Should I open my kitchen into the hallway?

2 years ago

My 1960’s house has a 7m hallway (143m wide) through the middle of the house. There is a small porch and then entrance to the kitchen is on the left. I’d like a more spacious family kitchen and can’t extend outwards front or side, (this is already a front extension beyond dotted line) so am considering taking the wall down between the kitchen and hallway, creating an opening of approximately 255cm. The kitchen is currently 2.78cm wide by 475cm long.

This will give me space for an island and create a more useable space but my worry is whether this is a mistake from a design perspective?

It wouldn’t be for the full length of the hall, there are 3 other rooms off the hall with doors which would be unchanged. For context: The room on the left behind the kitchen is a very well used utility room with shower room off and external door. The rooms on the right are office / snug rooms. The front one with small staircase is above integral garage. The back room is an open plan lounge / diner.

Thank you

Featured Answer

Jonathan

2 years ago

Your architects plan sounds cool. Sometimes it’s better to reimagine the layout rather than keep adding rooms in an organic way because it leaves you with a house with too many little rooms compared to the overall size.

Here’s another option.

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Comments (24)

Jonathan
2 years ago
I’m not sure it’s going to give you an island because of the structural pillar and the porch intruding into the space.

Perhaps a bigger redesign is in order- perhaps moving the stairs or the front door or reducing the number of rooms in order to have bigger rooms might be worth considering.
M Dixon
Original Author
2 years ago
Thank you for replying Jonathan. That’s useful to know about there not being enough room for the island, might have to rethink. We are having building work above the kitchen so could look into installing a support across to replace the pillar.
We would definitely retain the porch.
We had architectural designs drafted a couple of years ago which came up with similar suggestions to yours (move door / open up rooms). We didn’t go for them because it was too drastic a change and all of the current rooms are so well used (working from home and 3 teenagers) and we wanted to retain the garage (which they suggested would be an entrance hall). We’d also lose the room above the garage which is a mezzanine.
If I opened up into the utility room there would be a bathroom directly from the kitchen so not sure if that is allowed?
I was really wondering how it would look coming through the porch straight into a kitchen?
Thanks
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CWD
2 years ago
i think it'd be a bit strange to walk straight into the kitchen. would you consider moving the kitchen to the back of the house to make kitchen/diner and have separate lounge at the front instead of separate kitchen? that would be a more 'normal' layout, albeit more work in moving the water, waste, etc for kitchen.
M Dixon
Original Author
2 years ago
Thank you for commenting. You have confirmed my suspicions. The hall seems a waste of space though.

Moving the kitchen has been suggested before but its such an upheaval im not sure i could face it! i think it would probably be the most modern approach and we do like the contemporary style so maybe I should investigate cost. We would need to separate the open stairs I think.
rinked
2 years ago
You won't create more usable space by opening up that bit of wall.

It could work if you'd turn the side entrance into main. However this would mean you step into the house via the utility, so some floor to ceiling cabinets for washing machine, boots and such is advised.
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Proyectoszeza
2 years ago
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M Dixon
Original Author
2 years ago
Hi. Thank you very much for the time you have taken to think about this, it’s really helpful for me.
You’re right about the organic growth, the house has had two ground floor extensions and we’re just about to extend above the kitchen. I really like your design, and it’s not one we’ve considered before.
Where you have suggested the front door moves to is in a narrow alleyway up a couple of steps along the side of the house. It raises a question about it being hidden from the front and whether that’s an acceptable place for a front door?
Thanks again
rinked
2 years ago
I wouldn't want my front door in an alley. How is your front elevation set up? Could the main entry move into the snug?

What is your family size? As your kitchen is big enough to seat 4 and still have a good sized worktop.
rinked
2 years ago
Just some ideas.
M Dixon
Original Author
2 years ago
Thank you for replying and your suggestions. We are a family of 5, all adult size. I attach photos of the front of house and entrance hallway from both directions in case that helps. The kitchen and room above the garage are two separate extensions and we are adding a bedroom above the kitchen and hallway shortly so am planning to combine the work with the kitchen. (The ceiling in kitchen and hallway is 11” lower than rest of downstairs so am planning to lift that to same height during building work to give a feeling of more space)
M Dixon
Original Author
2 years ago
A closer one of the kitchen entrance, and the entrance to the room above garage. On left on ground floor level is a cloakroom.
Siglint Kessler
2 years ago
Stepping directly into the kitchen from outside is indeed not a good option. The best solution I can see (and not too much upheaval for a lot of gain, I believe) is swapping the snug at the right off the corridor, in the middle of the house, with the kitchen. The new door into the kitchen placed in line with the wall between garage and current snug - probably original outer wall? Your utility room would stay unchanged, leading off the new kitchen. However, I doubt you can keep an open staircase for fire regulations (I wonder whether even the existing layout complies) and needs more careful thinking... You might have to also make changes to the utility room in order to access stairs outside of a new open plan kitchen/ living room.
M Dixon
Original Author
2 years ago
last modified: 2 years ago
Thank you for your comment. I would retain the porch but then walking into an open kitchen doesn’t sound aesthetically the right thing to do.
I think I’m going to focus on rearranging the kitchen layout, and I’m wondering if I could add units on the hall wall just outside the kitchen to save kitchen storage space (without looking like kitchen cupboards)! Also maybe change the opening to a pocket door to save space inside the kitchen ..
PRO
i-architect
2 years ago
Hi! I have seen plenty of homes where you walk directly into the kitchen. I don't think this is such a big problem to do, though you do need to think about all the stuff people need to put on and take off usually at the front door and factor that into the design. There are many ways to make that work.

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أميرة اسماعيل
2 years ago
What do you think about my kitchen enterance ?
M Dixon
Original Author
2 years ago
That looks great and is similar to how mine would be. Does it work for you?
Serena
2 years ago
I like Jonathan's idea of putting the entrance on the side. You are five adults living in the house so I would have thought that living in the house should be prioritised. Looking at Jonathan's drawing I suddenly realised that my cousin lives in a house near Poole where you walk in through the side and kitchen. Never gave it a thought! Everyone gets used to having the entrance on the side if that enables you to get rid of the useless hall and get more usable space in the house. Another alternative is sell the house and buy one with a more suitable layout for the size of the family. Remodelling is a real challenge these days.
zizzie999
2 years ago
Jonathan's plan is good. Clean, good flow, flexible spaces. If the proposed side entrance to the house seems obscure make it clear with a directional path and/or planting or change the entrance from the road so it's opposite the new front door and put a porch over it so that it has more presence!
M Dixon
Original Author
5 months ago
Update 2 years later..
We decided to keep the door at the front and knock out the wall between the kitchen and utility. It's currently work in progress having the kitchen installed but here are a couple of photos from before and during the work..
M Dixon
Original Author
5 months ago
Looking down the hall towards the front
M Dixon
Original Author
5 months ago
We decided to remove the yellow walls. Happy with it so far!
Serena Abrahams
5 months ago
Great that you are happy with the result and thank goodness the removed wall was not a load bearing wall? Well done for having made that huge decision.
M Dixon
Original Author
5 months ago
Thank you. We took a structural engineer's opinion so all done properly. Definitely the right decision although quite nervous beforehand.