Knocking kitchen & dining room together?

[snowgirl1]

We're planning to knock our kitchen and dining room together, but I'm having second thoughts because of being able to see the mess/dirty plates when people come round for dinner. Has anyone knocked through and regretted it? Or found a solution to keeping it looking good when people come round? Our kitchen always looks a right mess when we have friends round for dinner - pots, pans, dirty plates after the first course etc.

We had an extension built last year and now have a fab kitchen diner.

I hate looking at dirty plates, so everything that can be dishwashed goes straight in the dishwasher. We also have a utility room with a massive sink, so any pots/pans which need to soak go straight in there.

If you haven't got a utility room, I would stick them outside the back door until your guests have gone. I used to do thst in a previous house, and it worked really well unless I'd drunk too much wine and forgot to bring them inside again once the guests had gone

I'd rather live with dirty plates in the room as opposed to the kitchen being separate and be isolated from my guests/family when preparing dinner.

also consider if you are happy with guests watching you cook / serve etc - open plan is not conducive to shy or inexperienced chefs - I'd rather have a door between me and my MIL at Christmas or any day !!!

Also how often do you have guests versus how often are you just pottering doing stuff and would be up for a chat to DP or kids?
A deep butler sink and dishwasher should be able to hide most things. Christmas isn't a time to be ambitious on the day, IMO.

Anyone that we have over for diner are close friends and family so its never formal. It feels right to eat and cook in the same area. Since we knocked the wall I've much more space so the mess seems less anyway.

One way of hiding it would be to have an island with a split level like the attached picture.

Im not a fan of combined kitchen/diners. Im a dreadful cook and burn everything given half a chance so having people sat with the smell of burnt food while having to eat my burnt offerings really isn't appealing. But if you have a small kitchen then knocking through to make it a larger space may suit.

Sadly, we don't have a utility room (wish we did!). Thanks for the feedback - I particularly like Used suggestion of sticking dirty plates outside the kitchen door Genius.

We don't have people round that often and I think the benefit of having a kitchen/diner on a day-to-day basis would outweigh the issues of mess being visible when we have friends rounds. Burnished thanks for the idea of the split level island - that's definitely a possibility.

Thanks all, for helping me clarify my thoughts.

What you need is a husband/wife/partner who will allow you to sit and entertain your guests while they wash pot, pans etc (& prepare dessert if v. lucky). I have one and find him invaluable. They are hard to find ready trained, but with a little patience, can be taught that dirty pans + guests = unhappy partner.
HTH
P.S Love my newish kitchen-diner as it's light, bright, and spacious. Can also hide dirty items in deep sink if necessary.

ifitsnotanarse I chose the model of DH that does DIY and car maintenance but, sadly, doesn't do dishes. But I think a deep sink to hide the dishes is a good idea!