Are kitchen diners always a good thing ?

TBagpuss

I think the noise issue is a big one - years ago, when we (4 children) were ages between 6 and 15, my parents had extensive works done to their house. The architect was all for making the whole of the downstairs open plan, and having a gallery style staircase so the landing would have been open, too.

My parents response was that while that might look nice, it would be a b*gg*r to heat, and one you factor in one child watching TV, one practising the piano, one practising the saxophone and one listening to music while doing homework, plus one parent cooking with the radio on and the other trying to read, it would all be a bit much.

The architect was not, I think, a family man..

I personally like separate rooms, but if you are going to knock through I'd rather have a living/dining room and a separate kitchen.

My neighbours recently knocked a big open hatchway between their kitchen and one of the two downstairs rooms (they have one set up as a living room and the other as a study, they don't seem to have a dining room as such) It means that their daughter can be in the living room and a parent in the kitchen, and still see/speak to her. The hatchway goes from just above the kitchen units to just below the ceiling so they have retianed storage space in the kitchen.

In their place I think I would have gone with a smaller gap so which could be closed if wished, but it works for them.

In you case, change it if you think it would work for you. You are the ones who live there.

Ben84

I'm fortunate to have both a dining room and a kitchen with room for a table and chairs. If I had to give up one seating area, it would be the dining room without a second thought. We don't use it that much and it doesn't really suit me anyway. If people are over and I'm making food, it's ideal having a table and chairs in the kitchen for them to sit. Otherwise they'd just be standing around in the kitchen while I cook, or sitting in the other room unable to talk with me. Opinions vary, but I like the bigger kitchen with table. The other benefit is when I'm cooking, the kitchen table becomes an extra place to store things and work, plus I can keep an eye on stuff that's cooking while we're eating.

sniggings

if the present rooms are big enough now then I would leave it, if on the small side then worth doing.

[Deleted User]

I wouldn't do it if you are thinking of selling in the future. Potential purchasers may want the option of making a 4th bedroom from the dining room like we did. We have a small sepate kitchen and a lounge with an archway to the dining room which was only ever used as a throughway to the garden with a dining table for the kids. We have now moved the dining table into the lounge and put up a cheap folding door to the dining room to create a bedroom for us. The kids now have a bedroom each upstairs. If the house had a kitchen diner setup instead I don't think we would have had this s option.
For us this a far better use of space. With our lounge being open plan to the stairs this does give us a bigger space in the lounge to be multi use.

dirty_magic

I think this thread shows it's personal taste, so if you don't want it don't do it! Don't bother spending all that money if it's just to sell it on.

Personally I agree with your husband, but that's because I don't like living diners and for us a separate dining room would be a room that we'd never use.

We're about to knock our kitchen and dining room into one, because the kitchen is far too small and we like kitchen diners.

Yorkie1

I have an archway between the small kitchen and the dining room, and then a separate living room.

I'd initially thought I'd like a lounge - diner, but don't want the combined open plan area. In winter, it's really nice to have the snug, warm living room to stay in; far easier to heat and fewer draughts.