Open-plan kitchen knock-throughs in Farnborough

Is open-plan kitchen knock-throughs right for your Farnborough kitchen?

Some households in Hampshire want a kitchen-diner for having people round, where guests can sit at a table or island while the food is still being cooked.

If your Farnborough semi has the kitchen at the back and a separate dining room beside it, opening the wall between them often makes space for an island or a proper table. Kitchens in every part of Farnborough are covered, and the survey visit is free wherever you are in Hampshire.

What does the job involve?

After the survey visit we write the scope down. For open-plan kitchen knock-throughs in Farnborough it usually covers:

Structural engineer arranged to design the beam, padstones and temporary propping
New kitchen fitted once the opening is made good and the structural work inspected
Temporary props set, the wall removed and the steel beam bedded on padstones
Cables, pipes and radiators in the wall rerouted by qualified trades
Building Regulations approval arranged, or a building warrant before work starts in Scotland
In England and Wales, party wall requirements checked where a beam bears into a shared wall

What do open-plan kitchen knock-throughs cost in Farnborough?

The figures below are guide prices for Farnborough, including VAT and adjusted for typical costs across the South East. The fixed price comes after we have measured up. Prices in the South East usually run above the national guide, mainly because labour and parking cost more.

What do open-plan kitchen knock-throughs cost in Farnborough?
Typical project	Guide price
Non-load-bearing wall removed and made goodStud or light partition, minimal services	£920–£2,300
Load-bearing wall with a steel beamStructural engineer's design and making good; building control or warrant fees listed separately	£3,400–£9,800
Knock-through with a new kitchen-dinerSteel beam, new kitchen, new floor throughout	£28,500–£63,000

Load-bearing guide ranges include the structural engineer's design for a typical single opening and making good; council building control or building warrant fees, rerouted services, decorating and the kitchen itself are listed separately. Prices include VAT at 20%.

Fitting kitchens in older and newer Farnborough homes

Across Hampshire you will often find Victorian terraces, 1930s semis, post-war estate houses and thatched and brick cottages, and each shapes the kitchen differently. Terraces in Southampton and Portsmouth often have a narrow back kitchen, while post-war estate houses tend to have a compact rectangular room suited to an L-shape.

Dense terraced streets can be very tight for parking, and New Forest lanes and village roads may limit the size of delivery vehicle. Water across Hampshire is mostly hard, largely from chalk sources, so limescale on taps and boiling water taps is common and a filter can help.

Do you need approval for open-plan kitchen knock-throughs in Farnborough?

In England, removing a load-bearing wall needs a structural engineer's design and Building Regulations approval through local authority building control or a registered building control approver. Where a beam bears into a party wall, the Party Wall etc. Act 1996 means serving notice on the neighbours before work starts. If the new open-plan kitchen opens onto the hall and stairs, building control will check the escape route, and homes with a floor more than 4.5 metres above ground may need extra fire safety measures.

Homes within the New Forest or South Downs national parks, listed cottages and conservation areas may need consent for a new extractor vent or alterations to historic features.

Tips before you start

Before asking for prices for your Farnborough home, look upstairs: a wall directly above the one you want removed is a strong sign it is load-bearing.
If your Farnborough home is leasehold, ask the freeholder for written consent before any structural work is designed or booked in.
Keep the completion certificate somewhere safe after the work, as a buyer's solicitor will usually ask for it when you sell your Farnborough home.
Allow time for the engineer's design and approval before work starts, especially in Scotland, where the building warrant must be granted first.

Questions about open-plan kitchen knock-throughs in Farnborough

How much do open-plan kitchen knock-throughs cost in Farnborough?

Open-plan kitchen knock-throughs in Farnborough typically cost £920 to £2,300 including VAT for removing a non-load-bearing wall and making good, based on prices in the South East. Larger or more involved jobs cost more, and your price is fixed in writing after a free survey visit.

Do you work near Farnborough as well?

Yes. As well as Farnborough itself, we cover the rest of Hampshire and nearby towns such as Camberley and Aldershot. The process is the same wherever the kitchen is.

Who designs the steel beam for a knock-through?

A structural engineer does. We arrange the engineer, who calculates the loads and specifies the beam size, the padstones it bears on and the temporary propping needed while the wall comes out. Those calculations go with the Building Regulations application or building warrant. We do not design steelwork ourselves; the work follows the engineer's design and is inspected as part of the approval.

How can I tell if a kitchen wall is load-bearing?

Usually you cannot be certain by looking. Clues include floor joists landing on the wall from above, another wall directly on top of it upstairs, or the wall running down the middle of the house on its own foundation. A hollow knock is not a reliable test, because some stud walls carry loads. We check at the survey, and where there is doubt a structural engineer confirms it before anything is removed.

Does knocking through to the kitchen affect fire safety?

It can. If the new open-plan kitchen opens straight onto the hall and stairs, a kitchen fire could affect the escape route from upstairs, so building control, or the building warrant process in Scotland, will check how people would get out. In houses with a floor more than 4.5 metres above ground, usually three storeys or more, extra fire safety measures may be needed. We confirm what applies before work starts.

Open-plan kitchen knock-throughs near Farnborough

Close to Farnborough? We cover these nearby towns too: