Hi Minnie Thanks for your input. Fresh eyes are invaluable, I will play around with your ideas. I know what you mean about flow, here's further explanation: In the lounge, the current door means we only have a small sofa and really miss being able to stretch out. This will still be a primary lounge so want it to feel really comfortable. I was thinking the door could be glass too to allow light into the back of the kitchen... a tricky one. Another idea could be to move the lounge door towards the front right of the room giving a large corner for a sofa on the kitchen wall end? I also think having the island in it current orientation pulls you towards the garden, but not having a lounge door in the kitchen does free up a whole wall for storage etc. Thanks again Neil.

could rotate the island so it faces the row of larders, want to be looking our the garden when sitting. that's if you wanted seating on the island :)

There are so many options though, it can be a bit overwhelming, plus it really depends on what feel you're going for, your familys needs etc.   I like where you were going with your rubbed out island instead of the peninsula.  I feel peninsulas cut up a room when you've just spent all that money opening it up! I would put all my tall units against the new utility room so that the rest of the kitchen can be really light and open with lots of worktop. We could even look at secret pantries/walk through larder connecting to the utility! I would avoid having a TV in here if possible, make this the social room.  Then you could put the sofa against the wall, looking into the garden.  If you'd like a free, no obligation chat to bounce some ideas around, feel free to get in touch www.thekitchenladyuk.co.uk  Good luck Emily

I too would suggest spending your budget extending sideways. Given that the space between the sitting room and garage is described as ‘alleyway’, I assume this and the WC and Utility room were previously / are outbuildings? As mentioned above the footings for the garage will probably require significant work and money in order to be able to build on top. I would therefore knock the garage, hall, WC and utility (as it will probably be cheaper to start from scratch) and do a full two story extension on the side and open up the current sitting room and kitchen diner into each other and the extension. The living room could then become a formal sitting room. Depending on whether you need a garage, you could have a beautiful huge open plan living area utility & WC and upstairs you could either extend bedrooms 2,3 &4 and add a couple of en-suites, or an additional bedroom, or change that side into a fabulous master, with it’s own full bathroom and walk-in wardrobes. That way you don’t need to make massive changes to plumbing / soil pipes / gas supply etc. If you need a garage, still do the two story extension as I suggested but rather than having all of the downstairs space for open plan living, you have a slightly smaller open plan living and an integrated garage. This way you’ll be able to live in it whilst the work is being done and the whole house won’t be undergoing construction work at the same time. Then essentially other than the extension, the rest of the house is just cosmetic and maybe you could do that yourself over time, this would maximise your budget for all those lovely bells and whistles and you’d have a beautiful modern space, all rooms in the house of excellent proportions.