Open-plan kitchen knock-throughs in Merseyside

When do open-plan kitchen knock-throughs make sense in Merseyside?

Plenty of Merseyside homes have a small back kitchen beside a dining room that only gets used at Christmas, and joining the two gives one room the household actually lives in.

Parents across Merseyside often want to see the garden and the children from the hob, which a knock-through between the kitchen and family room can make possible.

What do open-plan kitchen knock-throughs in Merseyside include?

Here is what usually goes into open-plan kitchen knock-throughs, adjusted to your Merseyside kitchen after we have measured it:

• Free survey visit to check the wall, the floors above and the services running through it
• Structural engineer arranged to design the beam, padstones and temporary propping
• 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
• Temporary props set, the wall removed and the steel beam bedded on padstones
• Cables, pipes and radiators in the wall rerouted by qualified trades
• Beam boxed in, the opening plastered and the floor joined where the wall stood
• New kitchen fitted once the opening is made good and the structural work inspected

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

Use these ranges to plan your budget. They include VAT, reflect costs in the North West, and are firmed up once we have seen your Merseyside kitchen. Prices in the North West usually come in below the national guide, as labour rates are lower than in the South East.

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%.

Kitchens in homes across Merseyside

Across Merseyside you will often find Victorian terraces, Victorian and Edwardian villas, 1930s semis and converted warehouse flats, and each shapes the kitchen differently. Two-up two-down terraces often have a small back kitchen off the living room, while 1930s semis tend to have a separate kitchen with space to open into a dining room.

Merseyside's mains water is soft, so limescale is rarely a big issue and taps, sinks and boiling water taps stay cleaner for longer. Terraced streets with back entries, city-centre flats with booked lifts and permit parking zones can all affect how and when a kitchen is delivered.

Knocking a small back kitchen through to the living room is a common way to make space for a table in a terrace. Large Victorian villas split into flats often mean fitting a full kitchen into one room, with shared services and stair access to plan around.

Rules for open-plan kitchen knock-throughs in Merseyside

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.

Conservation areas and listed buildings are common in older parts of Liverpool and the Wirral, so a new vent on a visible wall may need consent.

Before you start

• Check what runs through the wall: sockets, switches, radiator pipes, gas pipes and sometimes a soil stack all need rerouting first.
• Find out whether the wall is load-bearing before planning the layout; joists landing on it or a wall directly above are common clues.
• Think about fire escape if the kitchen will open onto the hall and stairs, particularly in homes of three storeys or more.
• Allow time for the engineer's design and approval before work starts, especially in Scotland, where the building warrant must be granted first.
• Clear both rooms completely before the opening is made in your Merseyside home, and seal doors to the rest of the house with dust sheets and tape.
• Keep the completion certificate somewhere safe after the work, as a buyer's solicitor will usually ask for it when you sell your Merseyside home.

Questions about open-plan kitchen knock-throughs in Merseyside

Open-plan kitchen knock-throughs in towns across Merseyside

Choose a town for local guide prices and postcode coverage:

• Open-plan kitchen knock-throughs in Liverpool
• Open-plan kitchen knock-throughs in Birkenhead
• Open-plan kitchen knock-throughs in St Helens
• Open-plan kitchen knock-throughs in Southport
• Open-plan kitchen knock-throughs in Wallasey
• Open-plan kitchen knock-throughs in Bootle
• Open-plan kitchen knock-throughs in Bebington
• Open-plan kitchen knock-throughs in Huyton
• Open-plan kitchen knock-throughs in Kirkby
• Open-plan kitchen knock-throughs in Prescot
• Open-plan kitchen knock-throughs in Heswall
• Open-plan kitchen knock-throughs in Maghull
• Open-plan kitchen knock-throughs in Newton-le-Willows
• Open-plan kitchen knock-throughs in Formby
• Open-plan kitchen knock-throughs in Litherland
• Open-plan kitchen knock-throughs in Speke
• Open-plan kitchen knock-throughs in Garston
• Open-plan kitchen knock-throughs in Halewood
• Open-plan kitchen knock-throughs in Kirkdale

Open-plan kitchen knock-throughs in nearby areas

• Open-plan kitchen knock-throughs in Clwyd
• Open-plan kitchen knock-throughs in Cheshire
• Open-plan kitchen knock-throughs in Greater Manchester
• Open-plan kitchen knock-throughs in Lancashire
• Open-plan kitchen knock-throughs in Shropshire