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.

Houses in my area have been affected by 'open plan living'. In other words, lovely Victorian terraces have lost their living rooms ('parlours') as part of knock-through mania. Which is great when the DC are little, I guess.

I live in an area of 1930s built semis and everyone seems to be knocking through their kitchen/dining rooms. We’re keeping ours separate. We have a living room and garden room to entertain in.

We have an open plan kitchen diner and sitting room at the back but also a separate sitting room and home office on the ground floor.

The TV and Xbox is in the separate sitting room (along with the noisy teen🤣)

Costly to heat, kitchen smells..yuk!
But I can forgive that. Cannot however, forgive baths in bedrooms. Anywhere. Homes, hotels, airbnb.
Just NO!
Do not put a bath in a bedroom. It isn't sexy, it isn't pretty
Back in my box now...😁

I don't mind an open plan kitchen looking out to a nice play/living space but I wouldn't buy a house that had just that and no separate living room/snug etc. I like the best of both worlds!

I think 100% open plan is a marmite decision but if it works for you, go for it. I'd personally keep one room back as a seperate living space, just for the sake of future saleability.

Go for what works for you. If it suits you, it will probably suit someone else when you come to sell.

We had a separate living, dining and kitchen. We knocked through between dining and kitchen. This works for us, but the advantage of them having been separate rooms is that there is separate lighting in both so we switch off the kitchen lights while we eat so kind of ignore that area.

That said we rarely eat at the table after our previous place which theoretically had a separate kitchen and then a combined living/ dining room but it was too titchy for that so we didn't bother with a table.

Our washing machine is in a brick shed outside. We never use the kitchen diner while using the dishwasher as too noisy.

If the space is big enough, you can reintroduce walls far more cheaply then taking them down.

Cannot however, forgive baths in bedrooms. Anywhere. Homes, hotels, airbnb.
Just NO!

Fully agree.

It is out of fashion around here too. There have just been several new builds built here, all open plan, only a couple have sold and they have all been completed for months. Other houses are being snapped up.

I wouldn’t look at open plan, I don’t want cooking smells in my sofa and curtains and want to be able to watch tv without listening to the dishwasher.

We have kitchen, dining room and sitting room together, but we have a separate lounge. It is a big room and fabulous for entertaining - I have a turbo extractor fan which clears all cooking smells and the patio doors are usually open as well. I would hate to go back to separate kitchen dining room and sitting area.

I hate open plan. Lived in it for 7 years and would never do it again. I like a kitchen - big enough for a table and chairs, a little seating area - and a separate sitting room, of which I have. I also have a 'formal' dining room that has been used twice in 18mo.... I tend to spend most of my time at home in the kitchen. Its comfy and has everything I need. But other family members watch TV in the sitting room, so it does get used.

I’ve had open plan, to be fair it was large, kitchen one end, dining in the middle and living room area at the other end.

it was fine, due to scale. But I prefer seperate rooms. A kitchen diner I think is a good idea, but a seperate living room is required . It’s much better to be able to go in and relax, I don’t want to sit and look at my kitchen units all night. Our living room has side lights, sofas, cushions, coffee table, tv , sound bar etc. as most living rooms do.

I think it depends on your circumstances. For 10 years we had separate rooms and it worked. Now with a toddler we've extended to have an open dining/kitchen/living area and it's so much better as I can see where he is at all times whilst getting jobs done. We do have a separate front living room though which I'm glad we've done as it doesn't get as chaotic by daily life.

A mix is best if you can. A multi purpose space for cooking, eating, and hanging out (if room for a sofa) plus a separate room that can be closed off. Or at least folding doors which can separate space.

We opened right up to borrow light from the front to the back the house, with the intention of using a glass wall/doors for separation but we ran out of money. Currently saving for it and I CAN’T WAIT!

There’s no privacy even for a phone call, in either the kitchen, living room or the snug, and it really doesn’t work for me…not that I’m conducting anything other than a call to my sister, but there just isn’t space from others in the house (adult household)

In an adult only house I think it can be great, with tiny children it can also be good as easy to always keep an eye on them.

However as soon as the children are old enough to play independently and you don’t always want to be in the same space/have to watch the same tv shows etc it can definitely be a pain and really nice to have seperate spaces you can use!

is there a halfway option you could chose, eg sliding doors which could be opened or closed to seperate or share the space?

I care 😫 it’s bad enough when the cooking smells sneak into the living room because someone‘s left the door open, I couldn’t deal with an open plan living area/kitchen because of this! I’d also find the ‘visual mess’ of a kitchen too annoying- not even dishes being left out, but all the appliances just Being There when I’m trying to relax.

@CatMadam being open plan has made me anally tidy in the kitchen! I’m fortunate in that I have loads of cupboard space so there are no appliances sitting out on worktops…I guess that’s been the silver lining!

I don't see what fashion has to do with it. Open plan either works for your lifestyle and personality or it doesn't, whether it's on-trend or not.

We were actively looking for an open plan when we bought, found a dream house in every other respect and in hindsight I'm so glad we don't have an open plan. I think DP (the cook) envisaged easier socialising when hosting but the layout and size of the kitchen/living room/garden means this isn't an issue. And it's just quite useful being able to shut doors and keep the kitchen and living room completely separate.

It all depends on how many people and how you live. To be honest (but I am a bit introvert) I think everyone needs the opportunity to get away from people. But once there is some "alone space" the rest depends on what you like to do, especially conflicting noise levels etc.
But make your house suit you.

I Don’t have anything on the sides and we do have two other separate receptions rooms, including one with fireplace etc so could move if we wanted. We just always sit on the kitchen sofa!

We had open plan in our old house and it worked really well when the kids were small. We did also have a small sitting room separate. We moved a couple of years ago and the kids are tween/ teen stage and we knew open plan would no longer work, we just don't all want to be in the same space together any more. We have a lovely kitchen diner and two separate reception rooms. One has bifold doors into the kitchen diner if we want to open it for entertaining. Works really well

With many older properties, the kitchen is tiny. They were built at a time when people didn’t have many kitchen gadgets. Kettle was boiled on the stove, for example. Can understand why people knock the wall down or make the tiny kitchen into a utility room.

People have kettle, microwave, toaster, multicooker/air fryer, coffee machine on their worktops.

Live in a flat with an open plan kitchen/dining area/lounge. Many flats, I saw the kitchens are too small for my needs.

I make and cook many spicy foods. Use the extractor hood when I’m cooking. Noticed since having a Ninja Speedi multi cooker- the smells don’t linger as much as cooking on the hob.

Open plan living works in certain properties but not others.

People have kettle, microwave, toaster, multicooker/air fryer, coffee machine on their worktops.
Only a kettle and microwave on mine.

I've recently moved and interior wise, a kitchen i could shut the door on was a must, totally non-negotiable.

I have done open plan once, hated it, found it extremely stressful to not be able to shut away the kitchen noises and smells.

Toaster is in a cupboard since I got my Ninja

The only thing I don’t like about open plan is when my washer is on. Find it too noisy to watch TV.