Do you prefer open plan or separate?

[WBWIFE]

Just got the keys to our house which is a full renovation job.

DH wants to knock kitchen and lounge wall through to create open plan living room and diner (in a few years we will be knocking down conservatory and extending across the back of the house too), where as I like the kitchen as is and would rather extend out the back of the house in a few years and have an L shape lounge/diner that looks out onto the garden. I like the thought of separate kitchen and lounge.

So, just wondering what you prefer?

I don't like open plan. Our previous house was and I hated it. I could never get warm in the living room and, as others have said, the whole downstairs would stink of cooking even when I used the extractor fan.

I like separate cosy warm rooms

I'm not a fan of totally open plan. I would want a separate sitting room and a utility room. I remember going to a friends house for a meal and sitting in their gorgeous new open plan "living space" but having to shout at each other over the noise of the washing machine on full spin. Not ideal.

I like open plan when there is a separate lounge to close off (either for you or the kids as they're older). I would knock through the kitchen lounge. I know you want to put your bedroom in the dining room but I think keep that as the lounge and the bedrooms exactly as they all are.

We have gone open plan as the children are now teenagers BUT - we have a huge laundry and utility room - we do not have a TV in that area - we have a separate small adult lounge and an additional TV room/snug. We are all on one level (another MCM renno) - all of the bedrooms are big enough for the kids to have desks and sofas in - so when they have their friends over they hang out in their own rooms.

BUT we have found that this arrangement has made us more social and better for fleeting family time which happens with teens - the trick is no TV and loads of nice food to temp them from their lairs.

When they were younger a playroom off the kitchen which was directly on to the garden was essential for me to control the toys from polluting my house !!

Ours is semi open plan - we can close double doors in the living room if we need.

I hate open plan living and would brick rooms up if they'd been pulled down.
I also don't like shit houses in my bedroom, (en suites) either Although a loo upstairs and downstairs is a must for us.

open is a NIGHTMARE. You need to be able to close doors on mess.

IF the conservatory is useable space as opposed to a lean-to then I would open that up to make a kitchen/diner and keep your separate lounge.

I think both have a use.

so to me, an ideal would be a big kitchen diner/family kitchen, with huge table and chill space, maybe a play space for kids and then separate lounge space, and possibly another separate office/study/music room/teens chill/whatever room.

to me kitchen and lounge really don't mix

I would knock through the kitchen and lounge, then use the dining room as a separate lounge.
This

The current gold standard is a large open plan kitchen/diner/family room (a super room) plus at least one other separate reception room.

I would knock through the kitchen and lounge to create a super room, but keep the current dining room separate. And then use the dining room as your second reception.

We have an open plan kitchen/diner opening on to the garden, with a separate but connected play room. It’s through some double internal doors which are always open but can be closed. We used to have a separate playroom but actually the kids just don’t want to be in there away from you. It’s got a couch and tv in there as well as all their toys and a decent floor space.

We then have a totally separate and good sized living room at the front, which is a must, and a separate very small utility area.

You currently have one child? Why are you making the current dining room your bedroom? It doesn’t flow as well. Also it’s a bit 🤔 that you have to walk through the kitchen to access the only bathroom.

I actually think I’d do nothing for now and get a good architect to totally reimagine the space. I’d probably move the bathroom to between the bedrooms, go across the back the full width for a decent sized third bedroom and create a separate loo and utility, and a good kitchen diner with some play space and keep the dining room as a separate living room.

I like a kitchen/diner and a sitting room.

I really looked l liked our open plan house when dd was little. Now I'm like Donald Trump and I just want to build a sodding wall!

If you aren;t extending I would do something like this:

create a corridor to the bathroom and extend bathroom into old hallway space. Creates room for a separate shower in the bathroom (or if you wanted could move WM and TD in there stacked in a nice utility cupboard)

Large kitchen/dienr/family with big doors to the garden

Separate living space

If you are extending I would do full width and get in a 2nd bathroom small utility and much larger family space

I like an open plan kitchen diner with a separate living room. Ideally I would also have a seating area in the kitchen diner and a separate playroom, utility and study as well. We don't have a playroom but do have a kitchen diner, living room, study and utility and it works well for us with two junior school aged children.

We have partially open plan. I think this is the best of both worlds. We have large openings (no doors) between the kitchen and the dining/lounge. Also between the kitchen and the hall.

We have a separate laundry, family room and formal dining but it could be a study. We also have a huge central L shaped Hall with seating, Grand piano, computer and floor to ceiling book shelving. We have double doors to the outside from the kitchen and the hall so air circulates! I love this arrangement. It’s a big house but everyone has space but it promotes socialising as well. We can sit round the informal dining table or choose a lounge area. I don’t find it smelly and partially open plan means you don’t see unwashed dishes!

So think about room dividers. Light and use of space are important. If you extend, get an architect to look at everything before you spend a penny!

@Tunt we cant afford to do that now. We wont be extending for a good few years.

Yes we have one child and plan to have a second soon, we need a room as my salon room and a toy room is a must as we would have no storage, that is why we are making the other front room as our bedroom.

My dad lives two doors up and has his living room at the front and you can never see the tele due to the sun setting directly in the window.

We want the lounge at the back because there are patio doors and we want to see our daughter playing in the garden.

We are 23 and 24 and currently living at my dads with our 2 dogs and 18 month old child and their 3 dogs and parrot, our 2 house cats are living in the empty bungalow. We have to use our 20k savings to completely renovate throughout as it has dog piss soaked carpets throughout and absolutely stinks as well as being old fashioned throughout, bathroom and kitchen need replacing too, all the floorsing, plastering needed throughout as it's the original plaster! so knocking through multiple walls and rejigging is out of the question, we have lots of windows so rejigging walls means moving windows too.

This is a just ' for now plan', we will be extending out and up eventually.

It's a 1930s detached bungalow.

Also thanks for all your advice.

We wont be knocking through as we would require a T steel beam which are pretty expensive, so we are keeping separate for now.

Give it a few years and we will extend out and/or up

Well if you cannot afford a beam, it was a bit pointless asking your original question. I would still have a vision and not throw money away on ideas with limited appeal in the future.

I would knock through the kitchen and lounge to create a kitchen/diner.

We have a broken plan converted chapel which I love. It is enormous though, and areas are properly separate by steps/pulpit/arches.

Currently we have separate kitchen and utility rooms but in the 2 years of living here have found that we spend a lot of time in the cramped kitchen space while the rest of the downstairs space approx 2000sqf goes unutilised.

So we are moving our kitchen to the other side of the house creating a large open plan kitchen/diner/living room on the west side of the house. The current kitchen will get an outside door and become a "muck"/boot room and we are retaining the separate utility.

I grew up in South Africa though where this sort of open plan is a lot more common so perhaps that is why I am comfortable with it.

@BubblesBuddy we didnt realise it already had a beam going across where it has been extended slightly already, until we got in properly today and had a look. We only got the keys yesterday t about 4.30lm when the vendors decided to leave, then we spent our time clearing up dog faeces, emptying a skip full of their rubbish and belongings out the front and ripping up sopping urine soaked carpets and underlay.

So yep didnt realise it already had a steel beam going the opposite direction

Not sure what's meant by your comment after, what has limited appeal?

We have completely open plan at the moment and are halfway through the process of creating walls to make separate rooms. I don't mind open plan now while my kids are really small but once they get to about 5 ish I'd like to have some separate space not just for my own sanity, but for when they have friends over etc.

Never heard of the term “super room” before !

I have open plan kitchen/diner (which does have room for a seating area too) but I also have a small separate lounge.

I wouldn't like the whole of downstairs to be open plan