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

In my ideal home I would have separate rooms but all linked by wide double doors so that you can change the connectability of rooms at will.

DS has a traditional 1930s semi, but with big double doors between living and diner, To begin with, the bigger front room has always been used as a dining room. When the children were small and had toys everywhere the dining room doubled up as a play room and the doors between living and dining were always open to form a corridor to the garden. Now they are well past that stage the room doubles up as a study for WFH - and the doors are almost always shut.

Of course we're interested Bluesmum! How exciting - do tell us how you get on.

Never did get the desire for fully open plan layouts.
Kitchen/ diners yes and lounge with dining end yes
But..all those noises from cooking and the smells that linger and attach to your soft furnishings and even a kettle boiling ( I bought a quiet one) can obliterate normal TV volume.

Plus all the “fallout” from cooking ie the ugly dirty dishes on show plus even loading and unloading a dishwasher involves noise.
What’s to like?

Regarding open plan living I instantly think about heating it, keeping it all warm and cosy so despite thinking it all looks pleasing on the eye, its a no-no.

😃

A friend moved into a brand new open plan house. She invited me to see it and I noticed the oven was sparklingly clean (unlike mine) and there was plastic film still on the glass. I asked her why she didn’t use the oven and she looked so surprised, ‘microwave dear don’t use anything else’. She eats nothing but ready meals. I wonder if there are many like her. When one sees the enormous amount on sale in the supermarket there must be quite a few.

My son has a large kitchen ,diner, lounge and had to instal an industrial sized extractor fan as they love cooking. He does have an additional lounge then only we when we visit and the dog seem to use because it is warm, comfortable and quite.

We have a large kitchen diner with doors to the garden and a separate living room. When we lived in France we had an open plan living/kitchen/diner with a separate shower/laundry room, but the climate was very different. There the wood burner was perfectly fine, but for 7/8 months of the year we needed no heating and were outside a lot, so it worked.

I much prefer separate rooms, that is a kitchen, a dining room and a sitting room. I have a small kitchen table and chairs, and 4 of us can sit and eat comfortably in the kitchen; any larger family gathering I will use the dining room.

Open plan has never appealed to me, and I have not had a house that is open plan. Mainly because kitchen and cooking smells, heating, keeping things tidy ish etc. Also, I really like my own space to cook.

I hate open plan and would hever consider purchasing a house designed like that., but each unto his own. I have read that people are now looking for separate kitchen, dining room and sitting rooms.

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