Sacrifice dining room for bigger kitchen & downstairs loo??

Mahri

Hi

Just after a bit of advice and/or opinions!

I have a 2 bed Victorian end terrace.
Downstairs - hallway, living room to the left, central staircase (parallel to the street) dining room, tiny kitchen at the back (square, not the long style in some terraces)

My other half has considered an extension on the back and side return to enlarge kitchen area.
Given the house is only a 2 bed and unlikely to ever house a family of more than 4, we think it may be better to spend the money on re-jigging the layout and sacrificing the separate dining room that is just hogging much of our space.

My idea is to relocate the small back kitchen into the large dining room, making this a spacious kitchen/diner, moving the back door from side return to the back of the house, and creating a downstairs loo and utility area in current kitchen (as a section parallel to side return, not along the back wall)

I think the larger kitchen would appeal to buyers when we come to sell, and the downstairs loo would be useful. Currently toilets are accessed through the bedrooms BUT we do already have two toilets, one in bathroom through back bedroom, one in shower room ensuite in front bedroom!
Is three toilets excessive for a 2 bed house?! Well it is I suppose, however for guests and families a toilet downstairs, not accessed through bedrooms seems more practical and modern.

My main aim would be to create the most conventional use of the space, i dont want it to feel odd, but design cleverly to maximise the light into the back of the house.

Please share your thoughts! Thank you

laurel7172

I think it's the perfect use of the "wasted" second sitting room/dining room in a Victorian terrace. I saw a house that had this done this on Rightmove, and I couldn't believe I hadn't thought of it before.

Go for it

mummyroysof3

Would there be room for a table in new kitchen? Even one of those that folds up with chairs folded inside would be good.

keystone

Mahri wrote: »

I have a 2 bed Victorian end terrace.

Theres a clue here. More than likely that what you call the dining room was the kitchen at the time of first occupation and your kitchen was actually the scullery.

....................... sacrificing the separate dining room that is just hogging much of our space.

Naughty dining room! . Don't forget you are in charge. Its your house. You decide how to utilise the space. I think you should go for it.

Cheers

mummyroysof3

If you are happy with it tuen go ahead and design it how you want but personally it would put me off if there was no where to put a dinning table. As you say it's more a 4 person house and I would be buying for 5 so I'm not your target market anyway lol

tired_dad

Our pad is larger and I still often wonder what the point of a dining room is. Formal dining seems to be out of fashion.

If you have the cash for an extension then it's still worth considering your ideas above with an extension. You might get a more spacious open plan living area with kitchen and dining. All the rage. Look at pics of all the London properties on rigtmove. Plenty of ideas there

rustyboy21

My house is similar , but was 4 bed with 3 rooms downstairs and a tiny, tiny kitchen.

I made the back ,large reception room into the kitchen, with breakfast bar, then made to small kitchen, which was in the long,thin annexe into a utility room and then made the downstairs bathroom into a shower room.

Upstairs I made the smallest bedroom into a full bathroom, which then leads up to the attic.

Definitely made the house better and much more useable. I also think it has raised the price for the house, as it makes it so much easier for a new buyer.

IMO, a 2 bed house. If you cannot fit a dining table in, don't fret too much, it won't be a deal breaker, a bigger , newer kitchen ready done for them, would make it sell better than a small pokey kitchen and a large dining room.
Good luck, it's a dirty PIA job to do, but worth it. My plasterwork in the old dining room was 8'' thick, which all had to come off, in order to hang the wall units. I can hear next door a lot clearer now. If you have this issue, ask the builder to well insulate that wall, before you tile it.

jellie

Providing you can get a dining table in the new kitchen, I'd do it too.

With the way your bathrooms are configured, a downstairs toilet would be useful.

LEJC

swings and roundabouts really...you'll appeal to those that want a kitchen and not to those who want a dining room...

personally I like the seperate dining room so that I dont appear to be eating amonst the debris that I often leave in the kitchen during and after cooking!


Although I do have to dissagree with the poster who calls small kitchens "pokey"....a small kitchen certainly doesnt need to be pokey with the use of space thoughfully and good lighting!


I would also wonder where you would put up an ironing board,will the utility room be big enough for this,or are you in effect reducing useable spaceby having a kitchen thats big enough to houes all your appliances and a utility room which just turns out to be a further extension of the kitchen,but not big enough to accomodate laundry etc

notanewuser

The bathroom through the 2nd bedroom is likely to be a bigger issue for buyers.

Also, your 1 living room will end up full of children's toys if you don't have a dining room you can turn into a playroom.