Converting a garage into a kitchen

[sweetserendipity]

I'm toying with the idea of converting our integral garage into a kitchen & just wondered if anyone has done this & can share any good/bad points to bear in mind.
Thanks.

[amarg]

Never done it personally, but this might give you a few pointers garage conversion

[gabyjane]

Hi hmm no advice im afraid as we have been looking into ours for ages now and only had anglian round who said it couldnt be done but would still love to get it done..looking at our house layout a kitchen would be a fab idea for ours then make our lounge much bigger..prob with ours is it runs under the house and only has access by going outside and through the garage door so fire regs are harder..hmm you have spurred me to ring round some more people and get a deff answer..good luck x

[lfc321]

did ours last year (we knocked through between the existing kitchen and the garage to make a big kitchen/diner). Advice:

Think very carefully about what you want and draw up some plans (even if just a sketch)
Get a good builder (not necessarily the cheapest quote)
Talk to building regs before you start

[gabyjane]

See the more i look at it the more i wonder why we hadnt thought of it first!..the lounge would be twice as big and could be used for the kids i mind better with more light as would have another window..the kitchen would be bigger and i bet now the builders say no grr great idea there though!

[ormus]

be very aware that you may affect the resale value of your home. a garage is a big selling point in most homes.
id be very loath to buy a house with no garage. or no space to build one.

[JW here]

tip
Take the car out first....!!! thats if you can get the car in the garage in the first place.

[Doozergirl]

Is the garage near to the existing kitchen and the soil pipes outside? It's very difficult to run drains across a long distance. Not impossible but it can be more costly and inconvenient if you're digging holes inside your own house!

[planning_officer]

Also check there are no restrictive conditions on previous planning permissions that restrict the use of the garage for parking only - in which case, you will need planning permission (you won't otherwise).

[gabyjane]

Hi our kitchen is directly above our garage as runs under our house so easy to move all the pipework as we enquired when we had our plumber round about moving our washing machine down there. The planning is fine.
We never use our garage for the car tbh and although i wanted one when we bought now im not wuite sure why! aside from the fact that all my friends stuff is blocking it up after she has removed after the weekend i am blitzing it!
The whole car thing has been asked over and over again and i know some people love the fact that thier car is safe but tbh for most it's just an added hassle! I think the kitchen would look fab downstairs..like my aunties posh london flat (and she doesn't have a garage!)

[sweetserendipity]

For us, the garage is infront of the utility, so I'm hoping pipes etc. wouldn't be a huge problem (there's already a washing machine & dishwasher in the utility).

I was actually thinking of converting the garage into a family/TV room initially, but then started thinking of making it into a kitchen as our current kitchen is so small.

Another complication, possibly, is that we have planning permission to build on top of the garage/utility. Hoping to get that done this year & thought we may as well get the garage converted at the same time, if we decide to do it. Finances wouldn't allow us to actually get the kitchen fitted out straightaway, it would just be the bare bones of the room initially & get the kitchen fitted when we had saved up the money.

I am dithering about losing the garage though, as gabyjane said as well, a garage was on my wishlist when I bought this house. But why?! It just gets used as a dumping ground & has never been used for the car & probably never will be. It seems daft to have that potential extra living space just sat there doing nothing. Think it might be worth speaking to a couple of local estate agents, see what they think?? Btw, there's plenty of space to park in the front garden & we also have some space at the side of the house.

Obviously lots of things to consider & people to speak to ...

Thanks everyone

[gabyjane]

Hi just wanted to add we had the conversion blokey round and he said all fine etc, came back with a price of £6k but will be a bit more as due to the fire regs etc we will have to pay for bits on top but i reckoned fully fitted out etc £7k. Dh is not keen and i am if it could be done easier than it would be so we are still saving and i hope to still get done in the future (unless we move!) The garden really is the priority as waterlogs at the bottom, we have had a man round r.e the decking who we asked to then do this summer but he has changed job so we are back to square one grr! although looking at the constant awful weather im wondering whether to waste the money or not..hmm
Good luck getting it done it will be lovely by the sounds of it. x