Must haves when house searching that I don't 'get'

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All open plan.
Why? Much nicer to have separate rooms where people can do their own thing, and to not have cooking smells invading the whole downstairs.

Kitchen Islands.
Usually just become dumping grounds for loads of rubbish and take up loads of floor space.

I don't get two reception rooms, why? also those massive spaces on landings, when would you ever spend time there?

Love my open plan though

Like someone else said about massive bedrooms, decent size is enough. Our master is too big and difficult to furnish with a bay window so can't be divided.

En suites. Totally non plussed about them

I love open plan, like light and space. OH doesn't like them and like small cosy rooms. At the moment got a mizlxtire of both. I spend more time in the open area he spends mroe time in the small lounge!

I have lived in an open plan and I didn't like it.
Cooking smells, washing machine noise, and the need for everywhere to be tidy were my main gripes.
I don't get the kitchen island - I'd rather have a table but not both.

I also don't understand why people want such huge houses, especially if there is just two of them. When we viewed houses last year, some of them just seemed to go on and on...

Not so popular now, but decking is another thing I don't get. It probably looks lovely in sunny Californian type houses that also come with pools and barbecue areas.

But in a typical English garden they look all wrong. Not to mention the fact that they rot in wet weather.

we have a wood burner, and I love it, but it is cosmetic, in the sense that we have gas central heating, and put the wood burner on just because its lovely. Would hat eto be dependent on it.

Our dining room is used for loads of things - piano/music lessons and practice, I work from home in there. It is used as a craft/sewing room etc. We only eat in there is we have friends as our kitchen table only seats 6.

Conservatories are ineresting. Why?
The only one I have ever seen work is my parents. It was there when they moved in. They spent a lot of money upgrading it - new roof/or roof repairs or something, then underfloor heating and proper blinds on roof and windows. It means you can use blinds when it is too sunny, especially the roof blinds, and the uderfloor heating in the winter. It is long, down one side of the house, and we can put several fold up tables back to back and seat the whole clan in there for Christmas dinner etc.
But really, if they had built from scratch, they would have just built an extension.

I had an open plan house and hated it. The noise was annoying and it was much harder to keep clean as the kids littered toys everywhere rather than just one room. Now have a close of kitchen, separate utility room and separate livingroom and love it.

Oh I agree about decking!
It is really slippery in wet weather too.

It's the person who's going to live there who understands surely, isn't it? Seems a bit odd..like saying 'I like this coat in black but she's bought blue when she should like what I like'

I bloody hate conservatories - too hot in summer, too cold in winter, they're just useless.

I do either want a big kitchen, or open plan though, otherwise whichever poor sod is stuck in the kitchen is all alone.

and I like an ensuite. For some reason, stumbling out of bed in the night to go to the loo is more palatable when it's in the ensuite - even though our bathroom is just on the landing, it seems much more effort to go to! (that one's ridiculous I realise)

I don't like enclosed hallways - I'd rather open the front door into the living room than have a tiny little hall that's inevitably full of coats and shoes and people knocking each other over trying to get out/in

I was never bothered about a conservatory but the house we bought has one off our living room. It's North facing so is really cold in winter but we got a little heater for it and I often sit in it for a bit with a cup of tea and four blankets! I like it because I get a bit of daylight as our house is quite dark. It does get too hot in summer though.

I don't think that's what anyone's saying Mistress. We're just casually chatting about things that seem to be considered very desirable, but that we personally don't like.

Going against the grain here and putting in a kind word for the poor old conservatory. I never wanted one: thought they were light-thieves and could date the appearance of a house (especially the ones with those odd fleur de lys motifs on top). Then two years ago we moved house: the new place has a nicely-sized conservatory, which wasn't a light thief as the living room is triple aspect with big windows all around. We replaced the old, garden-shed type corrugated roof with a tinted glass one which keeps things cooler in summer, added a wicker sofa and one of those cocoon hanging chairs, and I filled the place with plants which have quadrupled in size over the past year. It's a proper conservatory: lush green vegetation everywhere (I wanted it to look at bit like that one from the old movie Green Card: it even has a Moroccan fountain!) And my bird of paradise plant has grown to nearly 7 feet tall. I'm not even that good with plants.

In summer we are never out of there, and we find ourselves using it in the winter too. On summer nights when it gets a bit chilly, it's great to move from the patio but still be in a room that feels like a garden. And it's visible though the living room French doors, looking like our very own indoor garden that can be enjoyed when we're not in it. I work in there, too.

Totally contrary to our expectations, the conservatory has become our best-loved and most used room in the house. I'd hate to be without it now.

I didn’t like the idea of an ensuite but I saw a house on Rightmove the other day that had a small corridor type of area at the end of the bedroom, leading to the ensuite. It was really well thought out (a newish build too) as it was still part of the room but separate to the sleep area.

I like the look/idea of a decent open plan space, but I’d never go for one as I’d find it impractical.

Separate dining rooms are bit meh for me. I prefer a spacious kitchen diner than having to carry all the hot food, plates and bits to and from another room.

I have a conservatory here that works, it's north-facing tho and that makes a huge difference. DH hated the last one, which was hot a lot of the year.

Everyone will have a different bundle of attributes that they want in a house.

I'm another who doesn't like open plan. In my view they are just not built for family living, where people need to be able to do different things. How can one child watch TV, another do homework and and another do music practice, all at the same time, in an open plan house? You need to be able to close doors to separate all those activities. We have recently moved, and looked for several years before finding somewhere where could separate all of those actitivies, so many houses seem to be open plan now.

I don't like open plan and I don't get the 'people will watch me as I prepare food' idea. No! Sod off out of my kitchen. I'll tell you when it's ready.

Decking can be incredibly naff and needs maintenance. Hate black tarmac on big drives - it needs to be block paving or gravel.

I like en-suites in hotels just don't need one at home particularly. As for those boutique hotels with a bath & WC in the corner of the open plan bedroom ... wrong, just wrong.

I don't like enclosed hallways

Oo, now I LOVE an enclosed hallway. I'm with you on open plan, though, OP. I also don't get en suites, but I do like a downstairs loo.
I don't have an enclosed hallway or a downstairs loo. Sob.

I agree about conservatories being baking hot/freezing cold spaces that are never quite right.

We built an extension with a sky light and massive french doors leading to the garden and is part of the open plan space with our kitchen, living and dining room.

It is a great family and entertaining space. But it might be a nightmare for others.

I have tables and chairs rather than a kitchen island. Much more useful.

Open plan is all very well, but you might find (as we do) that you don't have places to put furniture. We have a lounge-diner, and there is either a door or a window on every wall.

Front wall - very large window and door to hall.
Side wall 1 - stairs going up and understairs cupboard door.
Side wall 2 - fireplace, cupboard door (formerly airing cupboard), entrance to kitchen area.
Back wall - patio doors to garden.

It makes things difficult, and as soon as someone opens either the front or back/patio door all the warmth goes out and the entire downstairs gets cold immediately. I yearn for separate rooms!

Posters are saying everyone wants something different, but on Escape to the Country every single person stands there and states smugly with a tinkly little "I'm a little bit special, me" voice, that they want a large kitchen for entertaining friends and family, an ensuite, high ceilings, period features and a nice-sized garden.

How unique! Everybody else is surely looking for a galley kitchen, one bathroom for four bedrooms, pokey rooms with low ceilings, 1980s architecture and a garden overlooked by the neighbours...

Playrooms!

Only have one child so it may be different with more, but ime, dd only played in the rooms that adults were in, not in the room where the toys lived!

I didn’t like the idea of an ensuite but I saw a house on Rightmove the other day that had a small corridor type of area at the end of the bedroom, leading to the ensuite. It was really well thought out (a newish build tooshock) as it was still part of the room but separate to the sleep area.

Our ensuite is at the end of a small corridor which cuts across the walk-in wardrobe that provides access to the master bedroom. The master bedroom is not massive but it is tidy because it does not have wardrobes and is private as no one can see into it from the landing and fairly segregated from the ensuite.