Small kitchen - losing my mind

moneyistooshorttomention

Am I getting this right - but it looks to me like if kitchen is the room furthest to the right and what you call "second living room" is the room in the middle = take a swing at the wall between the two of them and make the two together into a kitchen/diner.

Obviously - making sure that, with the wall removed, you'd done adequate supporting in case of wall above being load-bearing wall (as it probably is).

Personally - I don't tend to regard it as any big deal to either knock down or put up walls - but I don't know if you do?

ST1991

moneyistooshorttomention wrote: »

Am I getting this right - but it looks to me like if kitchen is the room furthest to the right and what you call "second living room" is the room in the middle = take a swing at the wall between the two of them and make the two together into a kitchen/diner.

Obviously - making sure that, with the wall removed, you'd done adequate supporting in case of wall above being load-bearing wall (as it probably is).

Personally - I don't tend to regard it as any big deal to either knock down or put up walls - but I don't know if you do?

My floorplan is rubbish sorry...
Essentially it is sideways (so the top and bottom are ajoining houses in the terrace)
Kitchen pokes out at the front of the house, more like a side porch.
Following on from the kitchen is the living room. Stairs run up the middle of the house, hallway goes to the back garden and the smaller room is the back room (which we planned on using as a dining room/kitchen in the long term)

The wall in question between the current kitchen/living room is the original front of the house (so solid stone) and we don't fancy long-term having that wall gone.

Long term = the small front extension will either be a utility/laundry room and plumbing/drainage sorted so the kitchen is at the back of the house.
OR... we extend the kitchen across (upwards, on the plan... sorry!) and have that as the kitchen diner, then onto living room etc.

Reason for this is that the largest room has a beautiful original fireplace in it that is open/usable, so we'd love to keep this as the living room.

The current kitchen is grotty, smelly and old. So we need something (probably a cheap ikea jobby) in the short term to allow us to have it as a functional room without appliances spread throughout the house

Doozergirl

It's easy to put a wall back up, you know!

ST1991

Doozergirl wrote: »

It's easy to put a wall back up, you know!

I understand, but it seems like an extra cost at this stage (and we'd possibly need to add support to that wall) when all it will currently do is open the kitchen up to the living room and lose the kitchen radiator

I was just wondering if there was any kitchen layout suggestions for that room that allow us to have all of the appliances we need to make it functional, without any drastic changes to the building itself as it won't be long-term.

Tiny city apartments make it work (somehow!) i just can't see that room being a functional kitchen as it is. But maybe it won't be unless we move walls/doors

tonyh66

take the radiator off the wall and install underfloor heating, that will give you that space back.

[Deleted User]

Does a kitchen need a radiator? I've never lived in a house that has one.

Jackieboy

Deleted_User wrote: »

Does a kitchen need a radiator? I've never lived in a house that has one.

Me neither.

Particularly in a kitchen that size, you'd only need to be using one ring for it to warm the room and you're not going to be lingering there anyway.

Sambella

I have a pretty small kitchen. No radiator.

Ione thing that could free up some space is to rehang your doors so that they do not open INTO the kitchen. This frees up a little space to have a cupboard or shelves above radiator should you wish to keep it.

This gives a few more options for fridge freezer. Beside sink which could be under the window but no 100% central to the window perhaps.

U shaped kitchen possibly with reduced width cupboards on wall where boiler is with cupboards or even shelves above.

Cooker to go on middle of wall oposite living room door ?

beaker141

I had a kitchen a similar width but longer, but I did a U shape but used wall cupboards as base cupboards on one side so the worktop depth was only about 340mm from memory - that gave enough aisle room and a couple of corner cupboards either side of the U - with 1 modified for width.

I do think its a pain where you have the doors as it eliminates 2 corners - would the living room door move to the other side so both doors use 1 corner allowing you to use the other corner for say a tall fridge/freezer?

ST1991

beaker141 wrote: »

I had a kitchen a similar width but longer, but I did a U shape but used wall cupboards as base cupboards on one side so the worktop depth was only about 340mm from memory - that gave enough aisle room and a couple of corner cupboards either side of the U - with 1 modified for width.

I do think its a pain where you have the doors as it eliminates 2 corners - would the living room door move to the other side so both doors use 1 corner allowing you to use the other corner for say a tall fridge/freezer?

Good idea about the reduced depth cabinets :T

We don't have the funds to start move doors/walls yet, and eventually the room will no longer be a kitchen. it just needs to be made functional for now, so shallower cupboards might help, it's still just a case of where to put the appliances! :eek: