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

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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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

😃

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?

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

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.

I remember in the 70’s when everyone was knocking down dividing walls down to make kitchen/diners or loung/diners, my dad said it was a modern fad that would pass, but here we are these days expanding the open plan idea even further into one large ground floor area. A friend recently moved into a new build Bungalow where entrance area, lounge, kitchen and dining area were all in one, no utility room, the only separate rooms being the two bedrooms. They soon realised their mistake and had some internal walls installed to separate off the kitchen/ diner, it was only then that they realised what a tiny space they had and dividing it off made the lounge area very tiny, dark (even though there was a window) and very claustrophobic. They have it on the market now but very little interest, even though they have reduced the price below what they paid over a year ago! Personally, I have a lovely large three bed bungalow, with large kitchen diner for everyday meals, a Large lounge with formal dining area for entertaining and a beautiful large garden room that opens full width onto the patio on two sides with folding doors. It is all too big for me now and I hardly ever entertain these days so I am about to put it on the market as I am going to live in Australia with my only so. we are having a granny annexe built in his garden, which will be all open plan, except for my bedroom and hobby room! Exciting times, watch this space to see how I get on, if interested of course!

I prefer separate rooms, like to shut the door on the kitchen whilst eating especially if we have company and prefer the lounge separate, no cooking smells which get into curtains & soft furnishings. We have a good sized kitchen and have been to neighbours houses that have knocked kitchen and dining room into one but still prefer our layout.
Easier & cheaper to heat.

Much prefer closed off areas, don’t want to see the kitchen from my living room we have 1960s detached home and have lounge diner suits us just fine.

I think it’s a fad.
We are looking to downsize and DP wants new build - they (3 beds) are all tiny or one big room - I am desperate for a kitchen big enough for a sofa…I’m looking for a refurbished older style property (with separate smug/or sitting room/lounge)…
The search goes on 🙈

J52

I’m not sure it’s a fad. Our first house in the mid 70s was open plan, it was built in the early 60s.
Our second house, built in 1850, had been ‘modernised to be open plan. Our third house was a traditional Victorian villa and had a large kitchen, separate dining room and sitting room.
We liked the separate rooms and each subsequent house has had separate rooms. Our current house has a dining room that is large enough for a sofa as well as dining furniture, so it’s comfortable to use as a second sitting room.
We will probably make one more move and will definitely be looking for separate kitchen, dining and sitting rooms.

Totally agree with you J52. If open plan is a fad the “fad” has lasted a long time. We moved to the UK 27 years ago leaving a house that was open plan in South Africa.
We have just recently sold our house in the UK that was open plan, an area where we constantly were in. We did also have a second sitting room that was never used. We are now looking for a home to buy and open plan is definitely on top of our list.
It’s all up to individual taste rather than a fad

I would say it isn't about fashion and whether or not it will be 'in' or 'out' soon. Its about how you wish to live your life in your home.

I have a kitchen/diner family room with television and easy chairs and also a separate lounge. The arrangement worked well in our old Victorian terrace and we have replicated it in our current 1960's dormer bungalow. We spend the bulk of our day in the family room and retire to a cosy lounge in the evenings.

There are just the two of us but it works well, especially as we look after grandchildren one day a week.

Although we may downsize in the future (and the room dimensions grow smaller) I'd still want this kind of arrangement.

Had avisit from a pkumbrr last week who commented on how he liked the separate rooms (with kitchen and dining area all in one) in the house. Sitting room, small sitting room, conservatory. He was mid 30s and commented he snd wife had refurbished recently bought house, all open plans and he is going to start putting up walls again. With energy costs, too difficult to heat large areas, smells and moisture from cooking and noise. Seems the younger folk are figuring out some disadvantages already.

I like separate space. Amount of available light makes a big difference.
I'm not tidy enough for open plan minimalism . My preference is for an open plan kitchen/ dining room, with separate larder and a utility room with sink for laundry . With a separate sitting room and ideally a downstairs loo, and study/ hobby room. All with walls for storage shelf space.

BlueBelle

Never had a kitchen incorporated in a living area The snells of cooking would be awful to me bad enough when you can shut a door and heating a great area would be prohibitive too
A fad …stick to doors and walls
Totally agree with Chestnut

exactly my opinion on this.

Go with what suits YOU- never mind whether something is currently fashionable or not! If you decorate etc to be in fashion one thing you can be sure of is that the day will come when it is out of fashion !
Eg all the dreary grey living rooms with grey carpets, furniture, rugs and other soft furnishings!
Unless you like grey of course.
I have never decorated/converted/altered according to what is deemed “fashionable” - if I like it that’s good enough from me!

We had an extension 6 years ago and have a man open plan kitchen /dining /living area and we both love it.
We used to have a separate dining room which was rarely used. That is now a tv , snug room . We and our AC use it if we watch something else on tv or to read .
I love that I’m not isolated when cooking or prepping food both just for us or when entertaining. And my dh now is keen on cooking and we have room to work together in the kitchen area .
We have a very efficient cooker fan and a fairly quiet dishwasher , so smells and noise are reduced .
We also have underfloor heating and a wood burner , so it’s cosy .
My DM has mobility issues and finds it easy to get around our open plan area .
I’d say go for it , but have a separate tv room .
Is it a fad ? I don’t know but estate agent friends are in favour and it’s popular with families . And our house is a family home.

Cooking smells are never confined to one room - they permeate through the whole house.

You can wake up and smell the coffee upstairs. You can walk in any door and smell what’s for dinner. Baking bread is a smell everyone loves, no matter what room they are in.

I lived in a rental for a year once that was open plan, it was hellish. The noise of the kettle, washing machine and fridge freezer drove me mad. The smell of the cooking even got upstairs. Hard to heat and expensive to heat. Never again, it was torture.

I think most houses designed with open plan were to compensate for smaller homes where individual rooms would have been tiny - that is my experience anyway afrom house hunting 5 years ago - none of the open plan homes had the space we wanted, they seemed to squash kitchen, dining and sitting areas into a small area, we much prefer seperate rooms.

MrsAF - you say your space is COLD. My open living space is very WARM and cozy. It’s because of your windows - they are probably leaking heat.

You don’t realize that is happening - but when I replaced some loose windows it made all the difference in the world!! Check your windows (and doors) - especially if some face North, West or East - those are the exposure and wind culprits. Storms generally come from those directions and can blow right through your house.

Windows are the most important source leaking your heat!

I think that I’m the only one on our little estate to have left the living and dining room as separate rooms. Everyone else has ‘knocked through’ but now, as heating charges rise, wish they hadn’t. I wouldn’t like to have a kitchen in the living room but that’s just me. Some like the inclusivity of it.