Dining room openings - different sizes

[Anonymous]

We have a typical colonial dining room, with two entrances - one cased opening to the foyer (5ft) and one sliding door to the kitchen (2.5 ft). I'd like to expand the opening to the kitchen, but if I the kitchen opening 5ft like the foyer opening, we'll basically be losing most of our wall with the kitchen (which is 11 ft), and I don't want open concept. Would it be terrible if I expand the kitchen opening, to say, 3.5 ft or 4 ft? I like symmetry and try not to randomly change thoughtful architecture, but in this case I'm not sure if the different entrance sizes is even an issue, design-wise? Anyone know? Thanks

[Anonymous]

It's impossible to say without seeing the house. What do the other doorways look like? What would the view be through the wider opening? Would the wider opening be centered, or not?

If you care about the look, this is the kind of thing it might be worth bringing in an architect to draw. We created a doorway/opening between the living room and kitchen and an architect drew it and positioned it slightly differently than I would have, and it looked great at the end. It needs to relate to the area around it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's impossible to say without seeing the house. What do the other doorways look like? What would the view be through the wider opening? Would the wider opening be centered, or not?

If you care about the look, this is the kind of thing it might be worth bringing in an architect to draw. We created a doorway/opening between the living room and kitchen and an architect drew it and positioned it slightly differently than I would have, and it looked great at the end. It needs to relate to the area around it.

Thanks for this thoughtful response! Yes I am considering bringing in an architect to consult on this specific issue. Where did you find your architect? Can you recommend anyone?

[Anonymous]

This is going to cost anywhere from $1000-$10000 depending on what has to get moved. That is a lot of money to widen a door opening by 1'.

When we redid our kitchen we keep the door the same size. We don't regret it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is going to cost anywhere from $1000-$10000 depending on what has to get moved. That is a lot of money to widen a door opening by 1'.

When we redid our kitchen we keep the door the same size. We don't regret it.

Can you describe your project a bit more?

[Anonymous]

Opening a doorway will require a flooring patch. Do you have extra floor material?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Opening a doorway will require a flooring patch. Do you have extra floor material?

That is really the least of my worries.