Open plan kitchen

[Milkandhoney45]

We are thinking of moving and currently have an open plan kitchen/ dining room with a seperate living room. Five bedrooms including a spare room. I know things can be changed around in a new house but I am thinking the open plan kitchen/dining room doesn't really work with working from home (which is becoming the new norm) and children. I really don't want to make the spare room a study as I want guests (when we are allowed them again) to have a proper bed to stay in. Surely it is better to have seperate rooms downstairs and the open plan thing will go out of fashion/ become a thing of the past. What are people's thoughts?

I prefer open plan

Could the spare bedroom be a study at the same time with a bed in there ?

I guess it depends how old your children are and how you spend time as a family, and if you could add home office space elsewhere e.g. a small extension, large landing, attic conversion, garden room, have the spare room as dual purpose. If you're open to the idea of a new build (either brand new or "2nd hand") then a lot of the 4+ bedroom properties have a downstairs study.

I love our open plan kitchen. It’s so much nicer and more useful than a pokey kitchen and separate dining room.

The spare room is small compared to the other rooms (3.5m x 4m) so can't really ahve it as a spare room and study. I was thinking not having an open plan set up due to noise etc. A study downstairs could work though as long as it is decent size. The whole covid situation has meant many people use thier houses differently compared to a year ago and moving away from town and cities (which is exactly what we are doing)

I much prefer separate rooms, but it is more fashionable to go open plan.

I was tempted by this www.studybed.co.uk/

Still considering it.

Prefer separate rooms here, like to have kitchen closed off when cooking

@lwalsh

Prefer separate rooms here, like to have kitchen closed off when cooking

Yes that is another consideration, agreed

Our old house had the big family room although we never had a sofa in it. However, we had a study, lounge and snug. The snug would be a great study too.
Our new house has a study downstairs (great room) and separate kitchen/dining room/lounge. It all needs renovating and we'll be creating the big kitchen diner again, although we'll keep a separate lounge and study.
If we both wfh, one uses the study and one sits at the dining table. The lounge then is separate for kids etc.

OP I don't think open plan will go out of fashion any time soon for family sized houses as its so practical and conducive to how families live. I've been WFH since March (as has my H) and with 3 children, its not easy but I can't think of anything more soul destroying that spending the day working and then going into a small cramped kitchen to cook for everyone, then all squeezing around a dining table. It feels claustrophobic enough already not being able to go to work than to have small, separate rooms. I suppose its better if you have space for large, separate rooms, but very few people are lucky enough to have that.

I actually think 3.5m x 4m is big enough for a study & guest room combined. Look at Murphy Beds (wall mounted but with a full, "proper" mattress) or Furl sofa beds which are designed for daily use as beds.

I have a large open plan kitchen/diner and separate living room and would never go back to smaller separate rooms if I had a choice. I love being in a large light room most of the time.

We are intending to have a combined study/spare bedroom and buy the best sofabed we can find for guests.

With hindsight I wish we’d made one of the 3 bathrooms into a study and created a tiny shower room somewhere else instead. Would that be an option?

My study / spare bedroom is 2x3, so I think 3.5x4 is actually huge 😂

I've had both and I think open plan is great when children are small but no so much as they get older. Having said that I'm back with open plan and I intend to buy the next place as open plan.

My spare room/ study is much smaller than yours and it’s works as both.

I have worked from home for 10+ years. The ideal for me is a large open plan kitchen/family room/dining room, seperate living room and study/office in a seperate building in the garden to give good work/home division.

Hate open plan, who wants to eat in the kitchen especially if you have guests?

I agree it’s better with smaller houses but if yo have the room, walls all the way.

Open plan is going out of fashion, good for small children, terrible for families with teens.

@bendmeoverbackwards I really think it depends how you live as a family. Teens here and open plan living is certainly not "terrible".

@bendmeoverbackwards I completely disagree. Teens here too and open plan is great on the basis you still have a separate lounge.

I have 3 teens, having one big room just doesn’t work. 5 people each doing a different activity - work, watching TV, listening to the radio, dance practice, virtual exercise - all need separate (quiet) spaces.

We decided not to knock through the whole of the back of the house. We have a detached 4 bed 1920's so appreciate its bigger than a semi. Originally there was a chimney going through the centre of 4 small rooms and the 2 smaller bedrooms upstairs which we had removed . The 4 small rooms( breakfast room, kitchen, store room and downstairs loo) were knocked into one large kitchen diner. The kids have the large back room , actually my teenage DS has the large back room to shout down his headphones on various PS4 games. We have a fairly big front room with piano and sofas for us. It works really well with 3 DC-I couldn't bear the thought of listening to all the shouting and gaming constantly! We also have a desk/office area in the back room which is very quiet during the day when teens are either at school or upstairs working in their rooms!

I think people need to go back and read the OP's original post. She said she has an open plan kitchen/dining room AND a separate lounge. She's asking for opinions on whether an open plan kitchen/diner still works with WFH.

I don't think she's asking for opinions on one SINGLE open plan room downstairs, and I don't think very many people are advocating that.

We've got an open plan kitchen/diner/family room with a separate living room and a separate playroom.
All the rooms connect in a U shape with the hall in the middle. It works really well.

@Africa2go

I think people need to go back and read the OP's original post. She said she has an open plan kitchen/dining room AND a separate lounge. She's asking for opinions on whether an open plan kitchen/diner still works with WFH.

I don't think she's asking for opinions on one SINGLE open plan room downstairs, and I don't think very many people are advocating that.

You are quite right, sorry I missed that.

In that case OP, I would personally advise against open plan kitchen diner as long as that doesn't make the kitchen and dining room too small. Separate rooms gives much more scope for people doing different activities. If budget allows, look for a house that has a decent sized kitchen that fits a small table. And a separate dining room.

Hate open plan, who wants to eat in the kitchen especially if you have guests?

Huh? Surely the kitchen is the obvious place to eat, it’s where all the food is??

Can’t teens use their room for any noisy PS4 or music practice type activities? Maybe not dance practice if it needs lots of space, but in that case a small separate downstairs room won’t work either.