Kitchen / Dining / living layout advice… help!!
Hi everyone. I am a long time lurker, first time poster! In short I have a 1981 cathedral ceiling home we are renovating and we are up to the kitchen / dining living area. It’s not the size we are used to however we are keen to make it work if we can as there is only 2 of us here. We are thinking about opening it up as we have great garden views on both sides. I would also consider taking a corner of the verandah and enclosing it for a pantry. My dining table is 2.7x1.2 so I’m thinking it might need to go as there just isn’t enough space to walk around it. There is two massive fire places separately flued but back to back. While it would be a massive undertaking, and not our first choice - we could do something with these. However we still need a fireplace for heat. Really open to anything and everything! You can see below the original and yellow highlight = walls we intend on knocking out / could go. And then a rough doodle of potential layout. Other thing I could do is change doorway to living. Family room exit door is in a useful spot though - as is entrance for traffic from other end of home.
Comments (10)
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Comments (17)Thank you everyone for your comments. We live outside Christchurch, and the house was badly damaged in the quakes here. The post-quake rebuild process could safely be described as slightly chaotic, and the house company I am using are located some distance away (like on the North Island), which is why discussion with the architect has been - em - less than optimal. The architect threw something at me to get me out of my comfort zone I think and this is what's freaking me out! I think the windows on the east side are to come (no reason for them not being there), and probably a skylight in the kitchen roof. The section of land is narrow and steep, (this is a historic port town and with access from the south (where the view is); there is no parking other than on the street (south). Patricia - the laundry doesn't sit right with me either! Looks a bit like it's been glued on the side of the hosue. And it is too small as it is to store coats, shoes etc. This is the access to the back garden - thus the door (also means muddy boots can be dumped when we come in!). Entering a house through a living room is very common over here, especially where space is at a premium (small section, small house footprint)....See MoreLiving/Dining room layout help!
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Comments (3)Hi Cole, I have done a quick sketch for you. This is hard without talking to you directly and learning about your situation, the rest of the house and your requirements. My thought was having a separate space for a tv/ reading lounge facing south and the dining living lounge facing north. the kitchen would connect it all. This is pretty rough and i think you have to double check your room measurements as they are not adding up?! Please let me know if you have any questions or want to explore other options? See picture attached. Cheers Gunnar...See MoreHome renovation - advice on layout
Comments (2)As well as echoing homeprojects advice , a few other things that look a bit 'funny' to me . Firest thing I would say is I'm on a 13" tablet , so everything is small , and I can't read quite a bit , like measurements , but I think I've got a fair idea of the design . TRhe other thing is that it says proposed groundfloor , but there's no stairs I can see , so is there an upstairs , and if so , what is there , and how do you get there ? The garage looks small , if its to scale you won't fit tools or the other 1001 things in there , you'll bash the car doors on each other , no bikes , all problems , nothing much positive . The laundry looks weirdly positioned , on several 'levels' . I'd possibly move/rearrange things so the laundry was about where the pantry is , with an external door . That means though the pantry has to go somewhere , so maybe where the bathroom is , and move the bathroom to where the laundry is ? Another , more logical ( to me anyway ) option would be a long ( or wide -- widthwise behind the kitchen ) pantry , and a long laundry that slots between the 'left' bedroom and the pantry . Basically , split the existing pantry and bathroom down the middles horizontally , whereas now it is vertical . That gets that bathroom closer to the bedrooms ( by moving it to the proposed laundry site ) , but also closer to the hallway for guests . The master with ensuite in the middle is unconventional , not neccessarily bad , but most people would expect the master to be the front bedroom . More an observation than a criticism , but of course , up to you ( and whether you intend to resell ) . And my final observation -- the lounge looks cramped , even the dining is a bit of a compromise . If there is another storey , that may answer that , but its got me confused . Some rooms are quite large and not quite indulgent , but generous -- others are smaller than I'd expect . Just my weird take ....See More
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why not keep the big table (i've allowed 2700 x 1200 including chairs) until you decide if/when you will use it and losing the big table doesn't add extra space for the kitchen or living area but, without the wide open pantry, there isn't enough space for as much counter as the original kitchen, but i would prefer the TV wall at the other end so that seating can focus towards fire as well as TV and there's also space for an optional small breakfast table, a wall of bookshelves and a study nook
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Thanks so much everyone. We had a thought of a mini pantry into the verandah - but not oriented that way @oklouise. This looks like a much better approach. Was hoping to avoid a sink in the island but there is some options to that too. Just including the full plan below incase of another other wild ideas! The highlighted bit is already renovated and can’t be amended but there is room for the rest. I don’t necessarily need another en-suite on the spare bedroom! Noting the rumpus and tool store are actually a main bedroom, walking and en-suite now - making bedroom 1 a spare. And bed 2 is actually a study now. Would still like a spare of decent size… but as I said could forgo en-suite.
last yearIf bed 1 now a rumpus room I would create new access the ensuite and laundry from hall. Ensuite becomes powder room.
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more suggestions including a compartmented bathroom and separate powder for guests to share, more comfortable laundry access with generous storage, new rumpus/multi purpose room and an alternate kitchen with tall reach in pantry and no island sink and, without extending beyond the original external walls, there should be no need for a DA and considerable saving towards new kitchen windows and sliding doors, garden views sitting at the island and better location for your big dining suite
PROlast yearnice options @oklouise ....for the L/K/D I'd suggest something like the initial one with the pantry into the verandah for the reasons being 1. vista/flow through from entry through to the rear through the dining is better as 2. the 2-way fireplace I reckon works better in a dining space vs a kitchen / island feels a little close for comfort!.....also with a few tweaks to the dimensions of the kitchen & island scaling the large table could be achieved across the space with better clearance from the doors and & fire...also if the living seat arrangement was flipped there's opportunity to create a more contemporary streamlined TV / low bench extending from the kitchen and/or extending some kitchen storage/amenity into that area too
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Kate