To Think That Open Plan Living Is Just a Fashion of The Moment

[Lazypeopledrivemecrazy]

Me and my DH have recently moved house, and the plan for the place we chose was to integrate the kitchen, dining room, and living room. However, now that we've settled in, and begun getting prices for the work, I'm getting a bit worried that all this open plan living, is just a bit of a fad that will go out of fashion in a few more years, and then we'll all want all the walls that we knocked down put up again. Thoughts please people.

I wouldn't be concerned with what anyone else has or what's in style. I just prefer separation.

We’ve got a large open plan kitchen, dining room and living room and I love it. We host people a lot and it’s great to cook and still be able to speak to the room.

I was worried about cooking smells too but we’ve got extractors throughout and it’s never been a problem for us. We do also have a second large living room but we hardly ever use it much preferring the open plan living space.

I can't stand open plan, much prefer smaller rooms.

Saying that, I like the kitchen & dining room to be together, not 2 smaller rooms.

I think it’s possibly more to do with life stage. When the dc were little we had an open plan sitting room and dining room with a galley kitchen and utility off the dining space. I liked the single big living space as could keep an eye on them and they went to bed early so I could watch tv later. Now they’re teens we’ve moved and I love having separate receptions

I prefer seperate rooms, but wouldn't mind if they were all a bit bigger. I was watching a TV show where a couple were renovating their house and they wanted a kitchen/diner but she wanted a separate sitting room. The designer/ architect kept insisting that it should be open plan, he said, 'seperate rooms, no one lives like that any more', he was so bloody arrogant about it. They compromised in the end and got a movable wall door type thing which worked well.

Open plan is not my cup of tea whatsoever. I find it completely impractical for heating, privacy, cleaning, noise levels, etc etc. My kitchen diner is fab, but I also love the option of the separate lounge and snug. Smaller, cosy rooms for different purposes ftw.

Someone who works in building keeps telling me I should knock through and have open plan kitchen/living room. I would hate that so much - listening to the dishwasher and washing machine whilst watching TV. Also I would lose a wall in my kitchen to arrange things against which would not work.

I can see why people with young families might favour open plan, but with older children I find everyone generally likes to seek their own space for studying, watching TV, computer etc. Separate rooms allow more options imo.

I'm honestly not sure if it's a fad or not but I personally HATE open plan. Don't get me wrong, I want space, and light, and openess as I am extremely claustrophobic, but I also want seperate rooms. Why would I want to cook in my living room?
We had an open plan flat once, it was only ever a short term thing and other people loved it so much more than I did. When I moved they were all, "won't you miss the lovely open plan?" erm... no.
All about the walls here.

Me I care about cooking smells and steam.
And trying to watch the telly with folk cooking and kettles boiling and microwaves dinging. God no. Would drive me potty.

And dirty dishes staring you when you want to chill out.

I have , living room, dining room, office, utility and kitchen down stairs. I NEVER hang about the kitchen.
Also, it's just warmer to have smaller spaces with the doors shut .

I thought it already had gone out of fashion. I would configure the house however works best for you though, regardless, unless you're planning on moving soon.

I like a large kitchen diner with lots of seating as I feel it's the heart of the home. However I feel its is important to have a separate cosy living room to retreat to.

I am currently thinking about joining the kitchen and the dining room because it somehow seems to make sense to me. Mainly because we aren't really having any formal dinners and that would work for us. I wouldn't want to open it up to include the living room though but I know some people who love having one big open space. Not sure we should be motivated by trends on this. Just whatever works and whatever budget permits 😊

I can’t understand why you ever have dirty dishes hanging around? I wouldn’t be able to relax even in a separate room with mess in the kitchen!! We also have the microwave in the utility and no kettle ( boiling tap) so no noise really. Kitchens are always my favourite room.

It looks lovely in a glossy magazine.

But I could not contemplate living in an open plan environment as I feel you would be compelled to always be tidying.

I have open plan living room and kitchen together and HATE it for this reason!!

When I'm sitting on the sofa I don't want to see my washing up :( everywhere seems cluttered coz all the kitchen stuff (I.e kettle , microwave , ninja) have to be on the surfaces .
If I move I wouldn't have open plan ever again.

In our last house, having lived there for years, we extended our kitchen to the side and knocked it through into the though-lounge, where we also removed the connecting double doors and what was left of the original walls. It looked a lot better and made the kitchen much bigger. But the kettle boiling in the kitchen or the washing machine drowned out the TV. And you had to go upstairs to get away from the rest of the family and pets.

Now where we live we have a separate kitchen, and a bigger though-lounge with massive interconnecting doors you can fully close to make two rooms, and it's much more versatile.

I'd never want the living room/ space connected to the kitchen again, but kitchen diner is good.

I’m a wall lover! My ideal situation would be kitchen with a sofa plus two easy to separate living areas.

This. Since lockdown people have realised the value of rooms again.

Kitchen/dining rooms still work open plan but people want some space to work from home or do different things in different rooms.

Plus open plan is often harder to heat.

Would never knock it all together.

Ultimate home goal is decent size separate kitchen, dining room and lounge

If space does not allow that then either a kitchen diner or a lounge diner

We have kitchen diner and then a separate lounge, as I prefer kitchens were you can sit down.

Would love to have a dining area in the kitchen but mine isn't big enough. We have a small breakfast bar at normal chair height - can't be doing with hanging off high stools!

Couldn't combine kitchen and dining room anyway because there's a utility room and downstairs loo in between them, and I wouldn't want to get rid of either of those.

It's turned out for the best - since Covid I work in the dining room and DH works in the kitchen. Couldn't deal with both of us being in the same room!

Also good for keeping my cats separated when need be!

If you have a family open plan is truly a god send and makes family life and daily tasks easier when also looking after children. That was my main reason for wanting open plan.

If you have the space it's nice to have a nook or very small telly room or something but I know it's usually one or the other.

I like big kitchen diners and I'd quite like to extend ours so we could have a big corner sofa in there too, but I'd only do that if I could keep a separate living room. It's your home so you should do what works for you!

Do you like it or don't you? You're adult enough to be buying a house, surely you're adult enough to make a decision about what you want your house to look like irrespective of whether other people will consider it "faddy" or "dated" in x number of years. It's where you live, not a fashion statement.

Yes to this! Camp 1 here - not sure I want to try and watch a film while my older 2 (19/21) are slightly tipsy and cooking a late night snack! Or youngest is watching Youtube and eating toast.

We have a kitchen diner which is nice and social but has a door I can close and keep the living room warm and quiet.

We have installed full length, full width curtains to close off kitchen from dining space and stairs. The difference in temperature is amazing and means we can turn thermostat down. Don't underestimate the role of soft furnishings.