Hi Paul, from a working functional perspective, the U shape would be better by keeping your work areas connected as opposed to separated. This U shape with the peninsula overhanging bench is also a more sociable layout option.

Hope this helps, Malcolm.

Thank you Malcolm. I definitely agree with your thoughts on the U shape design since it's actually my preferred layout. However, looking at the floorplan as a whole, where would I place a kitchen pantry with the U shape design. I think the placement of the pantry is what I'm struggling to see where it best fits

Could you pls mark where the change of level is? Is it just the kitchen that is higher.

Hi Paul, regarding your pantry, in kitchens with limited space the kitchen overhead cupboards (and over the refrigerator) usually become the space for these Pantry items. If you need more space though you could use some of your laundry overhead cabinets for overflow storage, for items such as tinned goods. If you need more then there is also the wall space by your stools where you could add a shallow 250mm to 300m deep pantry for extra storage as most pantry items are small enough to fit in a shallow cabinet, while this still gives room for seating. (or even using the opposite wall, again using a shallow cabinet and if needed you could shorten the peninsula slightly).

Hope this helps, Malcolm

Thank you Malcolm. Sounds like its best to keep the kitchen pantry items in either the kitchen or laundry, and if a kitchen pantry was needed to place it in the kitchen. Essentially keeping all the kitchen related components grouped together. Your input has been very helpful :)

A tall shallow pantry on the dining room wall is worth considering. Even 15 cm of depth is enough to store many pantry items. I think the ikea shallow cabinets are around 37cm deep and work well for a pantry. If you had a shorter return on your peninsula this may work for you.

Hi bigreader. I've marked out the change of level. The family room is the only room currently at a lower level. All other rooms, including the kitchen, are at the same level to each other. However, my aim is to raise the family room floor to be flush with the other rooms. So technically a kitchen pantry could be placed along the wall (closest to the rear patio) and extend a little bit into the family room.

Thank you wendyec. I'll definitely consider that. I appreciate your thoughtful input :)

You’re planning on doing quite a lot of work adding an ensuite, new kitchen and raising the lounge floor. A) moving may be cheaper B) before you do all that work review the floor plan functionality. It’s the key thing to get right. For example changing the wall between the dining and the family to square off the rooms may give you the space for a better kitchen layout. Is your main bathroom suitable for older residents. The bathroom and toilet access maybe be a higher priority than raising the family room floor.

Thank you dreamer. That helps me with visualizing how it'd look.

Thank you bigreader. I appreciate your insight, its been highly valuable. Access to the main bathroom and toilet is suitable for older residents. However, the sunken family room floor makes it difficult to transition from the kitchen and dining rooms to the main bathroom and toilet due to the step down and step up. Hence we were thinking of raising the floor. We also thought raising the sunken floor and adding an ensuite (a second bathroom) will help to future proof the home since there is a growing trend for multi-generations of families to now live under the one roof in Australia.

One of the main drivers for renovating was its location and proximity to my parent's home, making it easier for me to provide them support when needed. But I definitely see your point, it is quite a bit of work and an expensive endeavor and at times I have considered whether it was worth it from a financial perspective.

I see your point of squaring the rooms as it may give more space for a better kitchen layout, and its something I have considered. Unfortunately, that wall is structural making it more costly to remove and replace compared to a non-structural wall.

Our goal is to keep our renovations to approximately 9-13% of the property's current value.

However, I am open to hearing any other ideas you might have with the floor plan functionality as I've found your input insightful :)

Do you need 4 bedrooms. Adding ensuite into the wir leaves you with a very small master once you add robes in. Or can you extend master into family room?

You definitely have a good point Kate and something I had considered. With a standard queen size bed measuring 2030mm long and sliding door robe being 660mm deep this would leave roughly 770mm of space between the robe and queen bed. Not a huge amount of space but considering the age of the property (late 1980's) and the space limitations that other similar properties also have, we thought that 770mm would be acceptable.

You have room for a peninsula and a pantry/fridge space on dining room wall. IKEA have limited dimensions to work with.

It will certainly be worth your while to raise the Family room floor to match with the other rooms. In one of your posts you mentioned that the walls marked red are load bearing but from one of the photos it shows that those walls don't go to the ceiling. Years ago we leveled a verandah to match two rooms to make a larger kitchen family this was done with timber as our existing floors were timber. You might be better using something else suggested by a local builder. My suggestion removes some of the small walls plus one of the walkways as you really don't need two accesses from the rear of the house to the front. I am guessing that you will replace the old tiles in the kitchen family. You can save money by reusing the existing slider and window , this will match with all the others in the house.

Thank you Kate. That kitchen layout could definitely work and I'll definitely try that out on the ikea planner site to see how that looks in 3D. And yes, ikea has limited dimensions to work with.

Thank you siriuskey. Apologies for not communicating more clearly in my other posts. The walls marked with red are not load bearing, however the black walls are load bearing.

Yes, I'm hoping to use the existing slider and window to match with the others in the house. From what I've read online and speaking with others, there seems to be a preference to raise the floor with timber as the dry wall and stud framing sit on the sunken room floor. Whilst I prefer concrete to match the flooring of other areas there are concerns related to the additional weight from the concrete, moisture entering the drywall and stud frames as well as potential bowing.

Yes I'm planning to replace the floor tiles in the kitchen. I definitely like your proposed layout and will consider it if it fits our budget. Thank you :)

Thank you for showing that dreamer. I actually didn't realize that post was on the American Houzz site. Ill need to ensure I publish my posts on the Australian Houzz site in future. However, I have enjoyed the input and wisdom shared from those on the American site :)

Hello Paul, I like that you are so open to suggestions and I have a few too. Firstly and by no means the most important. change the sliding door in laundry to a hinged door so the cabinets can go right to the end and your not creating a dust bunny corner and wasted space. Next question: where is north and where are you? Next: I really like the idea of lifting the floor in the family room. Having stepped down one once and visiting the physio for weeks after, they are worth avoiding anywhere. Keep everything the same level is my best suggestion. Next I think if you moved the sink and DW to the family room end of that bench there will be plenty of benching between it and the cook top. I would always have a wall over tower with micro in it too: this will also save the back, hips, knees, ankles and balance too. At 3+ m wide the kitchen can work with a U shape but I think it would be better if you had the pantry backing the dining area. with 1800+- between benches is generous and only the one dead corner, unlike the U shape with two useless spaces. Pantry and wall oven could go into the new cabinets and/or you could block the entry from dining to kitchen and only use the family room one. You could pop a piece of furniture there to see how you cope with out that walkway as a test! If that works for you then the pantry and WO could also sit back into the dining space and make the kitchen wide enough (Just) for an island bench about 600 wide down the center. It would sit where the dimension line is on the plan and make the dining that bit narrower too but the kitchen would be far more generous. Now: I could draw this for you and/or lots of other options for you to a/ help you decide which way you want to go, b/have priced by builders and cab makers c/ keep you ahead of the loop regarding the budget and purchase of appliances, tiles, floor boards etc. I invite you to look over my website and contact me through there. A chat about how you like to cook etc will be very useful too. I look forward to helping further with this to get the kitchen right for you. Cheers Margot