Hello! We have a lovely period property (1909) here in the UK. We desperately want to extend, so we have a bigger kitchen with seating, and we can put a downstairs toilet and utility in. I've got two young kids and a dog, the house isn't working for us any longer.

A obvious thing to do would be to knock through, but there is an enormous fireplace/chimney (circled in red). It's much bigger than it appears here, 200cm wide and 95cm deep. The quotes we've had to remove this are astronomical, doubling the cost, so we're thinking of leaving it in.

I am thinking we could put a utility/toilet where the kitchen is currently, and then add an extension on the back to create that open-plan feel - but I'm absolutely stuck, I can't work out if I should keep access into the kitchen from the hallway, or just have access to the kitchen through the family room/playroom and back garden. The latter makes more sense, BUT i'm thinking about bringing shopping in, bringing laundry from downstairs, etc

I have added some mock-ups, but would love to hear people's thoughts.

We are semi-detached to the left-hand side and would have no problem with planning - our street is full of massive extensions. Thank you so so much for reading.