Open plan do you regret it.

[Lonecatwithkitten]

We have bought a house in a lovely location with planning permission for extension. The layout of the extension despite only being drawn up last year is quite dated- lots of poky rooms. It has been suggested we go for one big open plan room, it would be huge (approx 75sq m).

For those of you with totally open plan spaces are there things you wish were different? We do plan lots of storage.
One of the reasons is that the room would then be East:West and for the SE we have amazing views and skies. The one below was 2 nights ago and this what we would like to capitalise on.
I am home alone a lot with my dogs as DH travels very regularly so I really do only live in one room. DC is 18 and off to Uni. We do host my family a fair amount so regularly have 7-9 people around the table.

My home has open plan kitchen/diner and seating area (houses a piano now) and double glass doors to the living room which are open 90% of the time. It does mean I can close it off (usually when I need the pets confined).
When I had my teenage son at home it was great to have a second reception he could hang out with his mates separate to the rest of the ground floor (different house).

Great for toddlers and small children , hideous with teenagers and their friends. We've actually built stud walls in to what was open plan and converted the garage to create private spaces.

We don't have open plan. We don't like them. We've stayed in quite a few holiday homes that have a single large open plan living/dining/kitchen area and hate them. Far too noisy, i.e. dishwasher/cooker extractor fan/washing machine, cold in winter, nowhere to sit and read or doing anything quietly whilst others are watching TV etc.

I think the optimum is a smaller kitchen/dining area AND a separate lounge/snug where you can either sit the kids to do their noisy stuff (or entertain their friends when they get older), or somewhere for adults to go to read or work quietly.

Our old house was open plan, before we moved in I loved it but it was a nightmare with the dogs. If they got filthy/soaking then all of downstairs needed cleaning rather than the one room and I couldn’t trap the smell of wet dog in one room. They also learnt to stay off of the furniture when we were in but climb up when we were out and not there to stop them which made it look grubby quickly.

Had open plan. Didn't like it. With a tiled floor the room was so loud every noise echoed (trying to hear the telly with the dishwasher on was interesting!) Kitchen food smells didn't bother me but it was never "cosy". I know you'll have underfloor heating but in the winter when we switched the heating off overnight ours went down to 8 degrees. We did have big bifolds and sky lights which didn't help isolate tho.
Now in a house with a seperate lounge/kitchen/utility and works much better for us.

I think you need to define what you mean by 'open plan'!!!
You will find people going 'oh i love our open plan' but on closer inspection they have a utility room to keep the noise/dirt out the way and often a seprate tv room or play room!

If you truly mean all of downstairs is open plan so washing machine, dogs stuff, cooking, watching tv, kids playing, working from home etc will all be in the same room then that would be my idea of hell!!

• Insulate -sorry!

Interesting I agree with children at home it is not great, with me and the dogs less so.
I should have added there will be a separate hall, utility, library/snug and DH has an office/workshop/bike cave in the garden.
@LadyCampanulaTottington we have already found the kitchen designer who is an ex-super yacht designer who moved into kitchens - so is super hot on clever storage.
One thing whatever happens I will be ensuring is that the extractor fan really works having lived for years and years in kitchens chosen by other people I am fed up with extractors that do not do their job.
In our search for this house the one that we loved and lost had a spectacular open plan layout. I understand the issues of it, but also dislike feeling that I am not using most of the house day to day.

With those extra spaces it'll be fine. Nice.

I find it difficult to conserve energy.so yes, somewhat.

The noisiest appliance in our kitchen is the coffee machine and that’s just for the time it takes to grind the beans.

We don’t hear the dishwasher and only know it’s on because of the red light on the floor. We don’t have kitchen smells- the extractor is very efficient. It faces south, so is warm and the washing machine and tumble dryer are in a utility cupboard in the cloakroom.

The floor is Amtico and we have underfloor heating.

In which case, I think it sounds ideal and I'd go for it.

I love our open plan. I would say the most important considerations for me are to have a tv room/ snug if you have a tv. And, if you like doing yoga/Pilates, consider where you can do it. In the middle of open plan with life going on around is less than ideal

We have just put back the door and wall to separate our dining room and kitchen from the living room! We did it for one reason - the husky torn the door the off the oven while I was in the shower and we wanted to be able to keep him out of the kitchen.

However I really like it. I think I would always prefer a separate dining room.

We've got a separate room for the TV - so we can have some space from each other when I'm watching gardening porn or he's shouting at football.

No TV in kitchen.

We also have glass pocket doors that close off a formal dining space so we can shut off the kitchen mess when have people around who we don't want to see it. Also keeps cooking smells in the kitchen. But light gets through and have dual aspect from kitchen.

The bit we use most is the table and chairs in the kitchen diner.

I woudn't have all open plan - you need space to get away from noise/cooking smells.

Also we have a utility so washing machine/tumble dryer has the door closed on it and there's a back door that is mostly for cat flap/dog coming in muddy/people coming in muddy.

We have an open plan kitchen and dining room, but toilet, office, living room and utility are all closed off. One of our neighbours has the same house and has made it completely open plan. I like separate rooms so we can all get a bit of peace from each other. I also like to shut the door on the kitchen when I’m relaxing

We have open plan kitchen diner main living space and i love it....light, friendly..friends like it when come over...we do have another living room which is mainly used by dc for gaming/tv/friends..and guest room as has sofabed.. .and when they off will probably turn into craft/guest room ..

Ours is an open plan kitchen/dinning room/ living room, but we have big bi-fold doors between the living room and the rest. We have young kids so tend to keep it open in the day and close them in the evening for heat and general cosiness. Is that an option?

I hate open plan. I don’t mind a kitchen/diner, or a
living room/diner, but I hate when all three are combined. I like to have different rooms for people to do their own thing in peace. I wouldn’t mind a kitchen/diner/family room combination hut only if there’s a separate living room with it’s own walls and doors. I also hate when the stairs lead up from a room rather than a hallway - again I like to be able to close doors to rooms for privacy/peace when needed!

There’s a new estate being built near us, and their entry-level 3-bed is all open plan - other than the loo and a tiny hall area the downstairs is completely open-plan, with the kitchen, dining area and living room all one big area with the stairs leading off. It looks like they’re struggling to sell them and I’m not surprised.

Open plan sounds like it would work well for you as you don't have lots of family needing their own spaces. We have a kind of 'broken plan' house: lots of open plan spaces with defined areas but with thresholds and partitions, not all full height, some with wood burners within them, in some cases, so for instance the areas in the kitchen that get messy are screened from living areas. We also have some sliding doors so e.g. the TV room can be closed off. Views are maximised. However our house is large and very spread out so everyone can escape! I would hate it with children in a small house.

In your situation I would be thinking of how to creatively screen areas, create nooks etc. while maximising the views. It sounds like it has amazing potential.

My mum has the same issue, she struggles with any kind of cooking smell 🤷🏻‍♀️ I don't have that problem or DH. I suppose it also depends on your style of cooking. Asian food is quite strong but Mediterranean is not too bad. Fish you need to deal with it quickly, wash and take bins out.

I loved our previous house (rental) was an open plan. Kitchen/dining table/ living room/ big windows to balcony. It was amazing! It felt connected, especially with small kids. Now I'm living with inlaws and the kitchen is so separated from the living/dining space. 😖 it's so stressful to keep a look on the kids and so isolating when you have guests

Agree. We have all of these alongside our big open plan room and I wouldn’t be without any of them.

Also, think about how big you really need a room to be. Our big open plan room is about 45 sq m and has a decent size kitchen with large island, family dining table, and two sitting areas in it (could have one larger sitting area instead). Plus plenty of space to move around.

I am not sure what you would do with 75 sq m, it could feel very empty and barn like?

TL:DR - go for a large room but with separate hallway, utility and snug, rather than one enormous room with no separation.

I thought open plan looked nice, in reality it was hard to heat and annoying to clean. I cook with lots of onion, garlic, ginger and chilli which I love the smell of! But not when it's all over the house. The kiss of death to open plan was trying to throw a dinner party. The anxiety of trying to cook for everyone while they can watch you is not worth it.

We've just built a large family room - kitchen, diner, lounge open plan . It's lovely but it's in addition to the other downstairs rooms - living room, dining room ,study, utility. I wouldn't want just one room downstairs.