We use houses in different ways, and what works for one person/family/couple wouldn't for another, and won't always work for the same family/couple/person over a lifetime either. I like watching George Clarke's programmes, where houses get remodelled (all are available on 4OD) but they were recorded 5-10 years ago, and he keeps saying that older houses don't work for 'modern family life' so knocks rooms together, opens the back of the house to the garden, and makes huge 'family spaces'. How long will it be before the walls are going back in, as 'family spaces' are too expensive to heat, though? Those layouts were fashionable before the energy crisis, but might be regretted now that energy bills are so high.
Also, being able to supervise toddlers and young children is great, but if my experience is anything to go by, when they are teenagers neither they nor you want to share space 24/7 
. They want to play music, mess about on screens and have private talks with friends, not sit around an island with their parents, listening to Any Answers. 'Modern family life' isn't static, even within one generation.
Our house is a traditional layout - sitting room at the front, dining room behind and kitchen at the bottom of a fair sized reception hall. The spaces are all separate, which suits us, as it means we can each follow different pursuits without disturbing one another, and I valued that even more when there were four of us here and the children often had friends over. A kitchen-diner would have advantages sometimes, but I don't want to be cooking when my husband is listening to annoying YouTube videos about engineering, or DVDs of The World At War, or in the past when the children were playing SuperMario or playing Slipknot with the volume up to 11 .
My daughter is house hunting now, and prefers houses with what used to be called a 'through lounge' - basically the same layout but with the wall between the living rooms knocked out. Some even incorporate the hallway to make an even larger space. The difference is that she and her partner will be living there alone (or with the dog, anyway), and are happy to use headphones when they are doing their own things. I'd be surprised if they don't move or remodel if they have children - after they are 10 years old, anyway.
I think if people enjoy it and don't mind living with people in the house doing work, it must be very satisfying. I enjoyed the feeling of the new rooms as each was completed. Getting up in the morning and walking onto the newly decorated landing, going for a bath and opening the door onto a new bathroom etc is lovely. Knocking 4 cottages together must be very satisfying - when it's done! Also, it's lovely to think of them still standing, when without renovation they would probably have been demolished.
The hassle of ripping things out is not for everyone, and it can't take too much imagination to realise that, though. Judging people for not having the energy, budget or inclination to do it shows a lack of empathy and understanding that people are all different.
