The end of open plan?

[Cloudesley]

Every estate agent who came round to value our house said, "oh yes people will probably take kitchen wall down and open it up here". Fine, do what you want when you buy our house, but whilst I'm here I really really appreciate having separate spaces in the house. With lockdowns etc and people at home more, what on earth is the appeal of a sitting room where you can see, smell and hear the person cooking in the kitchen?

Admittedly my kids are grown up and I don't need to have one eye on them whilst I cook supper, but even so, I don't recall that ever being a problem when they were younger! I just used to yell at them from the kitchen, or have them strapped in a high chair.

Can anyone explain why they would view a house and mentally "open up the kitchen/living area"?

Trends.

The last house I lived we extended. We had a large kitchen with a dining area, but still had separate reception rooms.

It sold quickly with 55 viewings and I never heard anything about buyers wanting to knock through. Maybe they have now. I wish them well, the dust from the original extension was still 'setttling' 8 years later.

Open plan can make a home feel more spacious.

It’s a mixed bag because separate space is being valued more with working from home. Then again, I know of many people who have turned their dining rooms into an office space for working in during the day; it sort of recreates the social aspect of an open plan office.

I wouldn’t knock anything down where you are now. Leave that to your buyer if they want to do that.

Can anyone explain why they would view a house and mentally "open up the kitchen/living area"?

I prefer open plan, much more sociable when entertaining and makes the space feel much larger. Surely it is just down to personal preference and as long as someone buys your house why worry what they plan to do with it?

I don’t get it either. I love the fact that we have a kitchen, dining room, living room , tv room, sun room (where the decent music system lives) a separate office and our own bedrooms.

Loads of people have suggested knocking the ground floor through to a huge open kitchen/diner/living room but I can’t think of anything worse.

What do people do if they want to watch different things on TV ? Go to the bedroom?

I often have music in the kitchen while someone else is watching tv in the lounge. Do people just crank the TV up to drown out the noise of pots boiling, taps running, extractor fans etc?

I think a kitchen diner will always appeal now. I am not overly keen on a separate room that is only used for eating, seems a waste when you can have more space to cook and socialise in at the same time.
However I would always want a separate lounge. I don't like the idea of just one big open living area downstairs

I hate open plan, I prefer to feel cosy and shut off.
I also absolutely hate bifold doors.

But lots of people like it - DH says it is so they can have big parties .

I do love a big kitchen with room for a table though. I wouldn't buy a house with a tiny kitchen.

My current house isn't open plan, but I long for a kitchen/diner (preferably with space for a sofa, but I would want a separate lounge space and the ability to close doors on smells!). I like to be able to talk to people as I cook, plus DS just will not sit still/be strapped in, so space for him to roam while being within sight would make my life so much easier!

We have an open plan kitchen diner, connected to a playroom which can be closed off but generally isn’t. And a separate sitting room. It’s perfect, enough space for the whole family to be together, even if we are doing our own things. I love cooking and pottering whilst one kid does art at the table and the other plays Lego in the playroom, and then when they’ve gone to bed we collapse in the tidy front room! Smaller rooms where you can’t gather together have no appeal, perhaps even less so in lockdown.

@Poppins2016

My current house isn't open plan, but I long for a kitchen/diner (preferably with space for a sofa, but I would want a separate lounge space and the ability to close doors on smells!). I like to be able to talk to people as I cook, plus DS just will not sit still/be strapped in, so space for him to roam while being within sight would make my life so much easier!

Hmm. In hindsight. What I really want is a bit farmhouse style kitchen! And then a separate dining room. I can dream...

It's not a fad I'm on board with. Kitchen diner- great. We have one with a couple of comfy chairs in the corner and I spend most of my day in it. Old fashioned lounge /dining room - fantastic, gives everyone so much more room to move. Was great with 2 hyperactive small kids when I could gate them in there and not worry about them bouncing in my way in the kitchen when I was cooking. Combine the two - noisy, clattery, steamy, nightmare.

And I hate talking to people as I cook! Sometimes I'm preparing 3 meals at once and need to concentrate.

I think open plan is one of those things that everyone thinks they need - but actually don’t. “It would be great for entertaining and parties” - but how often do you actually do that?

We had open plan for a while because when we moved in we had a big sitting/ dining room with a fireplace in the middle of the wall adjoining next door and a closed off kitchen so we knocked the kitchen through. It was nice for light but apart from that a bit of a nightmare with noises and mess, lack of walls to put things against for storage etc. A couple of years later we put another wall in the other way sectioning off the front room and leaving kitchen diner across the back and a corner log burner in the front with carpet etc. So much better like this and still light. And it looks so much bigger.

We’ve put a sofa in our large kitchen diner as it works well with the kids but I like having a separate lounge as I wouldn’t want to essentially be cooking in my lounge. I’ve lived in flats where it was all open plan and the noise of washing machines, dishwashers, someone cooking when you’re trying to watch tv is annoying and I hated that the whole room smelt of what had been cooked and it bothered me if dirty dishes were left out.

I think kitchens were opened up because it was always a woman who was shut away preparing meals on her own. Many people have tiny kitchens. Even houses in the 60/70s had very small kitchens. What’s great about being shut away for hours on end?

We opened up our house initially in the late 1980s by extending and had a kitchen/dining room. We then altered it again in 2010. This took down internal walls. However areas between the major spaces are “openings”. Double doorway space but no walls. It feels bigger and it’s a great compromise.

The thing I really dislike is small kitchen with no room for a dining table or breakfast bar or even a chair. I like to talk to other people while I cook and it's nice to feel connected to the rest of the household and keep an eye on things. Even a serving hatch helps!

“It would be great for entertaining and parties”
Yeah. That weird thing they do on TV makeover programmes where they always seem to design their house for other people rather than for themselves / their own life.

I've never understood open plan. I lived in a small flat on my own once, that had a combined kitchen/dining area/seating area. I hated it, I couldn't hear the tv in the evening over the sound of the washing machine and could smell what I'd had for dinner. Open plan always puts me off buying a house!

I suppose it makes sense if the kitchen is small. We are lucky enough to have space for a table that can seat 4 and a utility room off it. Still they say buyers would knock through to dining room and sitting room!

I'm wondering if there will be a trend to put walls back up if serial lockdowns are the new normal.

Not to mention all these people from London who want huge gardens. A couple of years of doing twice weekly mowing throughout spring and summer, plus realising the general upkeep, then finding as the kids grow older they spend less and less time running around kicking balls etc., will put paid to that😛

Ideally I’d have a massive kitchen with seating, a separate sitting room and formal dining room with doors between for lavish parties and also a separate playroom, utility and store room. Failing that kitchen diner and separate sitting room is the way forward!

Yours sounds lovely OP!

I wouldn't want only open plan, but I do love our L-shaped kitchen diner with room for a sofa that can completely be open to the garden. We use the space far more than when it was separate

It's much more social - I like us to be in the same room doing different things rather than all holed up in separate rooms on gadgets (there is no tv in the main open plan room )

We do have a separate living room though for watching tv etc. so no smells in there

I think it really depends on how you live. When we moved into our house, it had quite a small kitchen - enough room for a tiny table that you have to wiggle round to use some of the cupboards. It was a pain to seat the family, not much space, I was cut off. Hated it with a passion - really anti-social and not family oriented.

Have a large open plan kitchen diner now, with a separate lounge. We all spend time together, if someone wants their own space, they can go in the lounge, TVs in both rooms etc if people want to watch something different. Obviously lockdown is different, but in normal times, we have precious little family time with work/school/activities - why would you all want to be in separate rooms for most of it?

Blame all the cooking shows of the early 2000s, Jamie Oliver and Nigella always had friends around whilst they finished off their dishes.
Tbh i quite like shutting away my cooking and mess from the rest of my evening so open plan isn’t a deal breaker for me

but in normal times, we have precious little family time with work/school/activities - why would you all want to be in separate rooms for most of it?

ask your DCs that question when they're teenagers!