Would you buy a house with a dark kitchen?

KaratePigeon

We are going for a 2nd viewing of a house today, the size and location are good and I love the upstairs layout. There aren't many houses for sale in the area we want so have to compromise somewhere.


The kitchen is 20ftx8ft, the small wall has patio doors to the west-facing garden but the rest of the kitchen is the middle of the house so no windows. We'd replace the kitchen anyway so could get creative with lighting, but would it ever feel as nice as a kitchen with natural light?

need_an_answer

Light boxes or light tunnels might work,Im sure there are lots of possibilities.

However IMO if something starts off as a problem,it usually remains so if you are one of those people who "need" daylight in a kitchen the house may not be for you.

kazwookie

Can the garden be made 'lighter' in any way?

ie over handing trees cut back, bushed etc removed, fences lowered?

Can you get a lightening engineer in to offer you advise as to solutions?

Norman_Castle

Would white units and walls with a light floor help? If there is an outside wall facing the doors painting this white would reflect light into the kitchen.
My kitchen is 20 x8 with a single velux window on the 8 foot end and its not dark.

pinkshoes

Our kitchen is dark after 11am.

We knocked down the dining room wall to open the room out so we now have 2 windows, are changing the kitchen to one with white quartz worktops and no dark wood, and some good lighting. Halogen better than LED!

It's looking so much better already!

Davesnave

It sounds like a passageway, so unless you borrow light/space from another room, this is always going to be a huge compromise as a kitchen IMO.

Is there a viable way to knock-through into an adjoining room to make it a kitchen/diner, or at least to borrow some natural light?

Autumnella

It wouldn't bother me. I rarely spend much time in the kitchen anyway. Our current kitchen is dark, I just put the light on, even during the day.

victoriavictorious

I had to smile at your post because we've just exchanged on a very quirky Georgian house which, because of the way the land lies that it's built on, has *no* natural light in the kitchen (much smaller than the house you are viewing and with dark units!) - and yes, like *your* house, the upstairs is lovely.
We also have bought in a great location where little ever comes up for sale, and yes, this may well have to be your compromise, as it was ours. That, and a very odd layout indeed, was exactly why it was affordable to us.
Look at it with your creative hat on, and as others have suggested, get some advice on a sun tunnel and think 'light & reflective.'
I was in a major high st dept store last week and went upstairs to take a look at their fitted kitchens for inspiration. There were 3 separate kitchens on display as individual room sets in different styles - with no natural light at all, as the dept is internal. And do you know what? It made no difference. The units were white and the lighting so clever that I only realised later on that the dept had been windowless.
White, chrome and good lighting make a world of difference.
When you have a certain budget, you usually need to choose just 2 out of:
Good location, good price, good house.
We chose the first two, but will be able to do a lot towards achieving the third.

Marvel1

Probably would, longest been in kitchen at one time is 15 mins.

RedFraggle

We did, our galley kitchen has no windows and opens to a rear extension. It is quite dark but not so dark you need the lights on to make a cuppa. We have a fish tank on the worktop and the light from that helps.

KaratePigeon

Thanks for the replies. There's not much we can do in the garden regarding trees or fences, it's already quite open. Also can't really open it up into another room, there's a garage on side and living/dining room on the other. I've read about sun tubes which could be an option but they seem to get mixed reviews.



I'm sure we can make it better with some light units/worktops and decent artificial lighting but I just think it's a huge compromise that I'd be washing up looking at a wall instead of into the garden! Good to know that it wouldn't bother some of you though, the house has been on the market 10 months and I think this is why it's not selling and I don't want to be stuck if we bought it and couldn't sell it on in the future.



Going to have the 2nd viewing this afternoon anyway, I've also booked a viewing of a different property that has a similar sized kitchen but with loads of natural light (the compromise is it's further from the area we want). Hopefully having another look will help us decide!