Kitchen design - Advice needed

[Gabaruh]

We’re moving into our new home! 🚛✨ But we have a little dilemma—our dream is to have an open-plan kitchen and dining area, but right now, we don’t have the funds to remove the wall between them.

So, we’re considering two options:

🅰️ Option A: Make small design tweaks and live with the current layout until we can afford to remove the wall.

🅱️ Option B: Find a temporary, budget-friendly way to create a more open feel without major renovations.

What do you think? Would you wait and do it properly later or find a creative workaround for now? Let us know your thoughts! 🏠💬

[BotusBuild]

My personal opinion, mainly based on the term "do it right first time", is to do small tweaks that don't cost a lot but make it usable in the way you want it.

Start saving, and in the meantime think up the options for where things can be placed taking into account where things like gas, water and electrics are currently located, and how easy to move them to where you might want them.

Settle on a design, get quotes, then save more, or re-design to get within your budget 😉 

Finally, move ahead to install the open plan design of your dreams

[Tetrarch]

I'd agree with the "don't do it twice" advice. You state that youn can't afford to take the wall down, I assume that this means that it's structural. What you could do is to leave everything as-is but employ a builder to make a huge hole in the wall and put in a lintel (you can probably get a second-hand steel from somewhere)

 

We had exactly the same thing done for precisely the same reasons. We had a 10ft supporting wall knocked down and a pair of 8x2's acro'd in. This "temporary" fix was supposed to be for a few months whilst our planning went through, but this eventually took three years! It did, however deliver the open-plan we were looking for and got us used to the space before the extension went on. I attach some before and after pics below: 

 

It only took a day and cost me two man-days and some timber

 

First pic is after the floorboards were removed. Bizarrely I don't have this pic before this stage!

 

Regards

 

Tet

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[JohnMo]

2 hours ago, Gabaruh said:

but right now, we don’t have the funds to remove the wall between them.

Easy wait until you can afford it, then do whatever you need to.

 

Live with what you were happy to buy. Do nothing, don't waste money or time on things that could be skipped in a few months. Spend your time living in the house and work out what really works for you.

[ETC]

On 25/02/2025 at 09:14, Gabaruh said:

We’re moving into our new home! 🚛✨ But we have a little dilemma—our dream is to have an open-plan kitchen and dining area, but right now, we don’t have the funds to remove the wall between them.

So, we’re considering two options:

🅰️ Option A: Make small design tweaks and live with the current layout until we can afford to remove the wall.

🅱️ Option B: Find a temporary, budget-friendly way to create a more open feel without major renovations.

What do you think? Would you wait and do it properly later or find a creative workaround for now? Let us know your thoughts! 🏠💬

That’s a small kitchen.

if it was me I’d leave it as it is until I could afford to do what I wanted.