Question of door selection in old building renovation

Hello,

we are currently renovating our house and are also remodeling it in the process. We are just not sure about the doors and the kitchen layout. Between the kitchen and the living room, there should be a double sliding glass door. Now we have a problem with the doors leading to the kitchen and the living room. I am attaching the original plan as it was before.



I have marked the doors in the plans.

Option 1 with separate doors to the kitchen and living room was our favorite for a long time. But somehow we can’t fit the kitchen in a way that the island fits well and we can move around easily. However, the advantage would be that you can quickly get to the kitchen directly from the house entrance and the new staircase. And you can go from the hallway straight into the living room.



Now we are considering whether we should take Option 2. The kitchen layout seems much easier there. The downside would be that we would only have one access and would basically always have to go through the sliding door into the living room. The advantage would be that we would have the kitchen somewhat separated with its own kitchen area. And you wouldn’t see the island right in front of you when you enter the kitchen.
The disadvantages would be longer paths and we would have a bottleneck in the house.



We are currently a bit unsure.

The steel beams for the removed walls in the living room and hallway have already been installed. The openings for the new door have not yet been made. With Option 2 we could save ourselves an opening.

I would choose V2: When would the sliding door ever be closed??? I only know sliding doors that are rarely used, so they are always open and only rarely closed. I do not see the open space between the kitchen island and the living area as a focal point, as it appears spacious and the dining area is also present in the living zone. But what kind of mega kitchen island is that? What dimensions do you prefer there?

Hello,

Personally, I also like option 2 much better.

Just an idea, if you want a direct access from the stair area to the living room, why don’t you simply add an additional door to the living room in the wall in option 2, like you had planned in option 1?

In option 1, what bothers me is the narrow passage between the L-shaped kitchen part and the island compared to the rest of the very spacious kitchen.

Out of curiosity: Are you planning to integrate the cooktop into the island, or should it be placed somewhere in the L-shaped kitchen part?

Best regards,

Dirk

The kitchen island should be approximately 1.35 x 1.20. With a countertop so that it can be used as a bar. I only roughly sketched it to show the idea in the kitchen. Around the kitchen island, there is always at least 1 meter of space in Version 2. In Version 1, it is only 85 centimeters, and the chimney is always somehow in the way and makes the room look unsettled. And I think that in Version 2, this is a good distance to still be able to move around well. The island should only be used as a pure prep island. The cooktop should be on the wall so that the exhaust can go directly outside.

The passage between the dining room and kitchen will probably remain open at first and, for cost reasons, no sliding door will be installed. It probably won’t be a problem either. But we are not yet agreed on that. However, I think this can still be decided spontaneously and according to the budget, because glass sliding doors are not cheap either.
The glass sliding door is actually intended to be used when someone is cooking and working in the kitchen and someone else is watching TV in the living room. But I also suspect that the door will usually be open.

Since we want to install underfloor heating, the pipes have to go somewhere. And a service shaft is to be installed by simply extending a wall next to the fireplace forward and using the space gained for it. In V1, this would be exactly between the doors in the kitchen. And in V2 where the entrance to the living room would be.

Our previous experience is that only one of these two doors was ever used, especially because they are so close to each other.

The passage between the dining room and kitchen will probably just remain open for now, and for cost reasons no sliding door will be used. It probably won't be a bother anyway. But we haven't decided on that yet. However, I think that can still be decided spontaneously and based on the budget, because glass sliding doors aren't cheap either.

Ok, that's also an option.

Should the sliding door run inside the wall or on the wall?

You should definitely think about that, because if the door runs inside the wall, usually a doubling is required.

If the door, on the other hand, runs on the wall, you have to keep in mind that those wall surfaces will no longer be available as furniture placement space or for hanging pictures...

Regards,

Dirk

We have already considered both variants:

In the wall:
Advantage: you do not lose any floor space and the doors are not in the way.
Disadvantage: difficult to repair and clean. You lose some space. And more expensive.

On the wall:
Advantage: beautiful sliding doors come into prominence, cheaper, easier to repair in case of damage.
Disadvantage: you lose floor space, the suspension of the sliding doors is visible