.
Have you considered an island that incorporates the seating on one side? That would work if the island runs parcelled to the cooker wall. I’ll see if I can find a picture of what I mean.

Your island storage can be accessed from the kitchen side or the ends in these designs. You then built a bench in on the dining side of the island with a table and chairs on the outside closer to the fireplace wall. This design saves space.

See some examples here.

This is a great idea! I'll show you what my sister did, as I think she had similar space that you will have when yimou move the door, but it might give you some further ideas. Moving the chimney will be very costly and i think you could probably do it by leaving kitchen where it

In hindsight her space might be slightly bigger but your peninsula could be smaller and window between narrower. What you cant see is that she has a table to the right of the peninsula. https://www.instagram.com/p/CJD39A6gsmj/?utm_medium=copy_link

What a gorgeous space Deirdre, I do think her kitchen is wider than mine. It is great to get so many ideas. Thank you everyone it’s really helpful to get different perspectives 🙂

Very rough but what about a layout like this?