Extend Kitchen or Knock Through to Dining Room

TDS_2

Hi all,

We're in the process of buying a 3 bed 1930s house (detached, but identical layout to most semis of a similar age).

The current layout has living room at front with kitchen behind hall and dining room behind living room. The kitchen is the original size (galley, 2.5m x 4m) and we want to make it bigger.

Question is…do we knock the kitchen into the dining room to make a large open plan kitchen diner (6m x 4m), or do we retain the existing dining room and extend the kitchen out to the side. We have room for a 2m side extension (making the kitchen 4m x 4m) but this would remove the side access to the rear garden. Alternative is to extend 1m or so and retain a narrow passageway past the extension.

Any ideas? What do young families (it’s that sort of area) value more – two distinct reception rooms with a kitchen / breakfast room or larger kitchen diner with one reception room?

Thanks for looking!

dave82_2

"but this would remove the side access to the rear garden"

Is it yours to build on? Sometimes these access paths are shared or rights of way.

Otherwise it is down to personal preference. We have the same layout and wanted to keep the dining room so just went for a small kitchen. Our niegbours opened theirs up but now don't have much of an area for the dining table but a much bigger kitchen.

TDS_2

Thanks for the quick response.

The house to that side has their own drive (similar size). There is a fence divinding the two drives currently. I am assuming that any extension will have to be within the current boundary unless they agree for wall to straddle to dividing line (we assume they'd rather not!)

Owain_Moneysaver

Can you do a full width rear extension for a new kitchen-diner.

The existing kitchen becomes a continuation of the hall with a cloakroom to one side and the dining room becomes a study - you may need to add a window to the side wall but as you're detached you should be able to do that unless there's a chimbley in the way.

According to Sarah Beeny 'kitchen diner with views / patio door on the dining half to the garden' is what families love. And you definately need to keep reasonable access to the rear garden else how will you get the mower and trampoline down there?

CKdesigner

Hi TDS

It sounds like we have a very similar 1930's house also.

Obviously just taking the wall down between the kitchen and dining room would be much cheaper than an extension and yes, I would think this to be a better idea than leaving the ground floor layout as it is.

The other half and I are looking to extend all the way across the rear of our house, pushing the rear wall of the house on the ground floor out by 3m. If you then took the old kitchen, dining room and extension as one large square space, I would use the smallest space possible in the area of the old kitchen as a downstairs shower room / utility room. This would leave a big open plan 'L' shape space, in the old dining area I would put the new kitchen, then this would leave the entire rear section as dining and day room.

You might think it better to put the kitchen on the rear in the extension part, but this would leave the old dining room area quite dull. You see I think when you are in the kitchen you are 'working' and therefore views out of a kitchen window are unimportant. Also in our existing kitchen we tend to put the lights on when we go in even in the day, so it wouldn't be a problem to do this in the new kitchen area.

CK

HelenDaveKids

We had similar, extended up and down (full length as needed 4th bed also) as 3rd bedroom small. Can't say ever get rid of dining room as can also be used as 2nd tv room (hubbys football!)

diable

HelenDaveKids wrote: »

We had similar, extended up and down (full length as needed 4th bed also) as 3rd bedroom small. Can't say ever get rid of dining room as can also be used as 2nd tv room (hubbys football!)

or kids play room........

dander

Is this a development project or your own house to live in? If development, I would probably knock through because that's the cheapest easiest way to get the modern-looking big kitchen that house-buyers say they want. If it's your own house, then you need to think long and hard about what will suit your lifestyle best. Personally I think, if you've got the money to expand the kitchen by extending, there's a lot to be said for keeping an extra reception area that can change use to suit - and keep the kids toys, computers or whatever out of the main sitting room. Even without an extension, if I was buying I'd favour the house that wasn't knocked through, but I think i'm in the minority with that opinion.

Inactive

dander wrote: »

Even without an extension, if I was buying I'd favour the house that wasn't knocked through, but I think i'm in the minority with that opinion.

So would I, so you are not alone, I ignore jumped up TV presenters trying to tell us all what we should have.

TDS_2

Thanks for all the posts. Having thought some more on the matter, I think the best option is to knock through at this stage. Although we're detatched, it's not a massive plot. Extending the kitchen to the side would mean blocking side access (unless it's ony a 1m extension, in which case what's the point?). Extending to the rear might make more sense, but the garden isn't massive so that might be an issue.

TDS_2

Inactive wrote: »

So would I, so you are not alone, I ignore jumped up TV presenters trying to tell us all what we should have.

Is that because you would extend yourself anyway? Or do you prefer a seperate kitchen and dining room - even if the kitchen is small?