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.

I thought I was the only person in the world who doesn’t like ensuite bathrooms ! I don’t want to hear you flushing in the night thank you. Just across the corridor will do nicely.

We've just had a wall put up to separate our living room and dining room and a wall taken down to open up the kitchen and dining room. So we've now got a kitchen/diner with space for a sofa and a separate living room.

We just spread out throughout the day depending on what we're doing.

Oh also - It seems open plan living has now extended to the bathroom.

Seeing so many showers with no shower screen, or this silly half screen that serves no purpose.

How can you possibly stay warm in a shower with no screen? If someone accidentally walks in there is no modesty, you're just standing there naked for all to see.

People are gutting perfectly practical bathrooms & removing their baths, only to put in a screenless shower.

I like open plan. I don't live in a big house so it makes it feel less claustrophobic. It must still have at least two rooms though. I don't like a completely open ground floor.

En-suites on the other hand... hate them unless they're like a full sized bathroom. Most I see are small and cramped. I wish developers would just put more wardrobes in or leave the bedroom bigger.

I like the sense of space and light open plan gives but yes you do have to be tidy

Worse are the freestanding baths in the actual bedrooms. WTF is THAT all about?

We have no sitting/living room. Partly because we have no TV I suppose. Only notice when my parents come. (Once a decade).

There I don't agree.

Shower screens are nasty things that get dirty in no time. Why would someone accidentally walk into your bathroom? Don't you have a lock on the door?

Give me a spacious open shower over a bath any day.

I also hate it. No matter how diligent you are the cooking grease ends up migrating across the roof. Especially anything that requires a lot of heat (using a wok / cooking steak/ chip pan). Don't get me started on seafood smells travelling.

@AclowncalledAlice God yes - bath in the bedroom is one of the silliest fads of recent times. Are they trying to create a sense of romance / eroticism? A bath filled with rose petals leading to a wild romp in the sack beside you. Is that it?

@CatherinedeBourgh Bathroom locks aside how do you stay warm in a screenless shower? I Jif the screen while am actually showering, 2 birds, 1 stone.

It horses for courses surely?
My house is small - 2 bed victorian semi. A side extension and knocking down walls in the back has given us the most amazing light and space. I can host my whole family at Christmas easily which would have been impossible before. There's still the original (small) front room as a separate room if needed but the open plan kitchen/diner/sitting room is where we live. I love it!
If I lived in a large detached house with spacious rooms I might feel differently.

And people talking about heating- I have underfloor heating throughout the open plan area and that's the only part of the house that is routinely heated. The rest of the house has radiator central heating but we like cold rooms for sleeping so are happy using it rarely.

I stay warm in the shower because I'm under hot water? Not sure what the shower screen adds to that.

@LosingTheWill2022 We're just waiting for planning permission to put up an extension. We're knocking out the back walls to create a large open plan space.

The space we'll have downstairs includes: a snug/2nd reception which will double up as DP's WFH space during the day, a utility room, a shower room, and then an open space for kitchen/dining room/living room. There's also a sort of nook area which might be nice as a quiet reading corner sort of thing.

It's been designed by an architect (who admittedly is really shite) but I can't see any other configuration (there's a neighbour on one side and an annexe for DM on the other so no side windows).

Do you have any advice or things you wish you'd known in advance? Are the cooking smells/grease as bad as other people are describing? I do love a large, bright space and I think the rooms would be dark and poky if we put up walls.

Am I the only one that hates an abundance of natural light blazing in every room?
Keep the outdoors and the indoors seperate I say

I hate open plan houses. I grew up in a 60s semi open plan house where anything said in the kitchen could be heard upstairs through the stairwell.
Anyway who wants their sofa and curtains smelling of last nights dinner?

@SpidersAreShitheads I think that sounds great.

I may just be a slob with really low standards, but I'm not bothered by any of the things pps are throwing their arms up in horror over. I'd honestly do the same again in my circumstances.

Perhaps it makes a difference as only me and dd (17) live here so not loads of people in the one space. I love that we can be separate but together. Not shut away in different rooms.

I might consider folding doors to close off one area but it would be very dark ...

I get that it wouldn't suit everyone but that doesn't mean it's inherently bad

I hope it works for you and your family 😊

I love open plan. Lounge would be dark and feel tiny without it.
And we've got young kids. They want to be where we are.
It has been a god send.

I don't notice the smell of food...

I have a separate kitchen and I love it, keeps the smells, mess and noise away from the living areas. We do have a lounge / diner which oddly works quite well as a social space.

I miss my old house
Small kitchen and open plan through an arch to the dining room
Living room was separate but had a door leading to the dining room so best of both worlds

Now have an open plan apartment and if I move again I want a separate kitchen!

This is what I have now so it is kind of offset. I don't think they wanted square rooms

Oh love that layout!

What I like is a bit of a combination:

Combined kitchen diner because I don't like feeling cut off from the chat when we have people over for meals and it's easier with the kids

But separate living room with door

in my old house we already had a through lounge and then when we renovated we were advised to knock down the wall between the kitchen and the back of the through lounge so it created an L shaped kiving space. Space wise I loved it as I got a bigger kitchen and proper access to ,y utility area. However I hated the fact that the front part was space where we would sit if we had guests. it also meant that if someone was in the front watching telly and I had the extractor fan on you couldn't hear the telly!!! New space works much better for us as we do have a kitchen diner space but there is a seperate lounge and you can shut the kitchen door to mess!!!

my preference would be for a large, kitchen, diner (potentially with some seating) and a proper front room to keep separate.

I like to eat and cook in the same room. And I hate having a pokey kitchen.

Open plan vs non open plan was the only real debate DH and I had when looking for a house - he likes it, I don't. We've ended up with a good compromise - large kitchen/diner/ family room with seating and a play area at one end, kitchen and dining table at the other, and a separate living room with the TV and comfy sofas.