Open plan is..not very cosy of an evening, neither is it quiet

[Lelivre]

...especially if the kitchen is open and the dishwasher/fan oven/washing machine/extractor is going.

What do you think?

I've gone from an open plan home to all.separate.rooms. And I think I like it.

Do we go ahead and take a the odd wall down or leave it as it is. The rooms are all decent sizes. OK we can't sit down and eat in the kitchen but next to it there is room for 7.5ft dining table plus sofa and two toy chests in the dining room. Then a good sized living room with double doors connecting.

It's decision time you see.

We shut off our utility too, hate listening to the washing machine running! But I do wish we had a snugger space for the evening, and it is an arse to heat. We removed a radiator years ago and although it would be behind the sofa, so pointless, I slightly regret it now. Considering upgrading our old radiator for a super new one to see if it chucks out a bit more heat. And moving the stupid chaise from in front of it.

We have an open plan kitchen/dining/living area at the back and separate playrooms and a cosy front room for sitting in the evening. Works well that way but I would always keep one cosy room for cold evenings

Hmmmm. I still don't know! But I think spindelina's set up is the one that could work best for us. I'm going to get that priced up.

We have open plan kitchen/diner without an additional separate kitchen and I absolutely hate it. You either sit to your meal looking at the cluttered kitchen counter or you tidy before you can eat. If you have open plan, you must have a kitchen island blocking the view of the kitchen counter mess from the table.

Separate dining room not kitchen. Doh

I tend to agree. I think a kitchen / diner / play area is great, so that you can be busy in the kitchen while children have room to play and you can keep an eye out. I think having a comfy chair or small sofa is also a good idea.

But basically we're keeping a separate sitting room and playroom for all the toys so that we can retreat.

If we have people over, I also think it is nice that they don't watch everything going on in the kitchen and / or sit in the cooking smells all evening.

open plan will indeed make sense for the person in Texas - different climate, cheap land so huge house and cheap energy.

daft idea in the UK!

Our old house was open plan and it was good when we just had the one DC and she was little because I could keep an eye on her at all times.

But as she got older and I had DC2 it became a massive pain in the arse because we all felt like we were living on top of each other all the time.

And the NOISE! DD would have the TV on and DH would have the radio on in the kitchen area, and DS's jumperoo and that irritating tune it played. All this noise in the same space ARGHHHHHHHHH.

We now have a traditional 3 bed semi with an extended kitchen diner and then a lounge and the old dining room (now a playroom) which is knocked though but has doors in between so we can still separate the 2 areas or open up if we want to keep an eye on the kids.

I definitely recommend the dining kitchen especially if you have space in there for the children to play etc and a separate lounge area.

We have a u shaped open plan space downstairs. So open plan kitchen leading into dining room, into living room which is open to the hall. Previous owners created this "space". Separate study and utility which helps.

But I just can't get used to it. After 2 years, have finally convinced dh that this "open plan dream" needs reconfiguring. So we are now looking at various ways of dividing up rooms using different styles of doors to maintain light levels. Can't flipping wait.

The previous owners also took out the fireplace and chimney - the idiots.

I think it depends how you live your lives. We have a 1930s semi which had the original set up when we bought it, although the kitchen had been extended by about 6ft into the garden so we had enough room for a very small table, and there is a small utility behind the kitchen.

I hated it. The kitchen was cramped when we were all in there (3 children) and it was massively anti-social / formal when we had people round. Friends wouldn’t be able to just linger / chat whilst I cooked, they were sat at the dining table in the dining room, I missed out on most of the evening because I was cooking. Couldn’t really have all 3 children in the kitchen doing homework / playing whilst I got on with stuff.

Have just had wall knocked down between kitchen and dining room. One big space now, kitchen, island unit with stools, large dining table and sofa. Love it. We still have to get blinds and put pictures up etc but its great. Great for entertaining, just more relaxed and informal, and great for family life. Still have a lounge which we can use in the evening, or a separate space for watching a movie etc. Would do it again in a heartbeat.

I hate open plan living and don't see the appeal at all.

I always said i'd not have a front room diner but the house we bought last year has had the door between the living room and dining room knocked down and it does work but I would have left that and knocked it between the kitchen and dining room. Just another in a long line of stupid decisions that make no sense in this house. I still love it though.

We only have a hatch between dining and kitchen and no doors to rooms downstairs so it can still be a bit noisy even with the walls still there.

Open plan kitchen and dining is great but that's all. Beyond that I prefer separate rooms to you have the option of somewhere quiet to hide!

We have large L shape with lounge leading onto dining area leading onto kitchen with seating area. The L shape means the kitchen can't be seen from the living room. The washer & drier are in a separate utility room. There's a good extractor fan which we use for smelly stuff & it's well ventilated. We like it, but as our kids get older, we think we'll put in a dividing wall between the lounge & dining area.

We're not planning on selling but from these comments, if we did want to, the house would probably appeal to more people with the dividing wall so that's useful to know.

Mandy214 good point, you have got me thinking there. It's going to need to be a giant sliding or bifold door or a big hatch that I can also close somehow. Kind of like the pic but a doorway with an actual door.

We moved into a 1930s semi which had been opened up last year. It has a large kitchen extension, but with a Rayburn fitted, so the heat works its way through the rest of the downstairs. The kitchen is open onto the dining room and then open through to the living room. We also have a wood burner in the living room so it is cosy in the evening.

It does irritate me if I have the radio on in the kitchen and the TV is on, and I end up switching off the radio. But, I would hate to lose the heat from the Rayburn by putting in bi-fold doors.

Oh and the estate agent valued our house before and after the opening up and said it had added £100k to the price of the house - not that we are thinking of selling, bug nice to know

I would go open plan with kitchen and dining area, but not with lounge.