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.

Like someone says not good with teens. We have the piano in the living room and DC1 complained if DC2 in the same room when she practices. Then they also both want to play on screens but different rooms. Ideal for us would be one living room and one snug in the kitchen/diner. Never full open plan.

Kitchen/diner is fine but i would always want a separate living room.

This

Our 1970s house has an open plan kitchen with dining space, and an open area that exists to get the view over the estuary and out to the terrace. In reality, it is the dog's section of the house. There's a reading nook but the TV is downstairs in the sitting room. It really doesn't matter because the house is spacious enough. It's largely about the location of the plug sockets.

This is what we've done but instead of an extension, we've knocked down an old conservatory and rebuilt it with a tiled roof and opened it up to the kitchen diner. Gives us the big open plan living and dining but with an extra 'snug' at the front.

I love open plan but I can see the need for a layout where walls / partition's can be thrown up when selling .

Our house is sort of half upside down. The great advantage is that nobody really needs to see more than the very sociable kitchen-dining-entry hall area, unless they are invited in. So the kitchen is social/public space, but sitting room and bedrooms are the other side of a door.

I'm so put off by houses that have been made entirely open plan! There's often a sofa floating awkwardly in the middle.
If you do a rear extension, you can have a nice open kitchen diner with room for seating at the back of the house and still have a proper sitting room at the front.
I just can't stand all the clutter on view in open plan- or the thought of seeing washing up sat by the sink from the sofa in the evening!

We extended to create open plan kitchen living space but kept our little front room seperate as a snug. Gets used by the teen on his Xbox and occasionally me when everyone else is hogging the tv.
otherwise we live in the open plan space and we spend a lot more time together since doing it.

Our kitchen is perfect in the way that farmhouse kitchens are. It is large so there's space to chat business there in comfort, or to cook for a crowd who all want to stay close to the social action. I was incredibly flattered when an acquaintance, who has more money than I could dream of, said that our kitchen was what he set out to achieve when they rebuilt their massive manor house.

Can you do it in a way that incorporates folding doors so that you can close off the living room in the evening or when you need the separate space? We have this arrangement and it works really well for us - you get the flow of open plan but maintain the cosiness/privacy/easier to heat different bits.

Personally I wouldn't like that at all but everyone's different. In my opinion, if you're going to live there for 10 years, I'd do what works best for you and maybe put it back to sell if you struggle when the time comes

Without a separate utility? No way.

I wouldnt buy a house completely open plan. The lounge needs to be separate or closed off by foldable doors. I like the kitchen being open to the dining room.

Smells, noise, lack of privacy for wfh or for anything really, seeing the washing up from your sofa - I wouldn't buy an open-plan.

Personally if I was planning to live there at least ten years I'd do what worked for me!

BUT it could be worth having a stay in a holiday let with a similar layout and see how you find it. We stayed in one that was open plan and it nearly drove us mad in a week due to the noise and cooking smells etc!

TB fair and honest, I think it depends largely on whether you are naturally tidy, or not. It works for us because we leave the kitchen all cleaned up with everything put away after dinner, so the morning starts afresh. I really struggle with last night's dinner debris in the morning.

Not great for introverts who like alone time. Quite often dh is doing something in the kitchen and I'll be in the living room enjoying being alone or vice versa. It would feel quite claustrophobic if there wasn't any separate space downstairs.

In my opinion, you always need a separate room. If I get a visitor, I don't want my husband wandering around listening in. Sometimes you like to talk about personal things. And also I like to keep one room looking clean and tidy, so I always know if an unexpected guest arrives, there's at least one respectable room. And also, I don't want to sit in a room full of cooking and food smells.

This , I have a through lounge with open plan stairs . With a separate kitchen. So all of the heat from downstairs vanishes straight upstairs, I hate it but I rent so I can't do much about it . * *

I’ve got open plan but could easily put a door in the kitchen part. It lends itself better not to because it's an L shaped room and the doorway to the kitchen gives the impression it's almost not open plan, even though technically it is.

Reminds me of a garden with an archway leading to a mysterious party beyond - gives the illusion of a larger garden compared to being open and just laid to lawn.

I think it depends how it's done. We all live in that space and for my family it works, which surprises me as I was brought up with separate rooms to thought that would be my preference.

I have a typical Victorian terrace, hallway/stairs to one side, front living room, middle room (which was original back room) and full width extension.
There are double doors between the front living room and middle room (kitchen and piano room). These are open most of the time. The kitchen is open to the extension which is the dining room, and has a large armchair and door to loo and back wall is all glazed to garden.
So this gives the option of shutting off the livingroom if need be, but a large open space for kitchen diner with a place to relax and access to garden.
This has been my favourite house layout of the ten plus homes I've lived in my adult life.

Only if there is another seperate living area.

No, not completely open plan - I prefer a separate living room so the cooking smells don’t permeate and I’m not looking at dirty dishes when I’m trying to relax.

We like our open-plan space, and have lived and have chosen to live open-plan for 25 years. Our kids are now 20 and I have no regrets. I think it's a terrible thing to have to design your house around other people's desires, build a home to suit your family - whatever you decide, make sure it's well designed with no dark inner rooms, rooms that are big enough to place furniture comfortably and have enough light and suits how your family lives - you can't be that unusual.