Will open-plan fall out of fashion?

[dollyolly]

Just moved into a 1930s 3-bed (ok, 2.5 bed) – it's one of very few in the area that hasn't been structurally changed in any way. No extensions, no walls knocked through. Small-ish kitchen with two downstairs reception rooms.

Everyone assumes we'll knock walls through to create an open-plan space, but it suits my husband and I as it is, as it's just us here.

I know open-plan has pros – for example, I guess it's very useful to be able to keep small kids in view, and a lot of people hate small kitchens. Plus, spaces can be more multi-functional.

But I wonder if there'll be a move back to privacy, separateness, each room having a very defined purpose. Open-plan is relatively recent, and there were good reasons for designing these homes as they originally were.

Interested to hear thoughts on this. Why do you love open-plan (or not)? Has anyone regretted knocking walls through? Do you agree it could fall out of fashion and folks will start putting walls back in?

The 1930s house with a small, separate kitchen used only for cooking was a new idea at that time. It was a response to cleaner and less labour intensive kitchen appliances coming to market. It was also a time period when it had became impossible for middle class households to have a maid due to demographic factors. The middle class housewife did not want to give the impression of working in the home. The kitchen was therefore minimised.

I lived in an open plan house years ago and wouldn't want to again.

I think the huuuuge kitchen extensions trend will start to fall out of favour in the future. I am on renovation FB page and the size of some of of these extentions stuck on the back of an average house are ridiculous. There was one poster asking about quartz for a 4m x 6m kitchen island the other day- that's bigger than my kitchen!
Certainly the mega kitchens posted on the site all follow the same rules - massive islands, navy units, light quartz worktops, bifolds (usually crital) and herringbone lvt floors. Always three pendants above the island.
I think the principle of open plan will stay with us, but the overall look of the space will change with fashion

Agree with this, except that I'd say the tide has already turned against huge, open plan spaces. They only really work if (a) no one is WFH and (b) your kids are at the age when it's easiest if you have them in your line of sight at all times. As soon as they're a bit older, all open-plan is a noisy nightmare.

I believe it was the same era when the housecoat was invented. The lady of the house would do housework with the housecoat on. If anyone called then she could whip it off and hang it up out of sight.

Ruth Goodman did a fascinating short video on the subject (YouTube).

I think people will continue to want the kitchen to be an open, sociable space. Increasingly a lot of the functions of the open plan kitchen are being put into the utility room or even a separate working kitchen in fancy homes. We’re kind of going back to separate rooms but we just think about them differently. We want to be able to cook and socialise but that’s where we draw the line. Dirtier tasks can be done on the closed off space of the utility room.

Yes, it will fall out of fashion. It was previously in fashion in the 70's/80's when people knocked walls through and put in an arch between rooms. Along with brick fireplaces with shelves for the television.

I think open plan can work really well to make a space feel,larger and also when the kids are little so you can watch them. Even if open plan it’s nice for there to be defined areas.

My parents live in such a house. Mine was the tiny room as a child. It was a good place to grow up. I could do homework in one room while the rest of the family watched television in the other. The kitchen was extended into the pantry outside loo but I like a small kitchen as there is less walking around.

Larger rooms, so a kitchen that can accommodate a decent sized table, a lounge that seats more than 2 people, but I like being able to shut doors, use space differently, even heat it differently, so not a fan of open plan.

@dollyolly publisher Shire Library have some books you might find interesting. I have these titles:

• The 1930s Home
• The 1940s Home
• The 1950s Home
• The Edwardian Home
• The Victorian Home
• The Victorian Domestic Servant

I'm interested in social history and got these from Amazon

I love our open plan kitchen/diner/lounge. We entertain quite a bit so it is perfect for that.

We have a log burner and free wood, so not expensive to heat, and it is north facing so doesn't get too hot even during heatwaves.

We don't have bifolds, I prefer french doors.

Decent extractor fans mean food smells are just not an issue.

We do have a separate downstairs reception room though, which we use as a teenager/spare lounge and my office for WFH (not at the same time though!).

Before we bought our house, we lived in a semi like this. We always said that if we'd owned it, we would have knocked from the tiny galley kitchen into the huge dining room to make a kitchen-diner, but kept the living room separate. We found that we basically made no use of the dining room even though it was actually the biggest room downstairs!

Open plan wouldn’t work for us either.

There is a large doorway between kitchen and dining room without a door, so you can see into a lot of the kitchen, and it means that my child can do their homework on the dining table whilst I am in the kitchen. However, the cooker is in the old fireplace on the other side of the shared wall with the dining room. That means I can put whatever pans that haven’t been cleared down by the time dinner is cooked out of sight whilst we eat.

I like the fact that we can close the dining room door so cooking smells don’t waft through the house.

There are glass doors between the living rooms, so they can be closed off, but you can see through, so the area doesn’t look too cramped. It also means that there are 2 doors that can be closed between piano and study, so noise doesn’t disturb.

A housecoat! What a concept. I will look up those books you mentioned, thank you very much.

Could not care less about fashion, just know what works well for us and it is a compromise.
We bought a newbuild and when looking, knew exactly what we were looking for and luckily we found the ideal house.
There is no way we would want a completely open plan house where kitchen, living area, hall, stairs etc were all in the same space (even if partitioned off), that would not work for us at all.

We wanted a good sized kitchen/diner/family room, that means we can be together while doing separate things.
That is the open space part, after that we have a separate living room so you can be isolated/quiet and then the utility (so laundry does not encroach and we have somewhere to clean Ddogs/hang wet clothing) and a good sized hallway (for coats, shoes, brollies etc).

That sounds ideal @Cotswoldbee

I don’t know about fashion but we have a big kitchen diner with sofa and other seating areas, we spend most of our time in there. Lovely underfloor heating and blankets on sofas at the other side of the room, just very cosy. Dining table is only really used at Christmas but it seats up to 18 at a squeeze and we host big at Christmas. Separate front room which is only really used when we have fires so mainly in the winter.
Love it and it really suits our family well.
when we bought the house we already envisioned smashing down walls and building an extension as the kitchen was small but there was so much potential.

Our late 60s house was built with a sitting/dining room (with a hatch from the kitchen).

My parents' 1920s house had a good size sitting room plus a separate dining room (again with hatch from the kitchen).

Open kitchens are here to stay I think. Cooking is now a leisure activity not something to be hidden away like a shameful secret!

I can see flexibility becoming a sales feature. Rooms which can be subdivided or joined as needs change.

I dont think so no, especially in a 30's house as the kitchens were built so small. We have a 30s house and have an open plan kitchen diner, but a separate lounge which I think is the best of both worlds.

I like the 1930s adaptation where the kitchen becomes a downstairs wc and little utility, and the kitchen put into the dining room for a kitchen/diner.

@GnomeDePlume yes, I’ve never seen a Dutch house with a washing machine downstairs. Always a laundry room upstairs, and maybe sometimes in the main bathroom.

I've got a smallish lounge but a large kitchen diner. I really dislike it. My mum was a chef and I think it may be genetic with me, a kitchen is a workplace. When I can afford it the kitchen will be downsized and the dining area made part of the lounge. My friends often come to me for food and I drag the table into the living room where we can eat in peace. My friends say I turn into Gordon Ramsey when I've got a meat clever or wooden spoon in my hand. So no open plan for me.

I thought that I would love having bifold doors and lived in
my last house for 10 years with them.
My current house I had them whipped out fairly soon after moving in ,
I just found them an all or nothing thing and wished I had a window to open instead!
I can see pros and cons for open plan depending on your lifestyle and preference.
I do wish new builds were more generous in size though, we have really quite small houses in the UK generally. Greedy developers I know.

I don’t like open plan, my dp clattering around cooking whilst I was trying to watch a tv programme would annoy me no end.
We have a decent sized kitchen diner and separate lounge which is my ideal.