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Original poster

Anyone got fully open plan downstairs?

122 replies

Lovingmylife · 16/03/2021 18:50

We are looking at doing some building work and thinking we might make the whole downstairs open plan. Has anyone done this and ended up hating it or regretted it? I wonder if I'd miss a cosy living room or if I'd love the open space.

OP posts:
Desmondo2021 · 17/03/2021 08:19

I had it and the only time I loved it was when hosting parties. The rest of the time it drove me nuts and we ended up putting in doors and walls and ultimately moving 🤣

G5000 · 17/03/2021 08:39

Depends on what you like. I grew up in an open plan house, but we were all busy active people, so it was nice to spend time together when we were at home.
PILs have one of those houses with million small rooms - 4 or 5 lounge/sitting room type of rooms, 2 dining rooms, 2 kitchens etc. You can have a dozen people in the house without seeing anybody. But MIL was a SAHM and the entire family never went anywhere or did anything, and I can understand it can get annoying if you are together in the same room 24/7.

So to enjoy open plan living you need to:

  • like to see your family members and you are not bothered by people doing different things in the same room. It is not for you if you mostly want to be alone in a separate room and shut the door.
  • be naturally tidy, or if not tidy, not letting mess bother you.
  • have a separate utility room for washer/dryer.
  • separate study or similar, if you need to work from home.
  • underfloor heating. Having one tiny radiator at the end of big open space will not cut it.

Personally I would never buy a house where I can't have one big open space living area, but people are different.

changingnames786 · 17/03/2021 09:05

PILs have one of those houses with million small rooms - 4 or 5 lounge/sitting room type of rooms, 2 dining rooms, 2 kitchens etc. You can have a dozen people in the house without seeing anybody.

I mean that's quite an uncommon extreme example isn't it...I'm not sure many people have this situation with 2 kitchens, 4 living rooms etc...

LabiaMinoraPissusFlapus · 17/03/2021 09:15

Yes it is very practical with children. I wouldn't choose to have open plan downstairs without children though.

Yolanda524 · 17/03/2021 09:18

I would love an open plan kitchen diner with a snug and room for a computer/desk and then a separate lounge room and a separate utility room

MrTumblesSpottyHag · 17/03/2021 09:38

We have and I don't love it tbh. It's a pain to keep it all looking good, you can't just do one room and shut the door on it. The only saving grace is that the utility room is separate so the washing machine doesn't drown out the tv!

Snog · 17/03/2021 09:41

One person cooking with a podcast on, one watching TV, washing machine and dish washer running, another person on a zoom call. I just could not stand the noise. How do people cope with this?

Or the smells?

G5000 · 17/03/2021 10:31

One person cooking with a podcast on, one watching TV, washing machine and dish washer running, another person on a zoom call. I just could not stand the noise. How do people cope with this?

Well we wouldn't do that - zoom calls are taken in the study, unless it's to grandparents and then kids will want to talk and not watch tv at the same time.
If anybody wants to listen to podcasts while the TV is on, we all have noise-cancelling headphones.
Washing machine is in the utility and my dishwasher is 39dB so you literally have to go check the lights if it's on or not.
Of course you want to take all this into account if you go for open plan. Also that there is plenty of storage and everything has its place, so the room does not look messy and cluttered. A friend of mine has open plan, but unfortunately also a messy family that just dumps everything on any available surface, and that is of course a challenge.

I don't cook anything stinky really and we have a good extractor.

LaurieSchafferIsAllBitterNow · 17/03/2021 10:41

we're looking to downsize and I am drawn to open plan... but with some serious provisos

Must be a space somewhere else for officey stuff
Must be a separate utility
Must not be open plan to stairs or toilet!

Lots of open plan does present as a huge gaping space with no style, but have seen a few that are really super...often they are L shaped, with the kitchen or sittingroom in the shorter more private end.

tiredmum2468 · 17/03/2021 10:50

My neighbour did it and hated it
Now converted back

TalbotAMan · 17/03/2021 10:51

Sort of. The house started life as a bungalow. We extended it and effectively tripled its size. We made most of the roof space into a guest bedroom. Downstairs we have a master, with ensuite, two DC's rooms, which share a 'Jack and Jill' shower room and a family/guest bathroom. We also have a room which could flexibly be a single bedroom, utility or office (which it currently is!).

At the rear of the house we have a very large (8m x 14m) room which contains kitchen and living room, together with a 'mezzanine' sitting area over about a third of it. It's open apart from two structural pillars and a small staircase to the mezzanine and guest bedroom.

The reason we did it, though, is that DW has a health issue/disability which we knew would lead to her using a wheelchair effectively all the time (as has now happened) so we deliberately kept things big and open with tiled floors.

Heating is ok because we insulated like mad and put in under floor (water) heating. It can be noisy due to all the hard surfaces though.

G5000 · 17/03/2021 10:56

@changingnames786

PILs have one of those houses with million small rooms - 4 or 5 lounge/sitting room type of rooms, 2 dining rooms, 2 kitchens etc. You can have a dozen people in the house without seeing anybody.

I mean that's quite an uncommon extreme example isn't it...I'm not sure many people have this situation with 2 kitchens, 4 living rooms etc...

Yes sure - now don't get me wrong, they don't live in a palace. Most of those rooms are small, so you can just squeeze a sofa into one and a table into another, and it's a challenge to fit the entire family into one room. In my opinion, would be much nicer if there were fewer, but bigger rooms. And same with your average British house - if you have a kitchen and diner and lounge and/or family room/sitting room/reception room, whatever you call it, you often end up with sitting with your nose against the TV, as there simply isn't space to have all those separate rooms still in decent size. I know many people see it as cozy but I get claustrophobic and need my airy spacious rooms.
CtrlU · 17/03/2021 11:03

I used to like the idea but I worry about cooking smells leaking through the house.

Crankley · 17/03/2021 11:29

I hate it. If I was moving I wouldn't even consider viewing somewhere open plan.

amusedbush · 17/03/2021 12:07

We inherited our house - a small three bedroom terrace, ex HA. The living room was a decent size but the kitchen was so narrow you could touch both walls with your arms outstretched.

We planned to move the wall to make it bigger but once it came down, we left it down. It’s now an open plan living room and kitchen, which I really like. I can see why it wouldn’t be for everyone but there’s no issue with cooking smells and the washing machine is so quiet, I can hear the TV fine over it.

Also no issues with keeping it warm as it’s still a small house, the open plan downstairs just makes it seem a bit more bright and airy.

amusedbush · 17/03/2021 12:10

(When I say it’s small, I mean there isn’t even space for a two-person dining table, let alone a proper dining area. We have stools at the breakfast bar instead)

TotoAnnihiliation · 17/03/2021 12:10

I was convinced I wanted it, it was one of the reasons I bought the house. In reality I despise it, especially as you have to go through the living room then the dining room to get to the kitchen.

The living room feels like a corridor more than a nice relaxing space. I wouldn't mind the open plan kitchen and living room if I had a separate corridor to get to the kitchen.

Extrapepperoni · 17/03/2021 12:47

Really depends on how you live and your family. We're doing open plan kitchen/dining and adding french doors to be able to close off the lounge. Think about noise, smells, tidyness, privacy and movement - I like the idea of being able to all be in the same space or open up for socialising but then be able to close off the lounge for privacy when you're watching something and someone else is on the phone for instance. I do see cooking as a social activity so really want that to be in with the dining as currently having people in the kitchen just ends up with them getting in the way.

MiaowMiaow99 · 17/03/2021 13:11

We had totaly open plan but have created a snug area and left the rest open. Works really well. The light is fabulous and I couldnt imagine going back to a warren of dark rooms.

fiorentina · 17/03/2021 13:18

Open plan kitchen/dining/sitting area and then separate sitting room and playroom. I wouldn’t want the whole downstairs open plan, would definitely want a separate utility area and like being in the cosy sitting room at night away from any kitchen mess etc.

AbstractHeart · 17/03/2021 13:19

Can anyone explain their issue with cooking smells? I love walking in and smelling what DH is cooking. Doesn't your food smell nice?

BrieAndChilli · 17/03/2021 13:31

i couldnt think of anything worse!

We have a lounge/diner, kitchen, study and large conservatory which houses the utility area and kids sofa and tv and games games consoles.
it means i can be cooking in the ktichen watching somethin on my tablet, DH can be in the lounge watching something on tV or taking a work call etc, Then a child can be in the study on the computer and another one in the conservatory playing on the xbox/switch or watching TV.

Lounge is still big enough for us all plus guests to eg play a board game but smells and noises are all partioned off from each other.

I think open plan only really works if

  • you are minimalistic anyway
  • you have a seperate untility room for messy/noisy stuff
  • you have small babies - it doesnt work as well once they are older and more independant
Housewife2010 · 17/03/2021 13:40

We have my ideal which is a large kitchen/dining room/sitting room which opens onto the garden. We also have two separate sitting rooms so we can have privacy and play the piano or have the TV/radio on without disturbing everyone else. My friend who has a full open plan ground floor found that during lockdown she and her children had to spend their days in their bedrooms as her husband commandeered the open plan ground floor to work. ( Personally I wouldn't have put up with that!)
The large open plan area is great for entertaining and to spend time as a family, but I do really appreciate having separate rooms too so for us it's the best of both worlds.

fiorentina · 17/03/2021 14:20

@AbstractHeart

Can anyone explain their issue with cooking smells? I love walking in and smelling what DH is cooking. Doesn't your food smell nice?
It does, but I don’t still want to be smelling it later and cooking smells ‘stuck’ in fabric of soft furnishings etc or still smell a lingering curry or fish smell throughout the whole house the next day!
Kezzie200 · 17/03/2021 14:28

We can in that we have lounge, double doors to kitchen diner and double doors to large conservatory and then french doors to garden and patio.

Was great for the children's christening and parties. Otherwise, it would be awfully costly to heat in winter and no where to hide from anyone.

But its probably a bit old fashioned.