To Think That Open Plan Living Is Just a Fashion of The Moment

It’s not a fad. My first house in the early 70s was open plan.
Ideas come round again and again.
Interior designers are now fitting sliding/ folding doors between rooms which means you can block off a room if you want: just as we had in the 70s 😀

I think the trend towards integrated kitchens and dining rooms is here to stay, because it’s very practical, particularly for young families. I’ve got a formal dining room, but we don’t use it much, only for when people come to eat and special occasions, which is a waste really. I wouldn’t like my sitting room integrated into one large area, but if it had a small kitchen I’d definitely consider integrating the dining room and kitchen in a future home.

We had an open plan kitchen dining room that opened onto a small garden room in our last house. The sitting room was separate. I hated not being able to close the kitchen off. When we moved we looked for a house with a separate dining room that I could close off from the kitchen. Double doors open into the sitting room. When DH was here, we used the dining room every day, but now not so much.

Open plan has been around for years. My first house in 1983 was open plan and I hated it.

It appears that the trend has waned. I know two young couples who have converted back.

It's purely and simply what you want. If open plan is your thing , do it.

IMO it’s been going out of fashion for a while now.

An open plan kitchen/living/dining room may be practical where there are very small children, but later separate spaces are usually wanted (quiet, noisy, no TV) etc. And that’s without cooking smells, the unlovely mess left after cooking - for those who do actually cook, rather than just shoving something in oven or microwave.

The worst examples (to me, anyway) were the new build flats, where to maximise their profit, developers had shoved a basic kitchen in at one end of a none too spacious ‘living area’, often in order to cram in a 2nd bedroom.

Theexwife

I dont think fashion comes into it, for some open plan is right for others it is not.

I can see the benefits for families that want to spend time together doing different activities but personally I like separate rooms with different uses.

Absolutely!

Big huge kitchen diner for me, cosy sitting room separately. Always a downstairs loo or if poss shower room!

Families are only young for a few years. Children soon don’t want to be supervised all the time, and like to ‘do their own thing’ without being overheard and ‘shushed’ because someone else is concentrating or busy. People need to have private conversations, particularly older children and teens.

I wouldn’t look at an open plan house myself, but others like them, maybe particularly those with children under ten or so. I agree that you should do what works for you, but if you are concerned about resale being affected, think about who is likely to buy your house, based on price, proximity to schools etc. If the area is attractive to young families or ‘mixed’, you probably have nothing to lose, but on the whole, I think you should live for you in the here and now, not for when you might sell, unless you know that will be happening in the next couple of years.

Witzend

IMO it’s been going out of fashion for a while now.

An open plan kitchen/living/dining room may be practical where there are very small children, but later separate spaces are usually wanted (quiet, noisy, no TV) etc. And that’s without cooking smells, the unlovely mess left after cooking - for those who do actually cook, rather than just shoving something in oven or microwave.

The worst examples (to me, anyway) were the new build flats, where to maximise their profit, developers had shoved a basic kitchen in at one end of a none too spacious ‘living area’, often in order to cram in a 2nd bedroom.

I agree about the awful practice of putting all living into one room in order to maximise profit. Often there is very little storage in these flats.
Our DC and DIL bought a lovely 1930s house with open plant living. They installed glazed doors to separate the sitting room. It is useful to open things up when the DGCs need more room, and they can keep an eye on the computer use.

We used to put the computer under the stairs, so adults could see the screen as they passed from room to room. These days children tend to use laptops and tablets though - do people still have family desktop computers?

My OH used to go out when I had friends round when we had an open plan flat. Now we have a kitchen-diner and separate living rooms he is happier to stay at home. I used to feel uncomfortable that he felt the need to go out so wouldn't return to a completely open plan arrangement.

However, your space has to be whatever works for you. Hope you have fun thinking through the options.

I love my large kitchen/diner but my sitting room is difficult to heat because of the open staircase. When we bought the house we could not afford a closed-off sitting room. For me a downstairs loo is a must, just a pity it is not large enough to fit a shower.

I also agree with Chestnut.

I've been staying with my DS in New Zealand. Its a 2 bed bungalow built c1912.
They've taken out the fireplace between sitting and dining room and replaced it with a sturdy folding door which made it possible to use the sitting room end as a bedsit for my visit.

They have opened, with worktop height hatch, the kitchen onto the dining room as well as building patio doors to the sunny deck.
So it is open plan when you want it but can be cosy and separate too.

Versatility is the future!

They are now going to build a sleepout/home office in the garden to futureproof their little home for/against teenagers.

Depends on lifestyle, time of life and type of house I think.
I like informal dining with large kitchen/dining room, but you do lose wall space for kitchen units and the downside is visitors looking at the detritus (in my house anyway) whilst eating!) My fan oven is a bit noisy too. It is essential I think to have a separate utility room with this arrangement.

I like a lounge with dividing doors to the dining space, that can be opened up in the summer to provide a lighter and more airy space.

I agree with posters about new builds that have just one room with a kitchen at one end. There are some apartments locally being marketed for retirees.The priority seems to be to make space for an en suite bathroom.
I understand the kitchen- diner/ separate sitting room arrangement. When my children became teenagers, they could lurk there to discuss the parent's shortcomings whilst I read peacefully next door.

Open plan living has been a thing for about 30 years, so not exactly a fad.
I don’t like it.
I like a big open plan kitchen/ diner but I’d have to have a separate living room.

I think is largely depends on your lifestyle. We've lived in both open plan, and houses with separate rooms, and we much prefer the sociability of open plan. However, that's only if there's another small room to get away to for peace and quiet.

We're also currently considering whether or not to renovate our house, by knocking the kitchen/diner through into the living room, creating a big sociable space with kitchen/diner/family room. We like entertaining, and I don't like being left alone in the kitchen when we have family/friends around! Although, we do still have a separate utility room, so no noise from washer/dryer, plus a study, and currently a separate dining room, which I would convert into a cosy snug/tv room.

Just be mindful, if you decide to convert into one big open space, and you don't have any other 'quiet' room to escape to ... would that bother you?

Why does it matter if it's a fad? Would that suit you and your lifestyle? That's the only thing that matters.

I've come to realise that it would quite suit us in many ways now there are only two of us, but it would also have it's drawbacks so I'm on the fence at the moment.

Jewelle

Ignore trends. Just do what feels right for you, if you like the idea of open plan then do it. And if you don’t, then don’t!

It may 'feel right' but then turns out to be a very costly mistake that can't be rectified. Once you knock walls down that changes everything, so you need to be aware of what you're doing and all the pitfalls.

When I was growing up, and after I married, we had a couple of armchairs in the dining room so that we could sit comfortably when we paused for coffee etc during the day, We adjourned to the sitting room in the evenings or if we had guests. It was one way of making sure there was a decent tidy room if anyone came to visit.

The house we're in now has a dining area attached to the kitchen. Initially we had comfortable seating in there but it's become more of a work area! We use the sitting room more during the day now. It's still good, though, to have a separate area to relax in without the noise and smells of the kitchen.

We modernised our home 12 years ago but kept the kitchen as a separate room, it is very large and has a door into the hall and one into the dining room. I would never have soft furnishings in a kitchen, they retain the smell of cooking.
I have a large lounge and the dining room is at the opposite end but I do have a smaller room which is the music room. We put a TV in the music room so that DH could watch football while I watched what he considered rubbish 😆

Thank you all for your thoughts. It would seem that most people prefer a kitchen/dining room with a separate living room, sitting room, lounge, whatever you prefer to call it. We actually live in a large bungalow, and in general the area is more retired people than young families, so going from what's been said, and most particularly about cooking smells impregnating soft furnishings, I think we may decide to keep the living room separate.

My SiL parents live in a big Bungalow, his dad is a Builder. They knocked down walls to combine the kitchen into the living room. Looked lovely, lasted about 2 years, then he put the wall back.
His mum hated it, didn't like looking at the kitchen if pots etc not put away instantly or kitchen cooking smells even though they had extractor fan.

We stayed in a house we rented in the USA same thing open planned house, nope put me off too.

Open plan is definitely not new. My childhood home in the 60s had the lounge and dining room knocked through, as did my first house in the 80s. That was common in older houses, with the small kitchen retained.
Now it is more common to knock through dining room and kitchen as people want a big kitchen. My last house had separate downstairs rooms with a small kitchen. Very few people still had the separate kitchen as most had knocked through to make a big kitchen/diner. I cannot imagine the desire for a large eat in kitchen to go away, for those that can afford it.
Modern flats and smaller houses have just a kitchen/living room which I don't like, but with high house prices now many people have to live with this.

Gingster

Heating a large area is expensive.

Yes, this.

I'd like a kitchen/diner but a separate sitting room.
There would have to be a utility room too. It's essential imo, for laundry, shoes, an extra sink for washing veg brought in from the garden etc. And dogs if you have a dog.

Yes, a utility room is a must for me too, and also a study.