Open plans more desirable or not?

[estebancolberto]

We are buying a 1930s 3-bed house. We are considering whether we can remove the 3 internal walls downstairs to connect the kitchen, dining room, and living room. Is this a good idea? Are open plan houses desirable or not for buyers as we would like to sell this house after 5 or 10 years.

Kitchen diner and separate living room is by far the best option.

Having one living space will put a lot of people off.

I suspect that open plan will get less popular the more people work from home.

I wouldn’t buy a house as open plan as that, but do it if it suits you.

However, if you are going to be in the house for up to 10 years, have it as you want it. You /new owner can always put stud walls back in later.

Heating bills are putting off people having to heat large open spaces.

We've just renovated (still decorating) our 1930s house. We opened up the kitchen and dinning but have kept a traditional seperate living room. It works for us. I won't have liked everything open.

Couple in our 40s, this is what we have now and love it. No kids.

One massive open space with not even a separate lounge is not all that desirable to people with teens who like to have their own space.

If you're to do it, if people can easily see where they can bung a wall back up and still make a separate lounge, I'd say go for it. Otherwise you're limiting who you can sell it to.

Re: wfh - well - that's why we now look at 4 bedroom houses instead of 3. But we do also look at 3 beds with lounge and completely separate dining room for the same purpose.

We've got a 1930s house and have put a 3m extension on the back and opened up the kitchen and dining room to one big living/dining/kitchen space and have kept the front living room separate.

It's nice to have a room downstairs that you can shut the door on.

You want to love it and for it to suit your family if you're going to be there for up to 10 years. What you can do is put bifolding doors between the dining room and living room. We've got that and its brilliant.

If you will live there a long time, do what suits you. But I prefer a kitchen diner, and a separate living room.

I guess its 50/50 as are many things. Some people prefer new builds, some like character houses. Some likes all white wall, others find it "cold'. Some like open space, some don't. So in terms of desirability there is no ultimate answer.

We are about to do this, but luckily will also have a separate snug plus another separate room which will be a playroom then a teens lounge when they are older.

if we didn’t have at least one of those other rooms we probably wouldn’t be doing an open plan kitchen/dining/living as I don’t like open plan generally unless there’s also another separate sitting area.

but as previous posters have said, people can always put stud walls back in so I’d do what you want to live in

I've tried and tried to understand the appeal of open plan living, and I'm afraid I just cannot.

I would keep the living room separate otherwise you can escape cooking smells/noise etc

I wouldn’t touch it with a barge pole as I hate open plan but if you want it that way and think you will be there for long enough, it’s your home and you should be happy in it. If that means open plan, you should go for it.

I also prefer a separate living room. Your idea sounds a bit too open plan for me but if it suits you then go for it.

I think all this very open plan idea will become very dated soon, and I wouldn't buy a place that was too open.

I believe Im in the minority but absolutely hate open plan

I do have a kitchen diner, but even then I would have preferred a kitchen to be separate from the dining room although connected (if that makes sense)

But full open plan, particularly when people remove their hallway walls, smacks of one room living to me, which means less walls to put furniture up, rads, pictures, more noise, cant do different things without disturbing others and overall makes me think its like a massive studio flat. I get a sense of claustrophobia because its like you cant get away from this room or that room because you're in the same bloody room all the time.

Hate it

We viewed some open plan properties, I don't like them, especially if the washer/dryer etc. are in the kitchen, who wants to listen to the dishwasher when they're watching telly.

I also can't imagine keeping a kitchen tidy all the time, I have teenagers.

I’ve never understood the appeal of FISH or CURRY odours lingering on curtains, blinds or sofas in open plan living. It’s downright minging. It’s only a good idea if you don’t really cook so no smells and no mess. Also as PP said, who wants to listen to dishwasher noise. It’s not for me.

It’s the noise tbh. Boil a kettle and it drowns out the telly. Cooking is not quiet. Dishwashers etc. definitely separate living room.

I hate open plan. I would never buy a house like this.

Not. Mostly for noise reasons. But if the rooms were poky, I would go for a combined kitchen/diner and separate living room.

I also wouldn't buy open plan. Because I couldn't stand the cooking smells being in the living room!