Advice please. We are planning to extend our kitchen and are considering knocking the Utility Room walls down, to enlarge the kitchen area. (Util room =
2x4m. Kitchen = 3x4m. Extended kitchen will be 5x6m.)Any thoughts on whether this would be a good idea or not ? It may suit us, but would it make the house less attractive to sell ?
I was considering separating the utility area with glass panels, to retain the open plan look but to shield the appliance noise. Anyone done this ?
I think you can argue that one both ways. Some people would like the space, others the separated areas.
Then it's neither one thing nor the other and you have added another thing that needs to be cleaned.
Perhaps the question to ask is how long to you intend to stay in the house. If it's 10 years or more, then personal convenience and preference matters more than the possible impact on saleability later.
If the timescale is shorter, I would err on the side of retaining the utility room and refurbishing the kitchen, but perhaps not in as grandiose a way as you might for a longer stay.
Could you just box the 'utilities' in? With the drier on top of the washer?
If making the kitchen larger gives you more of a kitchen/diner feel then it might be worth it.
Depends on the house. If the target market is young families, then they like a kitchen-diner.
OTOH 2m x 4m is a fair size space to have just for a utility room; if you don't already have one I'd (if not using it to provide a kitchen/diner) split it in half to provide a downstairs loo (if one not already provided).
Waste of time and money IMHO
Owain
wrote
Just done something very similar! Without seeing your layout and exactly how useful it is now (or could be made to be) it is difficult to provide sound advice, in any event kitchen layouts are soooo personal. Our layout was ridiculous IMO with an arch from kitchen to dining room and a silly corridor shaped utility taking up 1.8m at the end of the kitchen - full width. One of my key criteria is noise reduction, I like peace and quiet and can't relax or concentrate without it so: although we knocked out the utility room walls, making the kitchen a larger and noiser place, we closed down the arch to the dining room to a single doorway and fitted a heavy fire door there. As the kitchen is an extension this fairly effectively keeps washing machine, dish washer noise etc away from the rest of the house.
One piece of advice I will give - don't be taken in by the fancy 3D glossy images that kitchen sellers can produce for you to show the ideal kitchen! Look very critically at what you want and whether they have achieved it. Create a list of must haves and would like ideallys before committing to a layout. This list will highlight how far short any proposals actually fall (eg what provision is made for recycling bins). Is your wife suffering back trouble like mine and therefore needing less under-worktop stuff.
HTH
Phil
Personally I'd keep it seperate. You can cook then chuck all the washing up in another room and shut the door until the next day! We used to have this arrangement but sadly no longer.
A lot depends on whether you regard a kitchen as a sort of family dining room, in which case its good to get as much out of it as possible, or just a kitchen for working on food prep and washing...
The modern trend seems to be for kitchen/diners...and a separate utility room.
Hello, please give a click to my kitchen presented at
HomeOwnersHub website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.