Making my kitchen bigger ??

Dukes_of_hazard

At present we have a smallish kitchen (13'9" x 8'0") in a five bedroom house with a good size lounge , a fair size dining room (11'9" x 10'0") a utility room and a study.
The kitchen is next to the dining room and I am wondering what people think of knocking the two together to form a very good sized kitchen diner ?

In general is it better to have a kitchen diner or would it be better to keep the house as it is with its seperate reception rooms ?

Thanks

Poser

i would keep it 2 diffrent rooms, but in your kitchen put in a breakfast bar

clutton_2

i would also keep it as two rooms - more rooms give different purchasers more choice in the future as to how to use a house.

wigginsmum

I'd go for a kitchen-diner - much more sociable. I'd be more likely to buy a house with this than a small kitchen and separate diningroom.

Ems*Honie

I would knock them through, one large space is far more appealing than one small and one medium.

Debt_Free_Chick

Well, if the Property Ladder* type programmes are to be believed, a kitchen/diner is de-rigeur at the moment. I can understand this as most of us have informal gatherings where the cook doesn't want to be separated from the guests, who are busy swigging wine at the table waiting for the starter to arrive.

One thing in favour of knocking through to combine the kitchen & diner .... if you ever sell, then any buyer can easily reinstate a separate dining room by putting in a stud wall - simple & cheap (but effective).

HTH

* Actually, Sarah Beeny is the one presenter of these programmes that I actually respect. She is usually "spot on".

Cristy

I agree - knock it through. Nothing like being able to eat your family meals in a large and well designed kitchen diner. We have a kitchen diner in this house and it is one of the rooms we use the most.

Also - you say you have a study - depending on location and size, this could serve as a separate dining room should the need arise?

And if the new owners don't like it, like DFC said, they can always put up a stud partition.

sportbeth

We've got the exact same plan with our new house. Knocking down the wall will really open up the space.

cattie

When I viewed my house the enormous open plan kitchen/dining room sold the house to me.

Everybody who comes to my house swoons at the sight of this lovely big room, so I definitely think it is the kind of space that people really desire.

As others have mentioned here if you do sell & the new buyers don't like the huge space then they can have the room divided again & you could always point this out to prospective buyers when the time comes to market the house.

Ted_Hutchinson

Well I certainly won't want to buy your house after you've knocked the dining room into the kitchen.
I prefer to have the mess and smell while cooking kept separate from the eating experience. Much better to have the kitchen to yourself while preparing the meal and be able to shut the door on the cooking and the cleaning involved. Having a separate dining room keep the meal civilised and allows you to return to the kitchen for a spot of relaxation during the meal and the chance to let off steam or laugh, about the views of some of your guests. If it's all one room there's no chance, apart from a trip to the loo for any break from your guests and surely there are times when it's nice to have a bit of space to yourself, if only to hide the cracked meringue under a thick layer of whipped cream.

sue_balu

Knock thru without a doubt!