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?

If you are interested in Victorian social history then I heartily recommend Ruth Goodman's How To Be a Victorian. The minutiae of domestic life fascinates me 'why did we do that?'

@GnomeDePlume I whizzed through that little book last night – great recommendation! I realised that my house is not in fact in its original room. The kitchen was even smaller, as part of it was a larder, with a little window. The side door was a window. And I assume the bathroom was split to give a separate toilet, as there's a smaller window next to a larger one.

My love for 1930s semis is growing! It makes me smile that they've always been slightly sneered at, yet they've stood the test of time (ok, people do enlarge them). I like the idea that they were built in a time of aspiration and growing prosperity – and accordingly, they were built generously. I also like how they were targeted at first-time buyers moving up from small terraces, wanting more light and space, finally having money for a few nice bits of decor – 90 years later, that's me and my husband.

Also interesting to read that detached houses were often built to the same plans as semis. Always wondered why my parents' house has no windows down one side.

Our detached 30s house is exactly the same plan and size as the semi 30s houses next door, the only window on what would be the detached side is a narrow one next to the chimney breast in the dining room. The previous owners of ours were the ones that bought it as a new build in the 30s.

I think open plan is already waning as a trend for all the obvious reasons; energy costs, smells, noise, privacy, home working etc. I have almost always lived in houses where one could eat in the kitchen and I do like that but having separate rooms , particularly if they can be multipurpose in houses where in particular you might have adults of different generations living is a huge bonus.

I hate that modern look of big glassy extensions with an operating theatre style kitchen with big island and a random sofa in it. I much prefer smaller, self contained and cosier rooms.

@dollyolly does the little window face North? It was quite possibly originally a grill rather than glass to keep the pantry cool.

Some years ago we renovated a 1930s bungalow. It was only after reading that book that I realised why the little window in the corner of the kitchen was so small and high up!

Of course, once refrigerators came in, a cold pantry was no longer necessary.

That era is fascinating. We have a road which was developed by a builder bit by bit across the 1930s. You can see the way homes were evolving. The end of Arts and Crafts and the start of aspirational homes. Driveways starting to appear between houses.

I have both - the thing can't live with is a separate dining room. I need the table in the kitchen - not so bothered about where the sofa is. Every time we have lived in a house with a separate diner it never got used and I don't want to be eating in the living room.

Agreed. There is something quite soulless about metre upon metre of floor and worktop and I always smile when I see people posting asking for ideas of how to fill these massive extensions that they have usually sacrified most of their back garden to build.
Hot on the heels of the island bigger than my kitchen I mentioned upthread, someone was asking yesterday how many joins there would be in a TEN METRE worktop!

I agree with this

The other issue is that families and guests naturally gravitate and socialise in the kitchen. The alternative is that someone is usually in the kitchen or constantly in and out and not really part of the gathering.

An extra separate living area is important IMO but can be a luxury

@GnomeDePlume it's actually south-facing (our party wall is the north side). I can understand how north-facing would be best for a larder/pantry but I suppose they went on the south side if there was no other option. Also, next door would keep it in shadow.

Yes, fascinating era! In a time when everything feels squeezed and there's a distinctly pessimistic feel in the air, I love to think of what this house represented at the time it was built. Things change, of course, they swing back and forth over decades.

We live in a 1930s semi-style house (actually an end-of-terrace). We have a kitchen - dining room. It was built in the second reception room and extended to form the dining room part. Whilst one room per se, it has been designed to be two distinct functional areas, with the dining room under the lantern roof in a showcase setting overlooking the garden. The utility and downstairs toilet are in what was the original kitchen space. I always thought our house was less desirable because it had no random sofa in the kitchen- dining space. This post has filled me with joy!

I don't like open plan because it means everyone is always in top of each other. I also much prefer where you can close the door in cooking smells, steam triggering smoke alarms and mess!

We have a kitchen/diner/living room. It's fantastic. Three sets of bifolds to the garden, brilliant to cook and watch tv, lovely for family parties. However we've also got a proper living room and a separate formal dining room. The formal dining room is literally only used once a year so entirely superfluous

We've un-open planned our ground floor.

I don't want kitchen smells in all the other downstairs rooms.

We used to have separate kitchen, dining room and living room. All guests either squeezed into the kitchen, or the person prepping food was alone there while everybody sat in a separate room. Took all the walls down, have a gorgeous huge living space where we can all spend time together - love it. Horses for courses.

I hate people in the kitchen with me, it is so distracting

Wish I could shut the open plan door

Such a shame that people have consider what everyone else wants when designing their own living space. There’s definitely a strong voice on both sides of the argument. A warren of dark rooms can be quite claustrophobic, an over crowded open plan arrangement can be bloody awful too. Bad design exists regardless of your preference. And if you live in a badly designed space you’ll no doubt yearn for a change.

Why do you love open-plan (or not)?
I love to have space and I don't like small claustophobic rooms. Not everybody can have many separate but still large rooms, in most cases it's one or the other. We also like to spend time with the entire family in the same room, but not literally on top of each other. We like to talk to people when cooking.

Has anyone regretted knocking walls through?
I'm sure such people must exist, but not me, best thing we ever did.

Do you agree it could fall out of fashion and folks will start putting walls back in?
No, I only know people who have either built their houses as open space, or knocked through. I literally do not know anybody who went the other way and closed an open space up again. But there are plenty of houses with separate kitchens available, so pretty sure everyone can still find an option that fits their taste and requirements.

But there are plenty of houses with separate kitchens available, so pretty sure everyone can still find an option that fits their taste and requirements.
There aren't plenty of houses. Many people live in flats and nowadays they tend to have an open plan kitchen/diner/lounge. @Orangello .

I don't like open plan. It can be hard to keep warm, and people need their own space. I like separate rooms but a big enough kitchen to have a dining table, sofa and tv - but not all knocked into one.

I think the interpretation of open plan on this thread is very broad.
Some take it to be that the whole ground floor is one open space, perhaps incorporating the stairs as well.
Others just mean the back (usually) of the house with kitchen, eating area and maybe some soft seating, such as sofas, with separate front living room.

My preference is the latter. We tried separate dining room and it never was used.
I couldn’t have the whole ground floor opened up, though.

I can see flexibility becoming a marketing theme.

The layout which suits pre-DC won't necessarily suit the small DC stage and then the older DC stage will probably prefer a different layout.

Clever use of movable partitions and things like pocket doors could make space much more flexible.

There aren't plenty of houses

I didn't really mean to make this thread into a discussion about real estate availability in general, that is a different topic. If you're looking for a house, then houses with both open plan and separate room floorplan both still exist.

Nobody living in a mansion has an open plan place. Large spaces look good in photos and so architects and interior designers and estate agents like big open plan spaces because they look impressive. I suspect they are also cheaper to build than houses with solid walls between the rooms.

However they have multiple disadvantages, particularly when you are retrofitting an old house rather than building from scratch:

1. Lack of storage space
2. Noisy (this is particularly bad if open to the stairs)
3. More expensive to heat
4. Messy
5. Lack of privacy
6. Less wallspace for art

Obviously in a large house, and particularly a new build, many of these issues can be dealt with but in a period property that originally had a sitting room, dining room and small kitchen converting it to a single space does not increase its functionality for family life. That is different from a large house with a dining kitchen, a utility room and a couple of sitting rooms.

But they do have large spaces/rooms and not small cosy rooms.