The specification has changed and you no longer need a closer on a domestic fire door.

If you go on to a second floor ALL doors including on to landings or hallways should be fire doors.

Hello, thank you both!

Eulinea: There used to be a doorway there but previous owners blocked it up for some unknown reason. You can hear that that part of the wall is thin when you knock it. So structurally it should be fine.

Daisy: thanks for the info! By “closer”, do you mean a mechanism that closes the door when you let it go, or just a door that can be closed manually? Do we need any sort of door, do you know, or could we just leave it as an open doorway?

Thanks, Helen.

You could leave it as an open doorway, but the danger is that if there is a fire in the Kitchen, there is nothing between it and your bedrooms upstairs! This is why there are strict Building Regulations in place, to safeguard yourselves.

I am not an expert but I believe you do not need a fire door on the kitchen if the house is two storeys, only if 3 or 4 storeys. So beware if there is a chance of a loft conversion at some point. Otherwise you are ok.

I believe fire doors do not need self closers any more. I’m not sure if you could have a cat flap in a fire door, I can’t see how it would still be fireproof with a hole in it. But hopefully these things are not an issue for you anyway given 2 storeys.

I think you would want some sort of door there to stop kitchen noise and smells from pervading the rest of the house, but it’s personal choice. Our kitchen door lives open most of the time but we do shut it eg if cooking fish or curry or if we have people over and kids are sleeping upstairs, or if one of us has got up earlier and starts banging pans and plates and the other is still sleeping...

I am in Scotland.

A quick buzz to your local council planning dept will tell you what you can/can't do.

We have just recently had renovations, went through planning permission etc no problems.

We have staircase in the new open plan kitchen area, stairs go up to the bedrooms - only 1 floor of above kitchen.

We don't have any special doors downstairs.

We have a glazed door from hallway into the kitchen and it is not a selfclosing door or anything. Door stays open most times!

Thank you all!! We will probably get a normal glazed door due to smells and noise, but will put interlinked smoke alarms throughout the house. Probably simplest overall. Thanks again!!!