Downstairs toilet and kitchen diner - Please help
Hello All :-)
I live in a quite narrow and overall small house. I've been trying to figure out the best way to fit a small toilet downstairs and to increase our family space as the rooms are very narrow and not family friendly. I'm in desperate need of help from people with good spatial awareness. I was thinking to get rid of the wall between kitchen and diner. I have no idea where to fit the toilet or how the kitchen layout could work though. I want to keep the front living room separate though as we need an extra room downstairs. One more thing - I am not allowed to use any of the garage space.
Are you able to share with me any ideas how we can increase the family space downstairs, maintaining a function kitchen and adding a downstairs toilet? Thank you all!
There are fireplaces in both living rooms which I added to the plan.
Comments (33)
User
2 years agoAgata
2 years agoRelated Discussions
Downstairs toilet off kitchen or living room?
Comments (7)@Hermione D - I was considering the full space under the stairs leading up to the current wall, and possibly leaving the door where it is, accessed then from the kitchen. @jonathandb1972 - I know what you mean about the space feeling small in the living room with the under stairs closed off. I also thought about a complete open plan. Reading some other discussions it seems that a downstairs toilet helps in terms of it's resale value so I'm hesitant to remove it completely. However, we are planning an extension in the (distant) future, so maybe leaving the pipework in place to build a loo on the other side of what is currently the external wall would make sense... by the way I'm 30 and my Mum is fit and well at 54 and no issues with stairs!...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 MoreLounge/Kitchen/Diner/Basement Layout help please Houzz!
Comments (4)Hi Sandi You have a great space to work with, and a lot of ideas for the space itself which is a great start. Ideally it would be best to sit down with a Designer and really dig into what you want from the space, taking time to really figure out how you want the space to feel as a whole. However, to get you started it's easy enough to create a concept design plan of the space from plans you have of the home, so if you'd be interested I'd be happy to take a look at the plan for both the basement and lounge, and send you something over to give an idea of how the design could look / be laid out, based upon the information you've posted above. (Free of charge of course) My email is - Kerrybryaninteriors@outlook.com If you can ping across the detailed plan (with measurements) for the two floors, I can have a basic drawing over to you by the end of the week, to give you some ideas. Speak soon - Kerry...See MoreLayout help for kitchen/lounge/diner. Please help
Comments (4)I think shortening the lounge is a great idea. Could the new kitchen door go through the cupboard in the hall next to the shower room? This would make the new wall nicely balanced with the window in the new dining room. If you want help with visualisations, I offer 10 hours of design work for £250 which gives you a full design and the confidence to proceed with any supplier of your choice. If you want to have a no obligation chat to bounce some ideas around, feel free to get in touch 😊 Emily x...See MoreUser
2 years agoFiona Millar
2 years agoAgata
2 years agoAgata
2 years ago
Angie
2 years agoAgata
2 years agoSusy Q
2 years agoSorry I’m not good at screenshots or floorplans but could you remove the wall between the kitchen and back room, then maybe put a toilet in the area I’ve marked green on the plan? Could even take more space and squeeze in a shower if the front room is a bedroom for a while? You could also turn the outside kitchen door into a window and have more unit space if it’s one big room
Agata
2 years agoSusy Q
2 years agoI live in a similar house and have been saving ideas on how to fit stuff in, this is a floor plan I saved from a while back, I would have the toilet opening from the hallway so the front room can either be used as a lounge or bedroom and maybe you can get a big storage cupboard opening from the kitchen diner which would be very handy to put a lot of storage in which most family homes need!
Agata
2 years ago
Daisy England
2 years ago
Amanda O Donovan
2 years agoWhat about moving the lounge wall in to the window? Toilet would then sit between lounge window and kitchen door? Put in a window too perhaps
Mrs Marta Osmond
2 years agoAgata
2 years agoFiona Craig
2 years agoAgata
2 years agoSusy Q
2 years agoA different idea, can you put toilet/utility in the green box as would then have a window, maybe move door into garage off this room as well then remove the walls with yellow on (moving the entrance down to the other green line) and have a larger kitchen diner?
Kim Oldfield
2 years agoHU-29309451
2 years agoAgata
2 years agoHU-29309451
2 years ago
PROAlice Clare Studio
2 years agoI think Suzy Q's idea is excellent. I specialise in designing small spaces - here is an idea about how it might work. Reading back some of the comments there may not be enough height for the fridge freezer where I have drawn it, sorry! Could be a good area for a larder cupboard or coat cupboard instead. Not sure how many people live in the house but hopefully this gives you some ideas.
Agata thanked Alice Clare StudioAgata
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Alice Clare Studio
2 years agolast modified: 2 years ago jane3892
2 years agolkirk44
2 years agoFiona Craig
2 years agoDan Bel
2 years agoFiona Craig
2 years ago
Chris Morgan-Jones