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?

We've got a very traditional early 80s build, with a kitchen, separate dining room and living room with a conservatory off. Our ndn's have both opened up the kitchen/dining room giving one large room but keeping the hall and living room separate. We were going to do the same, but we've got a large family and I couldn't bear the thought of everyone being around me when I was mass catering so we ended up taking out the wall between the kitchen/utility which gives us a bigger kitchen. We have been looking to move for a while but can't find a similar floor plan.

My husband and I replaced a wall between the front living room and dining room the previous owners had removed. We put pocket doors either side. But the rooms were already large - 20ft by 15ft each. Plus we had a large kitchen/dinjng/family room at the back, the kitchen area divided off by a partial wall (which was the fireplace). Again the whole space was about 20ft square.
My current more typical Victorian terrace was knocked through front to back but they put in large double doors so you can still close off the front living room from the larger open plan kitchen/dinjng area at the rear that also has room for a piano and small sofa. Wall of glass overlooking garden. This has been my favourite layout, as with the double doors open you can be in the kitchen (which is in the middle area) and be part of it all.
But to answer your question, I think the open plan kitchen/dinjng/ with extra seating family area is here to stay, with a more separate grown up living area.

I’m still waiting for the Love it or list it couple to complain that their home is too open plan and they really want small rooms.

Stingingmetals
There was one that came close to that. They'd opened up the back of their house and then found that there was no way to hide kitchen mess, washing machines and appliances, and their open plan space looked like a family lived in it and was difficult to keep looking pristine.

One out of how many? Not entirely convincing that the tide is turning - unless Phil and Kirsty are in on the open plan conspiracy!😂

Will open-plan fall out of fashion? It's evolving. People want open plan but with a utility room and a pantry and a separate living room.

The Aussies, NZ and many Americans have had open plan for years. Partly due to climate I guess.

We have done this and I absolutely love it. Made such a difference to everyone mixing...BUT we extended. The new open plan area (huge) is new. The old kitchen is a utility plus we still have a separate lounge. The new part has a dining area around a corner plus the massive kitchen and island

The Aussies, NZ and many Americans have had open plan for years.
They probably spend less time inside the home.

The new open plan area (huge) is new. The old kitchen is a utility plus we still have a separate lounge.
You had the space and it isn't a squareish area. You have a separate utility area and a living room, your dining area is not right in the middle of the kitchen.

In a lot of the houses, the open plan area is used for cooking, dining, sitting , utility/laundry so runs the risk of being busy, noisy, smelly, and messy.

Whatever works for you both. We used to have a house like that and kept it separate. We liked having different rooms so everyone didn't have to be on top of each other or in bedrooms on their own. We dod put an extension on the back to create a kitchen diner.
It's also one of the reasons we chose our current house which is much newer. Unlike a lot of newer houses it has a separate dining room as well as a lounge and kitchen / breakfast room. Works really well especially as youngest likes to be downstairs near everyone but needs his own space (on the spectrum).

I can see how open plan is all very well when you've also got a snug and a utility room. It's a very different prospect when people want to cook and watch TV and potter about all in the same room.

The real question is, how do you want to live?

Do you want to live with open plan and knick all of downstairs through, or leave the front reception room and knock the back reception room into the kitchen?

Many people like a large kitchen dinner/sitting room and then a smaller reception room as a tv room - but if thats not how you want to live in your home - there is no point following fashion

Appliances with the exception of the dishwasher are in the utility. Can't hear them.
The ventilation and extraction is excellent so rarely have a problem unless one of the kids decides to burn their toast. Honestly, it is a wonderful loving space and our kids love coming and sitting at the island on an evening and chatting

I want to live exactly as I live now, as stated in the OP. I started this thread because I was curious to find out what other people prefer, and discuss future home design.

Like lots of people, I find it interesting to think about things beyond my own narrow needs and experience. Some fascinating posts here.

I don't like open plan. But I live on my own. I like rooms to be cosy. I won't sleep in the master bedroom in my house, because it just feels too big.

We’ve got a small 70s terraced house - lounge and dining area are open plan, kitchen is separate. A lot of people have knocked the wall between dining and kitchen down so it’s open plan, some have then put in doors to the lounge. We will keep it as-is, I like to be able to keep the cat out of the kitchen! I also like listening to music when cooking, while DH usually watches TV (or snores on the sofa) so a separate kitchen works better for that.

I don't like open plan at all.
I'm a pretty good cook and love to bake but I hate cooking smells, streaming windows, and couldn't relax and enjoy my food when there was a pile of dirty dishes in the sink and worktops needing cleaned. Also I don't like people taking to me when I'm cooking.
I did at one point have a house with a tiny lounge but a huge kitchen diner and I really wasn't happy there at all. I felt the kids were under my feet when I was cooking which totally stressed me out but they were a bit young to be left alone in the lounge for any length of time. I stayed there for six months I really couldn't stand it any longer.
Now in a house with a smallish kitchen and a large lounge with an open plan dining area that's just off the kitchen and I love it.

This. I hate open plan. I saw Kirsty recently say that people were moving away from open plan, back into separate areas, especially since Lock Down and WFH

It's quite often the case that I'm is in the kitchen doing something with the radio or my own choice of music or podcast on, whilst DH is watching something that I find deathly boring on TV in the sitting room, and vice versa. I think one of us would have been driven to murder by now if we'd had open plan.

But those large rooms in mansions are single function. As soon as a room becomes multifunction then it becomes harder to organise and keep tidy. In very large houses you have multiple day rooms (drawing room, morning room, library, nursery, orangerie) and eating spaces (dining room, breakfast room) and the working areas of the house are split into kitchen, pantry, scullery, laundry, boot room. Whereas in a small house you have a single open plan space that has to perform the functions of all of those. Mid size houses can separate out the functions a bit more so it becomes more liveable, e.g. a sitting room or two (snug/playroom) a kitchen diner and a utility room.

We have a sizeable kitchen / diner , large lounge / diner and another lounge which has been requisitioned as husbands office because he didn’t want to be upstairs now he WFH ( in reality that means he didn’t want to lose his upstairs den to an office ) . Most people near us have knocked down walls and gone pretty much open plan - I don’t like it but then I’m also very anti bifold doors and give it a few years and they will be the equivalent of decking now ie a bit old hat .

Surprised none of us here have mentioned lockdown until now! Can't say I like to think of it either. Don't watch Kirsty (still offended by her washing machine comments) so I missed this, but interesting that she's saying that.

*Kirstie, sorry. Funny that she's transcended her surname.

What was Kirstie's washing machine comment?

@FayCarew Replying to a Twitter post from journalist Jim Waterston about Americans' disdain for the common location of washing machines in British homes, the Hampstead-born property mogul said: “It is disgusting, my life’s work is in part dedicated to getting washing machines out of the kitchen.”

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/kirstie-allsopp-washing-machine-kitchen-disgusting-people-twitter-homes-a7836781.html

Haven't yet worked out why it's 'disgusting'. Having a toilet in the kitchen might be disgusting. But a washing machine? It really bloody irritated me. I've never lived in any house large enough to have a washing machine anywhere else. I'm not Ed 'Two Kitchens' Miliband. Well, I've derailed my own thread here, sorry.

I think those massive kitchen/living/diner extensions will fall out of fashion, especially in smaller homes where they take up most of the garden and leave the rest of the house feeling imbalanced. I prefer some separation of spaces and good proportions, including good outdoor living space.

I agree. Some that I see are quite literally double the size of the rest of the downstairs and leave a miniscule garden. Totally out of proportion