2 or 1 reception rooms

sandy1959

Do we knock wall down between lounge n kitchen, making large kitchen diner...
Or keep 2 reception rooms, 
How will it effect the price of our house? 

Comments please 

TELLIT01

Some people prefer 2 rooms, others like open plan.  I doubt it will have any real impact on value.

WaywardDriver

If selling soon, leave as is so buyer can decide. If not then your decision. Is wall load-bearing?

ka7e

It really depends on your lifestyle. If you are a messy cook or just need a kitchen to be functional, keep the kitchen separate. If you want a more informal space or you have children to keep an eye on, a larger kitchen/diner is preferable. Do you want a separate dinning room for eating or office space?

I have always had a large k/d and a separate living room. It's a multi-use space and we have a TV, dining table and chairs, laptop space, a comfy chair (for OH) and storage there. It's where visitors congregate and we spend most of our time there!

TELLIT01

My new neighbours want to make the entire downstairs area, with the exception of the hallway, open plan.  They have 2 young children so I think it's a big mistake.  Other than being stuck in their bedrooms there will be nowhere quiet for the kids to do homework etc when they get older.

Rosa_Damascena

Phil Spencer says this popular home layout has ‘had its day’ and is on the way out.

I can understand this shift now more of us are wfh. I wouldn't bother making expensive changes based on what a future buyer may or may not want.

daivid

sandy1959 said:

Do we knock wall down between lounge n kitchen, making large kitchen diner...
Or keep 2 reception rooms, 
How will it effect the price of our house? 

Comments please 

Do you have 2 reception rooms currently? I wouldn't class a kitchen as a reception room (I may be in the minority on this). So do you currently have kitchen, dinning room, and lounge? Or do you have kitchen, and lounge?

Sandtree

What rooms do you have on the floor? Equally confused over the 2 reception room but then discussing kitchen and lounge.

We've had many open plan places and without a utility room I don't like having the kitchen and lounge all in one because appliances running etc just gets irritating if I am watching a film in the evening and the Mrs comes in to put the washing machine on etc.

Given a much larger property than I can afford it would be nice to have possibly have an all in one type room but also a separate lounge/sitting room and maybe a dining room so you can have the positives of a true room you can "live in" but also step away from the noise/smells of a kitchen if you want to.

twopenny

I read a while back that not only is the dining room 'back' but that people prefer to have an extra room downstairs for such as another poster says, somewhere for the kids to work.

Also with the work from home going to be a bigger feature of peoples lives they will want a space.

Better to let a buyer decide. A massive kitchen living are is harder to turn back into two rooms - especially when they could get somewhere it's still like that - than it is to knock down an internal wall.

Having a huge kitchen diner at the expense of other rooms is not going to add value to your property.

Doozergirl

twopenny said:

I read a while back that not only is the dining room 'back' but that people prefer to have an extra room downstairs for such as another poster says, somewhere for the kids to work.

Also with the work from home going to be a bigger feature of peoples lives they will want a space.

Better to let a buyer decide. A massive kitchen living are is harder to turn back into two rooms - especially when they could get somewhere it's still like that - than it is to knock down an internal wall.

Having a huge kitchen diner at the expense of other rooms is not going to add value to your property.

It's infinitely easier to put a wall up than it is to take one down! 

Sandtree

Doozergirl said:

twopenny said:

I read a while back that not only is the dining room 'back' but that people prefer to have an extra room downstairs for such as another poster says, somewhere for the kids to work.

Also with the work from home going to be a bigger feature of peoples lives they will want a space.

Better to let a buyer decide. A massive kitchen living are is harder to turn back into two rooms - especially when they could get somewhere it's still like that - than it is to knock down an internal wall.

Having a huge kitchen diner at the expense of other rooms is not going to add value to your property.

It's infinitely easier to put a wall up than it is to take one down! 

Physically or mentally? 

Certainly easier to do a basic stud partition, we had one in my parents home that went up and down half a dozen times depending on my mothers mood that day. How easy it is for people to imagine what a space will be like if its divided or open plan is a difficult question to answer.