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Kitchens Design Dilemma

Does this fix my floor plan?

last year

Our house is missing a living space and the kitchen is too small / poorly laid-out to support a family sized fridge and pantry. We have planning permission for a full renovation including upstairs, but for various reasons not practical to go ahead with that at the moment.
As a cheaper and less time consuming fix, we thought we could potentially build in the back deck to indoor space, creating a living/kitchen/dining space. For the kitchen, we could then reclaim the small dining room into a nice sized scullery. Keen to hear thoughts from the expert community. Thanks!

First photo is existing layout and second photo is proposed.

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Comments (12)

Kate
last year
Can you share the ultimate plan? This looks like a good staging point. Try and design the scullery to allow you to repurpose those new cabinets into you ultimate kitchen if you think you might extend up within say 7 years
Kate
last year
I was wondering if the bench in the scullery should be all on other side unless you want some hidden by fridge.
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We have a 900x900 shower and it's plenty big enough. Neither of your proposed layouts looks that great, to be perfectly honest, sorry! In the first layout, you could improve it quite a lot by swapping the toilet and vanity (centre the toilet under the window on the bottom right of the picture if possible), and having the shower door on the other wall (beside the door). Then, you could have a towel rail on the wall beside the door (i.e. behind the door when it's open), which would be accessible from the shower but hidden when the door was open. An 800x1200 shower might be a good size for your space. You'd have to choose a toilet that doesn't protrude too far, plus a narrow vanity. With that layout, you could have a long but narrow wall-hung vanity, with a big mirror covering the wall between the windows, which would make the room feel bigger and would give a good amount of storage. Also, you may find this helpful: http://www.houseplanshelper.com/small-bathroom-floor-plans.html?utm_content=buffer4aa20&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_campaign=buffer
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siriuskey
last year
As Kate mentioned we need the Ultimate Plan, showing the proposed upstairs extension.

Which way is North and importantly we need dimensions not sqm , is it a Brick & Tile on a concrete slab etc. How many people will need to be accommodated. And do you have anything showing how the house sits on the block. Google views are also good.
siriuskey
last year
The following is a bit more than you asked for and without dimensions unable to give much detail.. I would use the old kitchen for possible stairs, music/study space or just making the bedroom next to it larger plus adding linen storage opening into the passageway.

This could be done in stages and if you still go ahead with the planned upstairs extension. this would then allow the original master bed to be used as a parents retreat/living moving door to the passageway the other bedroom could become a guest bedroom with easy access to a bathroom
dreamer
last year
I read that the “upstairs” already exist. Hence the stairs showing on the original first plan. They are just renovating the entire home.
siriuskey
last year
last modified: last year
Could be, that's why I have asked for further info, floorplans.

Stairs can remain but without any dimensions on the floorplan we can't offer real suggestions
rna1962
last year
Fife, I think your new design is a perfect solution at a reasonable pricing point until you’re ready to do something else. We did something like this with our first house, using part of a very large front verandah. We were even able to buy some second hand cabinetry online and had a cabinetmaker fit them in for us. It just made such a difference to our life and great resale down the track.
Fifi Marbles
Original Author
last year
Thank you everyone for the comprehensive feedback!
The ultimate reno plan is on permanent hiatus at this stage. We can’t fix all the (many!) floor plan issues without massively overcapitalising the property; and there is nothing to rent in this area which makes it impractical to proceed. Sorry that wasn’t more clear in OP.
We have a master bedroom / en-suite upstairs and there are 2 adults/2 primary school age children living in the house.
Our plan is to stay in the house for a couple of years and then flip it when the market improves. In the meantime, we want to solve two problems, namely second living space + small impractical kitchen. Preferably at the lowest cost possible, with no major structural changes (requiring move-out). I would like to end up with a reasonable floor plan that works for us in the interim and is suitable for resale.
Fifi Marbles
Original Author
last year
The ground floor reno plan is here for interest and dimensions, together with the demo plan for the existing house. The back living areas face north.
I don’t have the same for the version we are contemplating as it’s just a magic plan mock-up while we decide if the interim fix is worth proceeding with.
rna1962
last year
Fifi, good luck with whatever you choose. I loved having my new WIP and Kitchen added to the verandah. I actually had 4 children, baby to 6 and a half year old at the time. It really made a huge difference. We ended up buying a much bigger house a few years later closer to better schools and rented this house out until the market improved.
siriuskey
last year
If you a planning to move once house prices pickup, a couple of years? I would consider working within the boundaries of the current foot print without building out into the deck area, This and removing external walls, this is where most of the money will be spent

I would keep the 3 bedrooms downstairs and as you have planned move the kitchen keeping within the current external walls. A new buyer could look at extending out into the current deck without having to make changes to the new kitchen laundry. Keep the original kitchen while the new is being built. I include a rough idea for you to consider
Fifi Marbles
Original Author
last year
Thanks so much all!

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