To think open plan living is not actually that great?

[Dancergirl]

In almost every homes magazine, tv programme etc these days the focus seems to be on open plan living space. Same old story - the main cook of the family feels isolated in the kitchen, everyone is doing their own thing in different rooms, families are not being together. So the answer is to knock down walls to create one big 'space' so all the family members can be together.

We currently have separate rooms downstairs although some are connected with doors. Kitchen is big enough to have a table in where we have every day meals. Sometimes I do think about going open plan but I can see huge disadvantages:

-Sometimes (especially in a bigger family) you do crave a bit of space to do your own thing and you can't really do that in one big room.

-Dh likes to listen to sports on the radio in the kitchen while the dc are watching telly in the other room. This wouldn't be easy in one big space.

-Dd1 plays piano and flute and practices in the living room. Other family members can sit in kitchen or small tv room and can do something else without having to listen to music practice.

-We are a close family but don't feel the need to spend every waking minute at home in the same room.

Do you think this open plan thing is just fashionable at the moment and we'll start craving walls soon? Or am I missing something??

My ideal living space is:

Massive kitchen with room for a big dining table and possibly a sofa.
Separate utility room with washing machine, tumble drier and cleaning stuff etc.
Separate living room.

I wouldn't like a separate dining room because I don't think j would use t enough and it's nice to have people in the kitchen with you.

But it's really really really nice to have a separate sitting room so you can be all cosy and away from the kitchen.

A previous owner changed the layout of our house, knocking a wall to create a larger kitchen/diner which feels considerably bigger than the original layout of our neighbour. The utility is separated off better, so the washer and dryer don't intrude on any other rooms. I like the convenience of cooking, serving and cleaning up meals being in one zone. We removed a breakfast bar which initially people though was crazy, but it was a barrier and clutter zone, and with a table anyway, it was superfluous. This set up is much easier than our previous house where food would be put at the hatch, before a trip around the ground floor to the dining room. Open plan wouldn't have worked due to the number of doors off the kitchen meaning that the main counter and cupboard space was along the dining wall.

I'm pleased that our lounge is completely separate. Sticking the TV on and keeping small DCs from under my feet is essential for sanity when I'm cooking. I'd feel a bit agrophobic in a totally open plan ground floor. Also if it was open to the stairs, it would be cold as the heat rises.

We are in a small flat with a galley kitchen atm.
I dream of having a kitchen diner with a big wooden table that everyone can hang out in while I cook :)
I'd want a seperate little sitting room with a fireplace too.

And seeing as it's an imaginary house, I'd like a study and a big garden with a treehouse

I used to live in an open plan house and I hated it, it's worse with toddlers, how do you keep them out of the kitchen?! I love my current house and all it's walls and doors even though my 2 year old keeps closing them on me!

Great with toddlers, terrible with teenagers...

Also, friends of ours have just built a massive open plan extension at the back of their house - it looks amazing, all steel and glass and a polished concrete floor, but dear God the noise. We went for dinner, I spent the entire evening nodding politely coz I couldn't hear a ruddy thing anybody said.

I love it... but then DH and me lived in a loft together for our first three years. I went from being a "I just want to be alone" anti-social type to being comfortable in open spaces, in fact I feel claustrophobic in small rooms now. I also dislike dining rooms, have done since childhood. They are often small and strangely awkward rooms, the most unrelaxing environment. I remember many family meals where I was desperately trying to block out the sound of knives scraping on plates and people chewing food ... awful!

I understand the challenges with kids though, we luckily have a basement den to send (banish) the kids to, so they can play without disturbing the whole household.

Oh thank goodness I've found this thread! The rental house we live in is completely open plan, pretty common in newer houses here in New Zealand, and I hate it! It is all one level which makes it even worse. You open the front door and it is all one big lounge, kitchen, dining room which leads to an open hallway (no doors) that the bedrooms are off. So no doors apart from on the bedrooms and the bathroom. And no separate lounge unlike many houses like this. So if you have the tv on you can hear it any of the bedrooms, and I can't use my sewing machine in the evening as it wakes the DC up. There is also a stupid window next to the door so everyone can see in. It's set back from the pavement and on a big section which Dh loves, but he assured me the house would be great - lies, all lies grrr.

I have 4 dc, ranging from 8 months to 7 years and whilst it is great to be able to see them it is impossible to escape and absolutely impossible to keep tidy - the slightest bit of mess and it looks awful and there is nowhere to shut away toys. Also, no double glazing or central heating, we just have one silly heat pump which blows hot air about a bit so it is freezing if not sunny.

Sorry for the rant but you may be able to tell I am not happy with it at all I'd take a photo to demonstrate my pain but it looks so cluttered! I really want to move...

We have just made some changes to go a bit more open plan. Cut out breakfast bar to make room for a big table in the actual kitchen, then opened up double door width between the kitchen and dining room, which we'll now use as a kids room and add a sofa etc. Crucially we still have a lounge upstairs though - dont think I'd want all combined.

Seperate dining room wasn't used at all, and we can still block off with the double doors if needed.

Only just done it, so fingers crossed it works!

back in the seventies the trend was for a through lounge, living room, dining room, Mum always said it was not practical then for reasons you listed. now the trend is for open plan kitchen/diner/family room. can't seeing it being that practical my self unless you have quite a few other rooms downstaies (formal living room, study etc)

We live in a flat. Three bedrooms and one main room which the front door opens into, sofa area, dining table and kitchen. We sacrificed space for a better area to live in and it was a good choice. But there are times where I want a space of my own! I find it annoying that if DH is watching TV, then I can't read in peace unless I go to bed.

We have a (small) open-plan living/dining room, then the kitchen coming off that in a separate space. I love shutting myself away when I'm cooking. Gives me a chance to sip a cup of actual hot tea and read my kindle.

We went open plan after an extension despite some reservations. It looks lovely, is nice to be together sometimes (cooking, TV etc.) but I wouldn't do it again. As people have said a messy kitchen on display is not good. Also my daughter is doing her GCSE's and her preferred method of revision is loud music at the dining room table, as she works very hard, I haven't been able to listen to radio 4 for about the last 8 weeks! So, probably works well with perfect family and younger children, not so good otherwise.

When my husband and I downsize I will definitely look for a kitchen with a table rather than a kitchen diner.

Mine used to be lounge/diner space and tiny kitchen. I put up a different wall to make a large lounge and large kitchen/diner. The layout suits us better and was a godsend when the boys were younger as they and their friends could sit out in the kitchen with the food while we had the lounge and peace but still keep an ear and eye out.
So I agree-open plan is not the best idea for families-however, next door has opened up the whole of their downstairs and it is stunning. They don't have any kids though.

I find with our open plan house that there are far fewer walls to put cupboards and shelves up so there's way less storage and therefore so much more clutter on show. Not surprising as I seem to accumulate it wherever I go but it's particularly obvious in this house.

That's another thing - breakfast bars. WHY?? To quote a typical homes magazine - 'guests can 'perch' at the breakfast bar with a glass of wine and chat to the cook'.

Bar stools are bloody uncomfortable and a nightmare with small children. And as others have said above, I like to cook in peace so I can concentrate and avoid others offering to 'help' (which isn't a help at all)

Fascinating thread. I actually when I see open plan living think how lovely it must be but now Ive read about the pitfalls I wouldn't touch it. We have a separate kitchen that's draughty in the winter so it's good to shut the door on that. Then I have a large lounge that I've stuck a table in the top half making a lounge/ dining room I suppose. That's a lovely big space when all 12 of us get together.

I have a noisy washing machine ATM so it's good to shut the door on that and sometimes if we eat late and don't do all the washing up its good to shut the door on that as well.

YANBU

I would quite like a kitchen/diner but currently have separate at the moment. Really like our lounge which is small-ish but nice and cosy in winter.

I love our breakfast bar and the fact that guests and family can sit and chat to me when I cook. Or I can chat to whoever is cooking. Would hate to be alone in the kitchen while everybody else is socializing and having fun. You do need to invest in good bar stools though.

I don't quite understand why people are saying open plan is not practical with kids - that was one of the main reasons we opened ours up. I don't want to leave small kids unattended in another room, so wouldn't get anything done if I couldn't keep an eye on them. Not really a good idea to have them playing next to boiling pots in a small kitchen. And toddler DS would certainly protest if I kept dragging him from lounge to dining room to kitchen every time I needed something in the respective rooms.

I'm with you OP. I hate it. We recently moved to a Victorian semi. Everyone suggested knocking the front rom and dining room into one 'big light and airy room'. I said no no no. I think each room needs a different purpose and actually 'light and airy' is totally overrated. I like a small and cosy sitting room and bedrooms.

We just moved from a open plan flat in Canada to an open plan flat in the UK and both were horrendous with ds1 who has asd and spd and cannot stop pulling, prodding and poking everything. Also following me around the kitchen, I would have ds1 hanging on my legs, dh holding the baby about a foot behind me talking at the back of my head while I tried to cook dinner. I would give off all the 'go away signals' but he would just carry on while I tried not to burn the toddler and drain boiling water away from the baby etc till I would explode 'can you just go away'. He would then get all hurt.

I like rooms with doors you can close. All can listen to music/telly etc in peace.

And don't get me started on the smell of cooking on all your soft furnishings. I once read an Aussie architect banging on about how awful and unsociable the UK houses were with separate kitchens as gone are the days when people spent ages cooking or made smelly hot food, all any of us do now is open a bag of salad and dish up a ready made quiche...apparently. Well not me love. Lots of big hot smelly curries and fried bacon in my house!

But hazle, if it's open to kids they can open the hot oven and all the cupboards and knife drawers, pull everything out all over the floor, come up behind you while you ere holding a pan of boiling water etc. it's a total nightmare.

You can put a baby gate on the door of a kitchen, I couldn't in the open plan places I lived in.

I don't take the DC with me around the house. They are set up in the safe front room and I go into another room. If it's open plan they see me and follow me. If I'm not there they just get on with playing and watching cbeebies so I can sneak in the shower.

I think a must is a door directly from a living area to the kitchen...so small children are kept out of the kitchen but you can keep an eye on them through a (stair gate fitted) kitchen door...
I wouldn't like a kitchen with only a door to the hall - in fact in the house we are renovating we have opened up a doorway that had been sealed up because of that and the table will be just through the door. Unless you have a dinning kitchen you have to carry all your food through a hall to the table - with the chance of a spill (especially with DCs) but also the whole having to make countless trips back and forward...
And YY to breakfast bars, bar stools and small children - we had one in this house, instead of a table (kitchen wasn't big enough for both). Kitchen needed replacing but not got time to organise it ...
Final straw was when 3-4 yo DD1 fell off a stool for the umpteenth time but this time had blood in her pants and needed a trip to A&E to check she hadn't serious hurt herself (fractured her hip). When I got home I took an electric saw and cut the breakfast bar off, dumped the stools and got a small table. Rough edge didn't look pretty but worth it for the peace of mind...(stayed like that for 5 more years until I eventually got round to organising a new kitchen )

What I have found in friends with small dc who have open plan is they start with light and airy, then within a few months there are rugs everywhere, blinds are everywhere (costing thousands) and they never have time to sit on comfy sofa as they seem to be playing chase the kids the whole time. Those who have the space for best of both worlds are what I would like.

our oven doesn't get hot from outside and I check the surroundings before lifting hot pots, so this part is covered. DS is also happy to play with his toys when I'm in the room, but will find some kind of a mischief to do whenever I'm not, so safer for us if I'm there (current hobby - unplugging all cables, so can't just leave him in another room watching TV). So guess depends on the kids as well, lucky I got one compatible with open plan.

It's interesting that I grew up in an open plan house and loved it. DH grew up in a traditional house with many small rooms and hated it, so luckily we both agreed that open plan was the way to go for us.

We have a hall with lounge and kitchen door leading off. The lounge then has french doors opening to the games room and another set leading to the smaller sitting room. These french doors bifold so if we do want to open the house up then we have that option.

We also have a large kitcken/dinner with a sofa too. We did have the doors taken off the interconnecting rooms wjen the boy's were small but the noise level of the tv and game stations got steadily worse so we put the bifold on