Pondering on moving Kitchen to Cellar

Mustbeananswer??

silvercar said:

It may be the stairs that give the cellar kitchens I've seen a cramped feel, as well as the lack of natural light.

Cant do much about the natural light...but maybe jazz up the stairs a bit..

Jonboy_1984

For me its the constant ferrying of groceries down (sacks of potatoes, cartons of milk, bottles, laundry powder etc) and all rubbish back up that would put me off. 

Emmia

For what its worth, I think moving the lounge would be better than the kitchen, essentially because if you suddenly couldn't manage the stairs, you could revert to a kitchen/lounge/diner arrangement easily if the kitchen is on the ground floor. 

Ectophile

Do you know where the drains are relative to the basement floor level?  It's not going to be ideal if you have to install a pump to push all your waste water from the kitchen up to ground level.

RedFraggle

Where is the bathroom?  Just wondering if a master bedroom in the cellar would work, the current lounge becomes a kitchen diner and a lounge on the first floor? 

Mustbeananswer??

RedFraggle said:

Where is the bathroom?  Just wondering if a master bedroom in the cellar would work, the current lounge becomes a kitchen diner and a lounge on the first floor? 

Thats another great suggestion ....Thanks.There is a document earlier in this thread that I have to take heed of with all these great suggestions.Thanks tho for the suggestions.

Lollyice

Our kitchen is in our basement 👋

It works for us because we have room for living space down there.

Things worth considering:

- ceiling height: not only for reasons of how it feels to be down there but also for practical considerations of whether you want kitchen wall units and how an extractor hood would fit over a hob. 

- the space generally: we had our brick walls wrapped (waterproofing) and then they were insulated and boarded so this made the space a little smaller. Likewise with insulating the floor and ceiling. 

- plumbing: we had to have a lifting station/pump fitted for the dishwasher and sink water and a saniflo pump for the washing machine to get the greywater up and out into the waste pipe outdoors - the previous owners had done a bit of bodged plumbing to get round this but it wasn't building regs compliant and risked waste water backing up into the cellar. 

- it is true that it can be a bit of a pain with shopping or carting cups of tea upstairs but for us this is offset by having living space down there so we eat down there, sit with friends for coffee etc.

- we needed to have windows you could get out of in the event of a fire but this was actually not a bad thing as they are bigger than they were and let more light in.

One thing I will say is that the basement in our house is the warmest place in winter and coolest in summer because it has been properly insulated to current standards unlike the rest of the house! (Typical draughty Victorian house!)

I'd definitely recommend speaking to a builder who specialises in basement conversions because they'll know what works best, what building regs apply etc. 

Hope that's helpful x

Mustbeananswer??

Lollyice said:

Our kitchen is in our basement 👋

It works for us because we have room for living space down there.

Things worth considering:

- ceiling height: not only for reasons of how it feels to be down there but also for practical considerations of whether you want kitchen wall units and how an extractor hood would fit over a hob. 

- the space generally: we had our brick walls wrapped (waterproofing) and then they were insulated and boarded so this made the space a little smaller. Likewise with insulating the floor and ceiling. 

- plumbing: we had to have a lifting station/pump fitted for the dishwasher and sink water and a saniflo pump for the washing machine to get the greywater up and out into the waste pipe outdoors - the previous owners had done a bit of bodged plumbing to get round this but it wasn't building regs compliant and risked waste water backing up into the cellar. 

- it is true that it can be a bit of a pain with shopping or carting cups of tea upstairs but for us this is offset by having living space down there so we eat down there, sit with friends for coffee etc.

- we needed to have windows you could get out of in the event of a fire but this was actually not a bad thing as they are bigger than they were and let more light in.

One thing I will say is that the basement in our house is the warmest place in winter and coolest in summer because it has been properly insulated to current standards unlike the rest of the house! (Typical draughty Victorian house!)

I'd definitely recommend speaking to a builder who specialises in basement conversions because they'll know what works best, what building regs apply etc. 

Hope that's helpful x

That is a very comprehensive post....Thanks for taking the time.Lots to consider xxxx