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Renovating Design Dilemma Kitchens

Seeking Advice on House Reconfiguration

last month

Hi,

We’re planning how best to reconfigure our new home and would love your input. Our goal is to create a large open-plan kitchen and dining area with a connection to the back garden while maintaining a well-sized utility room. Additionally, we need an office space suitable for two people, though it doesn’t have to be a separate room.

We plan on putting a permanent roof on the conservatory and an extra door way from the hallway into the kitchen.

Some key ideas we’re considering:

1. We take down the wall between the wall between the dining room and kitchen, as well as opening up the wall at the back right sitting room with doors/glass to create a bright seating area with access to garden.

2. We take out the chimney and move the utility to the garage at the side (connected somehow) and use all the back of the house as kitchen/living - then adding pocket doors to create a flexible dining room/office space at the front of the house.

The front of the house has a deep garden and lovely views too.

Would appreciate your thoughts.

Thank you so much.

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Comments (4)

Jonathan
last month
What a super house….. but isn’t it odd that when they built these houses even though they had good gardens they built such small back windows in contrast to the back windows.

So I think you should be thinking about a few things- you should consider how many bedrooms you need because it may be just as easy to have your office upstairs.

I think you should consider what the utility is used for and whether that needs to be all in the same room and if it need to be accessed by the kitchen. For instance do you need a dirty entrance for dogs…. Or you thinking it will be a pantry? Or a laundry- perhaps that might be better upstairs?

And I think you should consider if it’s worth the cost of replacing the conservatory roof given its age as they don’t last for ever.

And I think you should consider the cost of building a link to the garage and if the money spent on the garage and conservatory might add more value on an extension.
Isla Cherry
last month
You did say its your new house? I would take my time and do a ton of research first. See how it flows and serves your needs first. Many architects would give you a complimentary first consultation. It's worth finding out what extras they can suggest. They do study for a long time and it is their specialty. It seems to have great light and is on a large plot so you want to make the most of that.
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I remember your floor plan- looks like you are getting there! My thoughts would be: Kitchen is a long way from utility room. What about when you want to leave a pan from the kitchen to soak overnight in your utility sink? Or quickly 'hide' an extra lot of cleaning up from guests? Kitchen is a long way from front door, so carrying shopping bags in would be a bit of a trek! The middle lounge would just be a corridor and I can't imagine it would be used in preference to the sitting room The downstairs toilet is through the utility room, so no way of hiding laundry piles from your guests. I like the orientation of the island (I think it is preferable to have it overlooking the garden IF the space allows-which it does for you) Why is the en suite off the master bedroom the smallest of all bathrooms? Why have the landing cupboard accessed from the back bedroom rather than a linen cupboard from the landing? Why not pinch the 'L' bit of this cupboard to allow for a separate shower in the main bathroom? I think I personally would carry the hallway all the way to the back, have the study where the utility is, keep the dining room for dining (where shopping bags can be dumped on the table), have the utility room between the kitchen and garage, then have kitchen and living in the 'snooker room'. Do whatever works for you though :)
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Hi! Yes there is a lot that could be done to improve this house. You don't necessarily have to make huge changes to achieve big improvements. The thoughts you've had seem reasonable and could work well. I recommend starting off by setting your budget, and then figuring out what changes you can make to achieve the home you want within that budget. Looking at all the possibilities, designing a huge amount of alterations and then getting a price for that tends to lead to it being out of budget, and takes a lot longer and is then a lot more painful and difficult to have to start discarding ideas. So start with a budget in mind and then design within that budget. I have an on-demand workshop that will help you with this. You can find out more and get that here: https://iarchitectlimited.vipmembervault.com/products/courses/view/1145853 For planning permission it really depends on what you want to do. If you don't change anything externally then you won't need planning permission at all, though you might need building control if you're making structural changes and moving bathrooms. I've made a few videos about planning permission and building control which you can watch for free on my youtube channel here: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLyL1JqFVTPDqFrElNsPbNpTjKcCjSap_i Best wishes with your home purchase and redesign! Jane award winning chartered architect eco-home and conservation area specialist www.i-architect.co.uk Join Jane live on facebook for home design tips and expert Q&A. Midday Mondays: https://fb.me/e/fXBDxgZ3x
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150k is a generous budget but a 2 storey could absorb that! Loft extension about 40k minimum. A new bathroom 7-10k. New kitchen 10/15k. Structural work 10k. Redecoration 5K. New siding doors 5K. None of these are high spec prices. So you need to prioritise your needs based on your family requirements. Why do you need a downstairs loo and a separate full bathroom? Better to have a utility, loo under stairs IMO. Bathroom upstairs is a must. Do you need the third bedroom - if that is a must then the loft extension is the most cost effective way of doing this without the need to extend. Stair placement is the key consideration but your stairs may give you an option to construct this without the need to sacrifice precious space upstairs. I would merge the kitchen and loo area into an open kitchen/diner.
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There. One large bedroom, two smaller. Hardly any structural changes (see second image). What's been changed: Chimney in new kitchen: Opened up to fit stove. Livingroom door reinstalled, internal window towards column. Wall removed (dining table). Wc door moved to fit in basin. Wall next to former kitchen removed to create two similar sized bedrooms. If permitted add a bedroom window on the side, or if possible a small rooflight where the current window is (hope there's no storey on top). Same for a small porthole window at the front to brighten up the new corridor. And i changed some plumbing (and steps and wall) at the front of the house to improve the bathroom, plus a little extra in the master suite. Oh yes, kitchen plumbing as well. Hope it will help you with the makeover. Feel free to contact me for tweaks and/or donation.
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HU-84884232
Original Author
last month
Thanks both. We're definielty going to change the roof on the conservatory to allow us to use it all year round. Agree very odd with the small windows at the back! I had considered the laundry upstairs as we did that in our last house but it always annoyed me that we could hear it going at night. We need 5 bedrooms (3 kids, ours and a guest). We're knocking two rooms and the small toilet at the back together to make a primary suite.
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Jonathan
last month
What I would do
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