What is better - two receptions or one big open plan space?

[justaphase]

We have been house-hunting for ever and finally it looks like we might actually buy a house! So we were discussing what we might do with it yesterday....

The first floor has a separate kitchen and dining room. It also has a "drawing room" which is very big - from the front to the back of the house.

I was thinking - we shouls knock down the wall between the dining room and the drawing room and have one big open plan space. I love open plan spaces - I think they allow for sociable family time.

Dh however loves that drawing room as it is(it has dark wood paneling on the walls and an original fireplace). He says he can imagine himself withdrawing there after dinner. He does not mind connecting the kitchen and dining room but wants to keep that drawing room separate.

I just don't understand why we need two reception rooms!

Views please?

2 reception rooms here, I'm afraid, I love having a separate dining room. Hate kitchen diners too. The ideal for me is living room; dining room; kitchen - all distinct areas.

2 rooms, definintely (says she from three years experience of having just one lounge-diner which is very cluttered, very noisy and leaves no where else to go and hide)

a room to withdraw to sounds lovely!

Definately have a separate lounge/drawing room...nice to have a child free space at the end of the day! We have a lounge, separate dining room and a huge kitchen/breakfast room/family room with space for kitchen table and massive sofa and whilst we only use the lounge on an evening it is lovely not to have to move toys and children clutter out of the way....fab if people just turn up...somewhere that doesn't have toast crusts and a yoghurt encrusted spoon to sit on is always a bonus!

definately 2 receptions with kiddies. At least that way, you can always keep one clean, tidy and child free for yourselves.
We had two living rooms at our old house whilst the kids were growing up and they were only allowed in the 'adult' room once bathed, ready for bed - or quiet time. They also appreciated the seperate room once they were teenagers and could have their friends in he other one.

2 rooms equals lovely child free space

Another vote for knocking the dining room into the kitchen, but keeping a separate drawing room. Particularly if it has attractive original features.
We lived in a largish cottage where all the downstairs rooms have been knocked through, so has 2 very large interconnecting living areas. Bloody nightmare.
Have now moved to a house with kitchen/diner, and 2 receptions. I love to be able to compartmentalise (1 room is playroom in terms of storage at least, the other more a sitting room). And when your children are older, it will be nice to be able to let them esacpe from each other downstairs if they want.

Knock through from dining to kitchen and put a sofa in your kitchen = family room. Then keep the sitting room as it is as toy-free adult space. I think it would be terrible to destroy the panelling etc, and also, as the kids get older, they too will love having space to hang out with their friends.

I'd simply never use a separate dining room. Would be total waste of space in our house.

We have a large open plan space downstairs. So the Kitchen, dining room and family room is all open but they are seperate rooms IYSWIM.
It is great espeically when you have guests and its good to keep an eye on the kids when your busy.

But we do also have a seperate front room which is off a hallway and that is nice just to go in a chill out.

another vote for knocking the dining room into the kitchen as well. don't destroy the panelling!

Knock though the dining room and kitchen. Leave the drawing room separate. It's great to have a large 'eating' area but it's also nice to escape to another room in the evening. If you do a massive knock-through, you'll end up with a 'not-so-cosy' warehouse space.

Oh dear!

Looks like I might have to reconsider

We have just done big works and there is a possible solution. We have almost the whole of the downstairs as one open room but I have sliding doors I can pull across so the front room can stay clutter free and a "grown up" space but can be opened up for parties, big Scaletrix etc

We have kitchen with a small table (seats 4), a living room and a dining room. The living room and dining room interconnect with double doors which are closed most of the time. We don't use the dining room much, although we have started using it more recently for family meals. Our neighbours with older children have the same house and they use it as a sort of den, it has a small TV, two seater sofa, the piano etc in.

We have a 27foot living/dining room with a central fireplace which sort of separates the two areas and another living room going out onto the terrace.
This is good because when teenage boys are in the house they can play on the playstation in the front living room while we get peace and quiet in the back room.

I'd say it's good to have two separate rooms with sofas in, tho' I'm not obsessed about a separate dining room.

I do love the open plan style of living, but there is a very good case for keeping one room separate from the general living space. British kitchens are always too small, and a separate dining room usually doesn't get used enough. I'm with those who say knock the kitchen and dining room together, have one big space for general living, but keep the drawing room separate for a bit of 'quiet time' of an evening. Also good when you have guests, not to have to sit amongst the rubble of an evening's cooking debris, or feel that you have to clean it all up immediately to make it look tidy.

We look at a property which had the best of both worlds. It had a huge opening between the dining room and drawing room with double doors that you could open up for parties etc. It was a really good idea and one I'd adopt if my house was big enough. Otherwise for me I'd knock through kitchen/dining room as it's great to be able to cook and chat at the same time.

If the kitchen is large enough to eat in/do messy play etc comfortably, then I would leave it as is. The dining room can be a playroom or study, or both. It's lovely to be able to have some space away from the crowds, and still be at home.

If the kitchen is small I would (if poss) knock through to the dining room and have a huge kitchen-diner. I am so delighted with our kitchen-diner!

I find that we tend to spend a lot of time in the kitchen-diner. The children have a playroom which links with our study, so that area ends up being the daytime living room, whereas the 'living room' istelf ends up being used either for children watching TV in the daytime or as an adult living room in the evening. Very nice indeed, means that we can be companionable without being on top of each other, and especially that the children's mess is contained and we don't need to be forever tidying.

Another vote to keep 2 reception rooms - I love the look of openplan but I'm not sure it is actually v. practical - especially with children. We have stayed in open-plan places on holiday and found the noise from the diswasher very distracting when we were reading or watching tv in the evening.....

We have two reception rooms and one is a playroom/family room, the other more for adults. Tbh we didn't use the second room much until recently when we put a tv in there and now it's lovely to go in there after the children have gone to bed and not have to worry about clearing away toys first if we don't feel up to it...

I would never ever buy a house with just one open-plan space. I wouldn't even want 'just' a kitchen-diner, however big. I like the 3 distinct areas.

I wouldn't mind a biggish kitchen-breakfast room, but I would still have to have a separate dining room.

But having the living area open-plan to your dining area is a huge no-no. The only thing that's worse is a kitchen that's open to your living area.

What I would consider if I were you is having doors put in that open right back so you could have one huge space if you wanted, but separate rooms as and when you wanted.

we ahd open plan in last house, 2 receptions here

2 is better as we can split the space Kids- grwon ups and decree that no toys can stray into the grown up sapce (kids of course welcome- we're not Victorian LOL)

Its much less strressful to be able to close the door on the kids crap when they go to bed as well, and not to see it / feel obliged to tidy it all away (whish is really their job)