Open plan kitchen diner space ideas

Bruceyboy1234

Hello,

Just in the process of buying a property, please see attached floorplan for it downstairs. Our goal is an open plan kitchen diner space, with island, dining room table and sofa with tv space in the same room. Bifold doors as well out to the garden and window infront of sink.

My initial thinking is knock through between ‘kitchen’ & ‘lounge’ and the ‘wc’ next to kitchen creating an open space.  Use half of the garage area for half wc and half utility room. And move the door from into kitchen slightly further back.  Done a sketch on the floorplan (apologies not very good)

There is a chimney breast that comes out by just over a foot I have tried to draw in the lounge too that isn’t ideal but probably cannot afford to remove currently 

Can anyone suggest any other ways to give us the most space possible as I’m not sure if this will be tight to accommodate all of the above I’ve mentioned we want in it?

Really appreciated 

thanks   

EssexExile

Personally I'd make the kitchen/lounge/diner all one room, but that suits my lifestyle, it won't suit others.

bjorn_toby_wilde

Do you need the island? We originally planned one but it doesn’t work in every layout and we eventually took it out of the plan as it gave us more flexible use of the space.

We also had the option to open up into a lounge/kitchen/diner but I’m glad we didn’t with hindsight. We can sit in the lounge reading or watching TV without disturbance from the cooker, dishwasher, occasional fridge noises as the ice maker does it’s thing, etc.

rob7475

Islands give you a lot of wasted space - ideally, you want at least a metre space all way around it. My OH was intent on having an island but all the plans we had done by kitchen companies looked cramped. I ended up designing the kitchen with a peninsular which is a much better use of space.

I'd remove the chimney breast if you can - it'll give you more options for layouts. For dining, consider banquette seating. Originally, in our kitchen diner we had a large table and 6 chairs which was a little cramped. I've since made the table 30 cm smaller, built a corner banquette and we have chars around the outside. We can now seat 6 easily and it takes up much less room. 

This is how I designed our kitchen which is a little smaller than yours

vic_sf49

I think you're trying to cram it all in. 

I've only been in a couple of properties with islands (staying with family) and both drove me nuts, as it just got in way of the flow of the kitchen. And the second of those kitchens was absolutely vast, and could easily fit the 2m square (ish) island..... maybe I just don't like islands. Soz. 

Would a smaller peninsula (as above) work better, if you need more workspace?

I don't know if you want the island for seating too, but with a dining table and sofa, as a guest, I'd gravitate to either of those.

My property has kitchen open to dining, open to lounge (L-shape), and I'd prefer the lounge to be a separate room, especially if your household is more than one person, so you can escape kitchen noise.

Is your new kitchen, staying in the kitchen, or moving into the lounge area? Might not be possible depending on drains etc, but a much longer run of wall space for cabinets. Also don't know which bit is having bifolds. 

dreaming

I would make the utility/wc smaller by making the kitchen area rectangular (i.e. pushing the garage wall back), which would enable a run of units along that wall. Not clear if the utility is separate from the wc but I would make them one room - you can always hide the washing machine in cupboards. Then open up the kitchen into what is now the loungeand knock the existing wc out You could always have a small island on wheels which would give you the option to push it against the wall to form a small peninsular to give a little separation between the dining area and kitchen, or to pull it out for extra preparation area wherever it's needed. I would also leave the chimney breast for several reasons. It's very messy and expensive to remove (may have to go up into room above and loft); it gives a bit of character to an otherwise plain room; the alcoves can have nice storage/shelves. I would definitely keep the front room (present dining room) as a separate lounge, or at least fot folding doors to separate. Very useful, especially if you have different age groups in the house - e.g. chicldren or teenagers can be watching tv/gaming in the lounge whilst the adults enjoy a cup of tea/glass of wine in the kitchen/diner/sitting area.

Bruceyboy1234

Thanks all for your suggestions, really appreciated. Think it’s a great shout moving the garage wall back to make a larger/ rectangular kitchen. We were quite set on an island ideally if doable - think id rather this then the sofa if I had to decide!

Just a thought regarding the chimney breast, how difficult would it be to move the kitchen area in the current ‘lounge’ once we do the knock through against where the chimney breast is? Something like this photo so we are making use of the space that can sometimes be lost with a chimney breast. Would it incur a lot of additional costs as someone mentioned pipes etc and could we only check once lifting up flooring? 

Thanks again all 

vic_sf49

With regards to the pipes, I think what your floor is made of is less of an issue, and more how far they'd have to run so there's still a drop on them. (Although, more experienced people may comment ref that.) 

Edited to add, I was really thinking about drainage, as water and gas pipes can be altered pretty easily. 

You could always chat to a builder or plumber, when you've got some layouts on paper, while asking for quotes too. 

I had my bathroom re-done and re-jigged, and my builder just cut a channel in the concrete floor, with a hoofing great saw. Quick job, that I suspect didn't add much onto the cost.

Especially when compared with which of the walls you might remove, are load bearing. 

If you are squaring off that garage, and moving everything, how about your old kitchen area as the snug / lounge, then have the two bigger rooms knocked through into kitchen / dining / island sofa*. 

* sofa, or no sofa. And at least me not loving islands, made you firm up your decision that you want one, and it has priority over a sofa, so that's one decision made. 

I'm just throwing out ideas. My kitchen and bathroom are in the original places, but the bedrooms, living and dining rooms, have all been swapped over (some walls down, others built up) I'm not sure I'd have had the vision to do that, but it's what I liked about the property.

Are your stairs in the "cupboard" to the right of the garage? 

Where is the door going to your new utility / toilet? 

And don't forget electrics. They'd need moving / changing too. 

If you're having bifolds, or French doors or something, do you still need your back door? And where are they going? Consider the route to them, so you don't have to dodge around furniture to get to them. 

RipleyG

Your current plan gives you an outside loo with no outside walls - to meet building regs you must have a window or an extractor fan of a specified capacity. Amalgamating the utility and loo would make this easier. It's also likely to make the toilet plumbing easier, and therefore cheaper (depending on where your existing bathroom/soil stack is) .

Is there an existing door from your hall into the lounge? If so, and you are opening up the space between there and the kitchen, I'd be tempted to block off the existing door into the kitchen. It would give more room for units and better layout flexibility. If there isn't, there almost certainly was one originally in a 30s house with that layout which has just been boarded over. It would be a relatively easy job to open that back up. 

Another vote for a peninsula over an island. Your kitchen dimensions aren't enormous - I think you risk creating a clunky layout with less storage, which also makes it less appealing/worth less when you come to sell. If you're adamant about having one, blocking off the existing kitchen door gives you better flow options - you don't need 2 doors into a single space that side.