Trend towards open plan kitchen correlates to population weight gain?

[JumpRope]

On the face of it, it does. Obviously, there are exceptions, but I'm talking countrywide.....

[londonrach]

Hate open plan kitchens. Why would you want to smell your curry, fish dinner when watching TV. Yuk!

[atticusclaw]

I'm not sure you can make that correlation. Yes there has been an increase in weight and an increase in the number of open plan kitchens but there's also been an increase in internet usage, an increase in the number of people who paint their walls grey, an increase in the number of people buying football stickers and an increase in the number of people watching game of thrones. Has there been any study done?

[JumpRope]

Well, it can be open plan without having a tv in it, I guess. But lots of 'living space' in the kitchen is desirable now.

[ShakeYourTailFeathers]

You'd be hard pushed to find anything other than open plan in Canada, where I live. Been here 8 yrs and have only seen one kitchen door

All shapes and sizes here...

[JumpRope]

Not sure if there have been studies done. I make the correlation because the kitchen directly connects to food, as does weight gain. Grey walls etc don't.....

[nemno]

I was thinking this yesterday. I have definitely put on more weight in houses where the fridge and food cupboards are in the same room as me.

[woodlandwanderwoman]

I would imagine there are more likely things that contribute and not just correlate to population weight gain, like the increase in accessible electronic and online media, rapid growth in number of tv channels and explosion of computer games industry over the last 20 years.

[JassyRadlett]

Well, first, correlation does not equal causation.

Second, I'm not sure the demographics align. How many hones have open plan kitchen diners now? What housing demographics? How does that map against the demographics for obesity?

[ApocalypseNowt]

Oooh I'd think there'd be more weight gain in contained/non open plan kitchens.

I wouldn't snarf a whole packet of biccies if everyone else could see me......

[JumpRope]

Haha, I crouch down behind the island, 'checking a recipe book'

[DoJo]

Is this based purely on your observations or is there some kind of study reporting these findings?

[Theincidental]

More likely to be relative to the loss of dining areas in general. Council houses and new builds are so tiny there's no real room for family dining and the gardens are also tiny in most cases so no proper outdoor space to burn energy in.

We also watch far more tv and generally are more sedentary. Lots of relative lifestyle an home changes.

[tshirtsuntan]

I'm a big fatty and I don't have an open plan kitchen

[chesterberry]

I think that for me living in an open-plan kitchen/living room definitely makes it easier for me to pick at food and I seem to think about food more than I have in previous homes where I've had a separate kitchen and living room. The amount of effort involved to get something from the 'kitchen' cupboard is minimal.

Also I think living in an open-plan makes me concentrate on cooking less as I can have my TV on while I cook. Thiis has been less-so since I had my DD (I have the TV on a lot less!) but before she was born I was particularly bad at this. I would tend to bung things in the oven/ on the hob with one eye on the TV and then go and sit back on the sofa with one ear listening out for the pan boiling over! I was only ever half paying attention to what I'm cooking or what I was eating with the other eye on the TV. When my kitchen was a separate room I couldn't really leave the room in the same way so I would focus a lot more on my cooking.

When I move I certainly won't be choosing an open-plan kitchen/living-room again if I can help it.

[SquirrelledAway]

So you don't think that the massive snack food industry that has exploded over the last 20 years has anything to do with it?

[wigglybeezer]

I think it may have a small effect but being able to phone for takeaways and late shop opening have a bigger effect, not to mention the sheer choice of snacks and access to cars.

If you suddenly find yourself peckish at 9 o'clock, you would be able to pop in your car and go to a shop and fill a basket with treats. In my childhood all the shops closed, if you were hungry you made some toast rather than phoning for a pizza.

[CharlesRyder]

As the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster point out, there is also an inverse correlation between numbers of pirates and global warming.

[LadyLemongrab]

I actually think you could be onto something

[ComposHat]

Write out 10 times in the margain.

Two things happening at the same time does not mean one is causing the other

You could equally posit that there are more open plan kitchens as people are fatter and need more open plan spaces to haul their lardy arses around in

Or accept the two trends are unrelated.

[NothingMoreScaryThanAHairyMary]

I think the increase is far more likely to be down to the increased consumption of ready meals etc. The levels of fat, salt and sugar added to make them palatable means that a significant section of the population have forgotten what 'fresh' food tastes like.

[silveroldie2]

I agree with Squirrelled. Years ago there wasn't the obsession with snacks there appears to be today. When I was young there was no such thing as snack food - we ate three meals a day and never snacked in between apart from an occasional piece of fruit. From what I've read on here mothers walk around with half their kitchen cupboards in their bag so they can give their children a snack on demand. It must add massively to obesity too.

I've never lived anywhere with an open plan kitchen but doubt, if I did, that I would eat any more than I do now. It's hardly difficult to walk from one room to another is it.

[Sidthesausage]

The correlation is more to do with kids/adults sitting on their arses all the time and eating crap

[JumpRope]

Well I don't sit on my arse ever, but I do hang out in the kitchen a lot as a lot of the kids toys are in there and it's the nicest room in the house. I find it really hard not to graze with all the food so close. Just me then.

[RollingGreenMarble]

Correlation is not the same as causation, just remember that. :)

[JumpRope]

I know that. Only wondering if it's just coincidence or something more. Either or.