Hi Complete Kitchens....Yes, I realise that 20k could get a good standard kitchen (our own one recently done was about 26k including scullery), I'm more talking about the ones that talk about doing kitchen, bathroom, painting and even moving some walls on 20k. What my point was, is its great when people like you actually give an idea of a cost of a project - it's easy to get fired up with inspiration and then get thoroughly dissapointed when reality hits! Things are expensive these days and I think for some who may not have done any renovations to their house for years, they don't really have a lot of idea of the costs involved.

Thanks guys, @Andy, I will be more than happy to keep everyone in the loop. Especially after everyone has contributed so generously. However, the reality is that we are in the very early stages of planning. Also, considering we are wanting to basically gut the house and renovate from top to bottom raising the funds will likely take time. Though I'm sure we will continue to return to this page and seek additional advise/suggestions moving forward. Oklouise, thanks for the floor plan. This will be very useful when showing a professional our/your ideas. A loft? That sounds expensive! Regarding changing from my beloved Hampton's style, we were thinking of keeping some elements from the original home. I.e the raked ceilings but white washing them. do you have an example of a modern mid century home? Siriuskey, ok you are making life way to hard for us now. You keep coming up with some fantastic ideas for the kitchen and my wife loves all of them! I agree with you about keeping those two front rooms. I think they are quite unique in the house BUT we really like Oklouise's floor plan which carves up that room into a WIP/study. Currently we are torn as we want to retain the room but love her floorpan. Life is just to hard! I do indeed like my barn doors! I think they are very cool indeed (not sure how quickly they will date), we were wanting to use one as the entrance to the WIP. I have attached another picture of an example kitchen style that I like.

They look great in that photo, Northstar! Works beautifully. Will be fine over your bench. Didn't realise how large your p really space will be. Wow! No, if you replace pendants that have staggered drops, the fittings are completely removed and new pendant fittings are installed in their place. The electrician just shortens the drops without cutting them & the extra lenth is hidden away in ceiling.

Hi Dee, Here's another version for you to consider. Very similar to what Oklouise has done for you by turning the kitchen around to give a better space for the dining area which I think would be beneficial to the whole area. Also though, have you considered turning the pantry and wardrobe 90 degrees as per my layout. You could possibly add a small window to the robe for ventilation which would be beneficial also. You get more wall area for both the robe and pantry by running the dividing wall this way. The laundry could stay the same if you like but could get bigger or smaller depending on your priorities for the three spaces behind the kitchen. If you have preserves and dry goods in the pantry, ideally you don't want the door to the pantry from the laundry. For the kitchen, you could arrange the sink, fridge and cooking areas wherever you like. I'd move the window in the kitchen along a little so it is in front of the sinks and these are in line with the space between the other benches so all the work areas coordinate well. I'd put the fridge near the pantry door so people can go to the fridge without going right through the kitchen. Great with kids or for just getting drinks etc. You can then divide your storage, prep and cleaning into three areas easily. Alternatively, you could put the sinks on the island bench and then leave the bench along the outside wall for a prep area or where you can leave your preserves until they cool and that doesn't make the rest of the kitchen unusable during that time. Good luck, Christine.