DAE despise open plan living?

[GeriSignfeld]

What is with the obsession over knocking down walls ?

How do these people heat their houses efficiently ?

The irony is most of these people who love open plan living would scoff at the notion of living in a yurt.

Yes, me. We've never lived totally open plan but even a living/dining room or kitchen/diner in our old houses I disliked. Crap just melted from one area to the other with no borders. And I hated sitting at the dining table with the kitchen visible in messy just-cooked state.

We now have completely separate areas - living, dining, kitchen, second Recep. All separate rooms with actual doorways, hurrah! I far prefer it.

I would absolutely hate a massive kitchen/diner/family space with sofa as seems to be the current trend. I can imagine it's handy for toddler years or parties - but not much else!

Yep, just buying a house with open kitchen/dining/living and the first thing I'm going to do is put up walls.

The worst is that there is no reason for it to be open, each room has plenty of windows and light. In an extended terraced house where it is the only option to get light into rooms, or where the rooms would otherwise be tiny, OK, but this is just gratuitous.

I'm with you...I look at all these massively expensive apartments and I think if I was spending that much money I would definitely want a separate kitchen.
When we were looking recenly there were so many houses where all of the downstairs walls had been knocked down.
I also hate it when the font door opens directly into the living area.

I hate this too. I want all the mess, noise and smells from the kitchen kept in the kitchen.

Yep hate it. Grand designs crap. Call me crazy but I don’t want to see and hear what everyone else is doing all the time in my house.

I thought this is why we lived in houses in the first place? If I wanted open plan living I’d move to a field.

You know what else I hate? Those modern houses where every other wall is a huge window. Unless you want people piercing on you 24:7 you just end up with blinds drawn which is worse than a wall.

Me too. I can't understand why people would want that.
All the kitchen noise just taking over the living space

I like to be able to shut doors on noise.
Much cosier in a living room with a door you can close.

Not for me. I like open plan. Before I knocked sitting room / dining room wall out, I never went in to the sitting room. So it was wasted space, in a v small house

Yes I hate open plan as well. Kitchens are messy, I don't want one in my living room. I like a separate dining room as well, where possible.

I hate it and would rule out anything open plan. I don't want to sit in the living room listening to the washing machine, and I hate that cooking smells get everywhere.

Broken plan living is the thing now. Some big family spaces but some separate smaller spaces too. Like a big kitchen diner with a sofa but you still have a separate living room as well.

Next door have knocked their kitchen and dining room through and it has somehow ended up looking smaller.

@Varoty Yes I feel like that- I like a big kitchen diner but also like a good sized lounge too- we turned down several houses with huge kitchen diners but a lounge the size of a shoebox -

We actually did have one in Copenhagen that was open plan and I realised I wasn't keen -- was done amazingly well but still didn't like it

We have a big kitchen with a table in the middle and a couple of sofas and love it. Have a separate living room. I love being able to cook and all be together. Room for the dogs, grandchildren and their parents. We use the living room in the evening. Kitchen is the hub of the house. Doesent take much heating . I am not house proud enough to worry about seeing the washing up.

@PseudonymPolly "Crap just melted from one area to the other with no borders."

Said so succinctly!

Open plan living is OK for an office environment but in the home is annoying.

Happy to hear am not alone in feeling this way.

Enjoy watching old episodes of Location Location Location & seeing how long it takes for Kirsty to suggest knocking down a wall

I’m the opposite OP, I think open plan is great for homes but terrible for offices (well it is for me anyway, I can’t concentrate).

I love open plan - as long as there is a separate quiet space and a utility room for the noisy laundry etc. I spend most of my time in the kitchen and would far rather it was a large, open, bright space where other people in the family want to hang out and keep me company. Can’t imagine preferring to be shut away in a smaller room.

I also will happily sacrifice a bit of privacy in return for bigger windows and brighter rooms, and more view of the garden and sky. Where I live the neighbours can all look into each others’ houses if we really wanted, but we all have better things to do, thank god!

We are all different…

I went through a phase of binge-watching K & P’s Love It Or List It.

Every episode they knocked the kitchen and dining room into one.

Why?

Leave to poor walls alone. They’re just standing there minding their own busines…

I despise open plan. Who really wants to see/hear anything of their kitchen whilst trying to relax in the evening on the sofa.

However I am also one who has mixed feelings about en-suite bathrooms. I can see some pro's to them but then the idea of someone going to the loo not far from my bed just sits weird with me!

I have a livingroom with double glass doors into kitchen/diner. I can shut it off.
When we bought our first large Victorian it was knocked thru between living and dining creating a 45' long room and we put a wall with pocket doors back up, but also extended the kitchen to have an eating area and family room.
My pet peeve is front doors opening straight into the living space.
By the way what has a yurt got to do with it? They are like studios with fabric walls and basic bathroom and kitchens. Hardly a comparison!

Our first place had an open plan kitchen diner living room. My husband hated it. My sofa smelt like a kitchen. It really wasn't nice. I like kitchen diners but I want my living room separate thanks very much.

@mondaytosunday A yurt is the epitome of open plan living IMO.

I think they are cool & meant no disrespect to yurts

My new house opens into a funny combined dining/living area but understand this is a dealbreaker for many.

@db91 with you on the ensuite. The only time I've enjoyed an ensuite was when living in a sharehouse. Sharing a bathroom with randoms is worse than an ensuite!

I love our kitchen diner, we had to knock the walls down between kitchen and dining room to create it. It’s such a nice sociable family space and really bright and airy. We have a separate lounge, a study and a small laundry room as well, so no-one gets disturbed by the tv, washing machine or WFH.

i can understand if people don’t want to knock down the wall between kitchen and dining room if they have space for a table in the kitchen. We didn’t have space without compromising space for storage and worktop in the kitchen.
I also wouldn’t want my kitchen connected to the living room.

We knocked our kitchen and dining room together, the dining room was insanely small and really quite useless, we would never have used it. We do have a big dual aspect living room which is separate though.

When everyone starts trying to hear the equivalent of a barn they’ll understand why small rooms existed in the first place.

• heat