PENINSULA PROS

- Bit cheaper (£1500 ish)

- More in line with scale of building?

- Utility cupboard (washing, coats, shoes) between kitchen and stairs, with door to WC

- Slightly longer living room sofa wall leaves room for tall radiator

My first instinct is to do the island as it's a bigger open plan space (am assuming you still keep the loo under the stairs).

However, if that's your main door coming straight into the kitchen then it does seem to be a bit more crowded on entry. Another option would be to combine the two plans - so keep the peninsula, but knock out the storage zone like you have in the second plan - that would give you max open space when you enter the house and more of an open plan feel overall, but still got peninsula rather than island.

I'd probably do the island though as it's more practical - is there 1200mm between the corner of the island and the corner where the door is to the understairs loo?

ISLAND PROS/CONS

- Bigger space, more wow

- More communal/usable?

- Can hide washing/coats/shoes in 1-2 of the various tall units

- More sellable when time comes?

- More expensive 

- WC opens into kitchen (but will be hidden within cabinetry doors)

- Drying washing is a question (in the peninsula design it will inevitably end up drying in the utility cupboard - not ideal but at least out of sight). In this design, no idea. We are discussing adapting our upstairs airing cupboard, but the knock on effect is stuff currently stored in there would need new homes. Urgh. 😂

ISLAND PROS/CONS

- Bigger space, more wow

- More communal/usable?

- Can hide washing/coats/shoes in 1-2 of the various tall units

- More sellable when time comes?

- More expensive 

- WC opens into kitchen (but will be hidden within cabinetry doors)

- Drying washing is a question (in the peninsula design it will inevitably end up drying in the utility cupboard - not ideal but at least out of sight). In this design, no idea. We are discussing adapting our upstairs airing cupboard, but the knock on effect is stuff currently stored in there would need new homes. Urgh. 😂

Thanks both so far!  To answer questions:

Yes that door is the main entry (annoyingly).

Yes there can be 1200 between corner of island and corner of WC (then 1200 behind stools, but only 1100 or even 1000 between island and kitchen cabinets - depending on island width)

We would keep the WC in both versions but hide it in cabinetry doors in the island version. 

Thanks! 

Oh and current floor plan is attached.

What are your thoughts on moving the main entry?

(Sounds like you don't like it where it is currently ;) )

Haha quite right I don't! I'll show those to my wife thanks 🙏 That said, you approach the house from the kitchen side so that would mean walking all the way round. I think our worry would be that folks would take the easier route and appear at our patio doors.

OK, then moving the main entry to the secluded living room is probably not a good idea ;) That lovely room is nicer left alone anyway - it could be used as a work office or (guest) bedroom.

The trend right now is that people desperately want to move/remove WCs that open directly into kitchens and diners. So for resale, the island layout might end up working against you.

If you have the budget for it, there could be an opportunity to move the main entry somehow so you get both a large kitchen and a private WC. Not sure this would work but here's another idea:

I’m confused. Is the kitchen window at the front? Could you move the front door to the front?

Is your house a semi? Do you have to match your neighbours?

Can the stairs move (it’s not necessarily more expensive than knocking out downstairs walls.

Does the kitchen have to stay in this location?

Is there any possibility of later extension if so does that affect your plans now?

Thanks both!

@HU924etc:

Thanks for that alternative suggestion! Looks interesting. I think budget *might* stretch. I'll speak to my wife. 

I was worried about the resale thing. Do you happen to know of any evidence on that? You say it's a trend and I've worried that but I can't find any proper evidence either way. 

@Jonathon:

Thanks. To clarify: The road, garage and therefore main entrance is at the back, so you walk toward the kitchen window and enter at the side of the house/kitchen via a lean to porch

No the house is detached. 

We've wondered about moving stairs and can do *but* a big problem is that the front room is single story so there isn't headheight to run the stairs into that room.

Re extension; I don't *think* so. We'd be exceeding the ceiling on house prices in the area.

Thanks again both/all!

Thanks both!

@HU924etc:

Thanks for that alternative suggestion! Looks interesting. I think budget *might* stretch. I'll speak to my wife. 

I was worried about the resale thing. Do you happen to know of any evidence on that? You say it's a trend and I've worried that but I can't find any proper evidence either way. 

@Jonathon:

Thanks. To clarify: The road, garage and therefore main entrance is at the back, so you walk toward the kitchen window and enter at the side of the house/kitchen via a lean to porch

No the house is detached. 

We've wondered about moving stairs and can do *but* a big problem is that the front room is single story so there isn't headheight to run the stairs into that room.

Re extension; I don't *think* so. We'd be exceeding the ceiling on house prices in the area.

Thanks again both/all!

Thanks both!

@HU924etc:

Thanks for that alternative suggestion! Looks interesting. I think budget *might* stretch. I'll speak to my wife. 

I was worried about the resale thing. Do you happen to know of any evidence on that? You say it's a trend and I've worried that but I can't find any proper evidence either way. 

@Jonathon:

Thanks. To clarify: The road, garage and therefore main entrance is at the back, so you walk toward the kitchen window and enter at the side of the house/kitchen via a lean to porch

No the house is detached. 

We've wondered about moving stairs and can do *but* a big problem is that the front room is single story so there isn't headheight to run the stairs into that room.

Re extension; I don't *think* so. We'd be exceeding the ceiling on house prices in the area.

Thanks again both/all!

Thanks both!

@HU924etc:

Thanks for that alternative suggestion! Looks interesting. I think budget *might* stretch. I'll speak to my wife. 

I was worried about the resale thing. Do you happen to know of any evidence on that? You say it's a trend and I've worried that but I can't find any proper evidence either way. 

@Jonathon:

Thanks. To clarify: The road, garage and therefore main entrance is at the back, so you walk toward the kitchen window and enter at the side of the house/kitchen via a lean to porch

No the house is detached. 

We've wondered about moving stairs and can do *but* a big problem is that the front room is single story so there isn't headheight to run the stairs into that room.

Re extension; I don't *think* so. We'd be exceeding the ceiling on house prices in the area.

Thanks again both/all!

On the point about the WC opening onto the kitchen, we were in Wren yesterday and saw a clever almost triangle corner cupboard 120cm X 120cm. They'd hidden a home office in it, but we wondered about using it to screen off the toilet door and have a place to dry washing etc. What do you all think? See images attached*

*This would just be a slanted cupboard door, not the full cabinets behind it. The image is a bit misleading sorry.

Also apologies some of my messages are posting multiple times, I don't know why 🤦🤷

I prefer the island. It’s a much more open space - very nice 👌

I was worried about the resale thing. Do you happen to know of any evidence on that?

No, I don't have any hard evidence, no statistics, nothing of the sort. I wish I did. Are there any realtors you could talk to about that?

As for the angled toilet door, it introduces more issues than it fixes. It creates a pinch point between the island corner and access point into/out of the house. Imagine trying to open it, with the island corner right at your back, and someone else rushing out of the house at the same time.

Also, have you considered fire regulations? (Article here.)

You mention the desire to see your children from the kitchen, is that the only driver for the change? It’s a big expense and children rapidly grow up and appreciate having their own space! Just a thought. I like the peninsula option, it feels more room somehow. Re the toilet, nothing would persuade me to buy a house with a toilet opening directly into the kitchen! It’d be ok if there were a lobby, with two doors, but not otherwise. That’s just my view, but I’ve a feeling I’m not alone.

I agree with Angie. I also wouldn't buy a house with a toilet opening into the kitchen/diner/living room, unless it were easy to change.

While I prefer the island layout in and of itself, the U-shaped one fits your space better and provides much better circulation. And it's still a good kitchen!

Left field suggestion

Huge thanks all! 🙏 Very interesting to see different opinions on island/peninsula per se. 

Re fire regs... Actually no! We have had builders and surveyors out and none have mentioned there being a problem but that article is super helpful thanks! 👍

Jonathan, thanks! That's a really interesting alternative design! I'm going to plan it out with exact measurements and see if it works. Thanks so much 🙏

At the moment I think we are leaning peninsula though. 

Cheers all - so helpful

If anyone else is still reading this, firstly thank you!! Secondly, my wife has decided she wants to keep the entrance on the side where it is, so can't do Jonathans suggestion. But it has made me think and I've come up with this. Any opinions very welcome!! Thanks 🙏👍

This gives you a smaller kitchen, and a dining room that is too narrow and too far from the kitchen

Do the kitchen and dining like Jonathan's and leave the space where the door enters into as a nice big entrance where the kids can play and you can see them. You could probably add a small sofa or a couple of armchairs to create a bit of a lounge - and/or a desk against the wall for homework. I think that would be nicer to walk into rather than straight into kitchen, and it means the kitchen is in the middle of the house - equidistant to dining area, front loung and the new entrance playarea/lounge. You can still do the banquette seating for the dining table to create a really nice comfortable zone there too.

Thanks both! Yeah... I think the problem is that my wife basically doesn't want to walk (from that side door - bottom on the image) straight into a lounge type space, preferring to walk into a kitchen or dining space. Here's one more go (still a smaller kitchen though yeah) and if not I reckon we'll go with the peninsula (oh just cos I know there are no dimensions on this, the space with the dining table here is 3m wide - that's too narrow? -  and the space with the kitchen/lounge is 3.6m wide).

This latest kitchen is even smaller! If you're honest with yourselves, would you be happy with a kitchen this small?

A width of 3 meters is close to the minimum for a dining room with chairs, excluding circulation paths. But your banquette setup might clear the needed space for the path from the main entry.

If leaving the the main entry in its current place, opening into either a kitchen or a diner, your original peninsula plan makes the most sense so far ;)

Haha thanks HU924Etc! Yeah tbh, you're right. We wouldn't be. I was looking into whether we could remove the fireplace like Jonathan suggested but I think it's just not in our budget. And also it's one of the few things in an otherwise nondescript 50s building that brings some character. So we discussed at length last night and I think peninsula it is! Emailing the builders shortly. Thanks again for all your help (and everyone else here)! 🙏