Which is better Big kitchen or Big Dining Room

holidayhippo

Hello Everyone:

We've been living in our home for about a year now, throwing so many idea's about how best upgrade it.

It is in desperate need of modernising - however we are stuck as to what to do for the best.

At the moment we have a large Dining room and a small kitchen around 13ftx8 with a flat roof.

Idea one: make the current kitchen the dining room, get a new roof and velux windows and make the dining room the kitchen, its rather large so would be able to accommodate an island/breakfast bar etc.

Idea two: keep things as is, have a large dining room and a small kitchen.

which ever option we choose the wall between the two rooms will be taken down so would be very open plan, but this needs to be done as it will look significantly better.

If it helps the dining room is square and kitchen rectangle.

Can anyone suggest which option they think would be the best?

jackyann

It depends completely on how you like to live your lives.
Do you do a lot of cooking, and do friends / family come & hang about & chat whilst you do so?
How old are your kids and how much time do they spend in either room?
Do you use the dining room table for other activities - studying, hobbies etc.
Do you have people round often for a sit-down meal?

Get some large sheets of paper & pens in each room, note how much time you spend in each, what doing, and what you would like to do differently.

Think about houses you visit, how they work and what you like / dislike.

Spend some time marking out, moving furniture, and moving around in your "imaginary new" rooms.

Talk it over & over and don't rush.

lee111s

I think big kitchen, it's also a great selling point to have a nice, big kitchen.

Do you not have the option to knock through and make a large kitchen/diner.

Poppy9

If it's open plan then I would keep the kitchen where it is but extend a bit out into the dining room. The dinning room, if big enough could accommodate a sofa so you have a large open plan living/cooking/eating area. IMO a small dining room which is used once a day if that is a wasted room. A large dining room that can double as a living room is more practical.

Can you give a rough drawing to show the shape etc.

holidayhippo

No, its very awkwardly shaped.

I like the big kitchen idea I just can't imagine it and don't want it to end up being a huge mistake!

holidayhippo

Here goes for a rough drawing:




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holidayhippo

I dont understand why its gone weird.

I click on edit and it doesn't look like that :@

SailorSam

I'd go for a big kitchen/diner,
The only time a seperate dining room is a benefit is if you have lots of dinner parties.

Poppy9

holidayhippo wrote: »

Here goes for a rough drawing:




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So you have an L shaped room. Can you extend out to make it square? Else I would have copletely open plan kitchen in smaller part and have living/dining room.

holidayhippo

We'd love to do that, but we've been told it'll cost something like £8,000 just for the build.

It would only be 5ft by 13ft so a relatively small extension, there won't be any drainage issues to deal with or anything as they wouldn't be moved.

I cannot justify spending that plus buying a kitchen etc so what £15k min big chance of being more I don't really think it would add that on this street…

Although we know we want to be here for another 3-5 years, we don't know if we want to stay long term so need to make sure the money we put it we get back out.

Poppy9

If it doesn't add value and it's not a long term plan to stay then you are wise not to over develop.

My nephew had a similar layout and he closed off door to hall way so the kitchen area was all useable walls for a U shape kitchen. Wall between kitchen and dining room came down completely and the rear window replaced with patio doors so no need for back door in kitchen.

The kitchen area is compact but it's the best use of the space in his house and because there is no separation into the dining area it's has a lovely roomy feel.

Can you nose at neighbours houses or look on rightmoves for same style houses to what they did!