Such a pity about the mismatched windows. Will the budget stretch to matching the top and sill height of both windows so it is more visually consistent with a pair of new matching windows?

If the entry to the kitchen is opposite the sink then I would move the sink along so your dirty coffee cups can't be seen from the adjacent room. Do some research on "kitchen work triangle".

Best of luck,

Dr Retro

of Dr Retro House Calls

the best size for the kitchen depends on how it relates to other rooms and how comfortable it would be to work in and it would be so much easier to commentt if we could see whole house plans including existing kitchen and dimensions of adjoining rooms and, what are the walls, floors and windows made out of?

My suggestion is to move sink to either, under lower window, or between windows. It is too far to carry hot water pots to sink for draining. This could be dangerous. I would also move your microwave to a "bench height". This is easier and less dangerous with hot microwave meals. I would take your pantry out of the corner and have a wall pantry at the dead end of kitchen. You could keep the bench either side of pantry to keep commonly used appliances or decorative pieces with open shelving. Change the bench tops to 650mm deep. You have plenty of room to do this, which would still leave 1500mm between benches. Which is actually a bit too much. Pictures attached for visual ideas.

as mentioned we need the bigger picture, floorplan

Thanks for the input so far guys!

The solution I have so far mirrors what a lot are saying, which is a good sign!

Was thinking the sink will need to be centred opposite the cook top.

Then am considering bricking up the far window to create enough space to put a walk in pantry / appliance cupboard at the end. Perhaps ~1.2m deep from the wall should be enough space?

Current house layout vs proposed layout now attached (haven't drawn in any cabinetry etc)

Hi again, I suggest considering the following

1. Move cooker under other window and increase the height of the window to match top of other.
2. Delete all cupboards along the end wall, maybe some display shelves with a open work bench that you can have stools under.
3. Increase depth of south wall cabinets to fridge and add pantry
   
   

Inspiration photo

while waiting for my new glasses, so no dimensions , I think the entrance into your home looking at the end of the kitchen bench can be improved bu changing the floorplan, the dining room in the old kitchen with new large doors opening to the alfresco, this open up the house taking away from all the small windows you already have plumbing in the laundry you can use

without correct dimensions I suggest the following to open up the house to the North facing Alfresco I think makes the house flow better

swizzles95, I love it.

siriuskey, that layout makes a lot of sense. I really like how that would flow from the front door to the back. I don't believe I have the space in the "family" area to put a decent kitchen there though?

House plan / dimensions attached. The current thought is to have the new kitchen consume the dining area and the family area becomes dining.

The rumpus room is an existing extension so the whole wall at the doorway through to the rumpus room is a supporting wall

Hi don;t be afraid of the load bearing wall, you have the talent to draw what I have suggested would love to see it

keep in mind that a new kitchen is lovely but a good floor plan is more important

Something slightly different:

(similar to siriuskey though)

Personally I don't care for these huge kitchens. They need to be somewhat pretty, in balance/scale with the rest of the house and I like to have contact with the rest of the family/guests while cooking. Storage can be found elsewhere.

I recall your recent post on this where a few ideas were tossed around. I still reckon it's wasting the opportunity not to move the kitchen into the extended space, and then utilise the laundry as a perfectly positioned pantry/laundry combo. Dining would be better positioned in this rear space directly connected to the rear yard. Would be better to walk into a centralised main living space off the entry. With some good planning with furniture and TVand/fireplace resolution this could work really well. It's like the whole concept is being compromised by the guest bedroom factor. As always is about priorities, but my advice would be Kitchen,Living, Dining areas take priority over all others as these are the spaces that will be used mostly. Guest bedrooms/function should be arguably lower. Also think about consistency of scaling of spaces to achieve a balanced series of spaces. It always comes down to flow and function and getting this right first, before you start getting into the details

And another :)

Light and airy lounge and kitchen-dining. Still some views on the front of the house and plenty on the back. Guest bed with transom windows.

Ryan what is the actual size of the rumpus, the kitchen in my plan is approx 3.6m along the back wall, with 3.20m x 900 Island and the fridge Pantry approx 3m, this is a much bigger kitchen than what the galley would be, I just need to resize my plan now that I have the original.

Siriuskey, the dimensions for the rumpus area 7720 x 4910. I really like how your design improved the flow of the house as soon as you walk through the front door.

Paul Di Stefano, I couldn't agree more. Infact when I was first looking into renovations for the house, my number one choice was moving kitchen and dining to the rumpus area and opening up the rest of the house as living space. I actually agree that it would have the biggest impact on the house as a whole.

I am definitely considering all options suggested thus far, but there are a few reasons why I might have to stick with a "good enough" design, rather than the best possible design; which is a shame because we have a lot of space to work with.

Some main points:

1) bed 2 and 3 are very small. You can't fit a double bed in them without either covering the robe or the window, they are definitely single bed rooms. For this reason, the appeal of adding a fourth bedroom is much greater as the space would be large enough to function as a nice family / media room, while also being able to be utilised as a bedroom that is less functionally limited by its size, should the need arise for either us or a potential future buyer.

2) we are lucky enough to be able to get any kitchen cabinetry done at essentially cost price, with free installation. This makes the cost difference of reshaping and improving the current kitchen versus totally remodeling the house much greater. It seems likely that if we make a great kitchen roughly where it stands, we would be better off from a cost vs benefit perspective than if we were to gut the whole middle section of the house and start again

3) This is our first home and is definitely a "fixer-upper". Except for the rumpus extension, it's all 80's original condition. We will likely stay for quite some time but sooner or later we will be looking to use this as a stepping stone to move closer to the area where we want to stay long term. As it's all original condition, there is lots to potentially spend money on. Bathrooms x 2, laundry, kitchen, carpets and flooring throughout, landscaping. If we redo all of it and get too far in to any really expensive changes, we will likely overcapitalise and not be able to recoup the money when it comes time to sell. In a few other areas in Canberra you would get your money back no problem, but this part of town is not as highly desirable as some of the more central areas; so have to think hard about how much money we would spend and how much money we would be able to sell for down the track.

I suppose the main question will be, how much will our house improve simply by adding a better kitchen and another bedroom that comfortably that fits more than a single bed, versus how much will it improve by focusing on the flow and usability of the main living areas of the house.

I can't stress enough how annoying our current kitchen is, so I feel like anything that fixes this problem is a win. Photo attached - this was the real-estate agent's photo, so editing probably makes it look bigger than it is. For perspective, the area infront of the microwave is roughly big enough to fit a little over one extra microwave on... that is the entire bench space we have to work with in the entire kitchen unless you prep food on top of the electric cooktop...

Well it looks like you are going to get a great deal with the new kitchen so spend the money and move the new kitchen for a really big impact. I have keot the kitchen in the middle of the floor plan opening to the family and a separate dining room with a lovely outlook and plenty of that northerly sun in winter, I have shown the MFR/ media with full height pocket doors that can be opened to allow sun into that room as well or just as a place to go to after dinner, forgot to add a fire place in the house,not sure what heating you have. I have added QB;s in all bedrooms

One of the biggest reasons in favour of moving the kitchen to the current family room/proposed dining space is that you can’t sit down in it. Weird but true.

To prove it to yourself, take both your existing plan and current proposed plan (with the rumpus attached) and draw a line going from each doorway on that space to every other, and then see how much space is left. Answer: not much.

This means that, basically, any piece of furniture you put in the space - couch, armchair, especially coffee or dining table - will always be in the way and have to be walked around rather than through. Kitchens by contrast are basically hallways with appliances in them - you’re always standing or walking in them anyway, so it’s less annoying.

Dining tables + large hallways = not fun. Ever.

Ryan As with everything there's more than one way to do things and no way is the wrong way it's what the individual prefers.

With the layout of the original house to access the Rumpus room you need to transverse the house when entering via the front door.

Or park the car in the garage and leave via the rear door and into the rumpus room

By using the current kitchen and meals for the dining puts this out of the way you don't need to walk around it coming into the house. I would suggest a refectory style long narrow table with chairs that sit up to and under the table

The furniture placed on the Floor plan is a general guide only.

It makes no sense to create a kitchen that size, while your bedrooms feel too small (or not enough). And might your kitchen cabinets be used elsewhere in the house? I understand budget is a thing, but proper planning can turn this house into something worthwhile, there's plenty of square metres at hand.

Kitchens are the heart of the house, the kitchen I posted isn't much bigger than what Ryan proposed by absorbing the meals area, the Island can be what ever size required this both adds further storage and a place to sit, Kitchens are best not entered from the rear. and bedrooms must have a window, The kitchen can be moved into the rumpus,

Ryan do you have any other photos to give us a better feel of the house, ie; 80's rumpus