Unimportant HGTV JAWM opinion(s)

[Ginevra]

I don’t watch much TV but when I do, it is practically always HGTV. I love watching home shows, even though a few of them I just hate-watch. 

So, on that point - geez, every designer on every show, how much bigger can an island be??? I mean, I remember when having an island in the kitchen was first becoming a thing - early 90s? I guess? Anyway, those were like 2’x3’ islands. It was like Kahoolawe, as islands go. 

Now, the islands flank the entire room, and the rooms are huge anyway. This is like, Greenland. I’m thinking some of these islands are taking a good thing too far. 

So that’s my cranky opinion for tonight. ? 

 

[Barb_]

Ha! When we redid our kitchen I decided I wanted to push my island closer to the sink (42” rather than 54”) and use the extra space to enlarge my island by 18”. My old island was like 48” deep maybe including a 12” overhang for barstools. Well my granite guy took it upon himself to add ANOTHER six inches to the width that I didn’t ask for an presented it to me like this lovely gift since there’s no such thing as a too-large island. Now I can’t clean the entire thing by reaching across on each side. It’s annoying.

Edited October 17, 2018 by Barb_

[Annie G]

And it’s happening in real life. I have not seen my sister in law eat anything other than peanut butter crackers or a McGriddle or Zaxby fries in several years and it’s been more than 5 years since she has cooked a meal in her kitchen. And yet she has a custom made island that’s 5 feet by 9 feet.   It’s all about how it looks.  People are crazy. 

[AK_Mom4]

Ah..sigh.  I’m not in the class of the HGTV kitchens, but when we remodeled our kitchen last spring, we added a bigger island.  One big enough for the cooktop on the island and room for a cutting board next to it.  It makes a lovely focus to our open kitchen/dining room area and gave us some much needed extra counter top space.

so while I’m not a Greenland fan, I do appreciate having a Bigger-Than-1970s-Style island.

[Selkie]

I haven't seen any of those shows so I don't know what's what with kitchen trends. After reading this, though, I had to whip out the tape measure and see how big my kitchen island is. It's 3'3" wide x 8'3" long. Is that huge?? I honestly don't know. Ours isn't an island that you eat at, it's strictly workspace. I really love how much room it gives me when I'm cooking. 

[BarbecueMom]

Not an HGTV thing, but I see so many houses for sale around here that have these small rectangular islands, but they are turned at an angle.  The short ends are pointing toward the corners of the kitchen.  Like, how many gashes do you think one would put in their sides from running into the corners of that thing before ripping it out and resetting it the correct way?  It's just awkward looking!

I have a 3'x5' freestanding island, which was actually once a department store display table that I pulled the laminated particle board top off and added butcher block.  It's big and in between countertop and table height and I love it.  I'm only 5' tall on a bad hair day (like today!), and it's so much easier to work at than the counters.  But I have the room for it.  I think.

[Guest]

3 minutes ago, Selkie said:

I haven't seen any of those shows so I don't know what's what with kitchen trends. After reading this, though, I had to whip out the tape measure and see how big my kitchen island is. It's 3'3" wide x 8'3" long. Is that huge?? I honestly don't know. Ours isn't an island that you eat at, it's strictly workspace. I really love how much room it gives me when I'm cooking. 

No, I don’t call that huge. I have an island with a cooktop in my kitchen and it is probably about that size, too. Huge is like five feet deep and fifteen feet long. Or something like that. 

[Annie G]

3 minutes ago, Selkie said:

I haven't seen any of those shows so I don't know what's what with kitchen trends. After reading this, though, I had to whip out the tape measure and see how big my kitchen island is. It's 3'3" wide x 8'3" long. Is that huge?? I honestly don't know. Ours isn't an island that you eat at, it's strictly workspace. I really love how much room it gives me when I'm cooking. 

If you use it, the size doesn’t matter. I’m mostly snarking on people who have huge islands (no sink, stove or anything) just for looks, and don’t use them. Well, maybe to hold the fruit bowl. 

‘But I’m probably overly sensitive about islands right now. We’re selling our house, which has 18 feet of counters (not including sink or anything) and our latest viewer complained that it needs an island for workspace. There are photos of the kitchen online so it’s not a surprise that there isn’t one...

[Farrar]

Have you ever read this article about the evils of open-floor plans? There's a bunch about how now some people have secret, "messy" kitchens hidden behind their show kitchens.

https://www.theatlantic.com/family/archive/2018/05/the-curse-of-an-open-floor-plan/560561/

[Guest]

5 minutes ago, Farrar said:

Have you ever read this article about the evils of open-floor plans? There's a bunch about how now some people have secret, "messy" kitchens hidden behind their show kitchens.

https://www.theatlantic.com/family/archive/2018/05/the-curse-of-an-open-floor-plan/560561/

That looks like a great article! Hard to imagine having the second messy kitchen, but I have long thought this is the huge drawback of a totally open flood plan. Mine isn’t totally open and it already stresses me out when im having guests. 

[Carrie12345]

I have an obsession with fantasy giant islands, lol.  But I say that as a person with very little counter space (almost all on a peninsula.)  My fantasy giant island is in an enormous kitchen so it isn't a tight squeeze, *and it replaces having a breakfast nook.

I don't like open floor plans very much, either. I think it's good that I have one in our small house, and I wouldn't completely reject one on a regular person's budget.  But, given complete financial and design freedom? No thank you.  I don't understand the circular concept of front living room, formal dining room, open to kitchen and breakfast area, wide open to family room (often with the living room and family room connected.)  If I have to keep ALL of those open areas neat and clean, what's the point of having the supposedly "informal" ones?  I would much prefer to keep the video game wires, superhero blankets, Lego creations, and random Nerf darts behind closed doors.

[RootAnn]

I have a little mobile island (2x3 on wheels) in my tiny kitchen. I dream of redoing my kitchen, but I don't know that I would put in a fixed island because even if I used my whole dining area to expand into would I have room for one.

[Eta: pulled out the tape measure:  From fridge door to counter, 6 ft. From sink to the door to the laundry door (which includes the walkway from the garage to the dining room), 9 ft. So, working space in the middle of my kitchen is 6x6. I measured & my island is actually a whopping 2 ft by 18 inches. Some of you have more island space than all my counters, sink, and stovetop combined!]

I don't know if it is an open floor plan because I don't watch any of those shows, but when you walk into my house, the living room and dining room are all one area and that is also open to the tiny kitchen. But, really, the whole place is so small in general that I don't know how else you would do it. It would make for some little rooms if you put up a wall. Right now, it just seems sunny and cosy (and messy!). No hiding the mail/newspaper/kid junk pile on the kitchen table or the cake pan on the kitchen counter. Any visitor invited into the house can see it all.

My mother, who watches all sorts of tv, has mentioned that we will have trouble selling our house because we have ceiling fans and popcorn ceilings.  Neither of those, IMO, are bad, but I would never buy another house with the stupid shortcut textured walls. The builder must not have wanted to drywall and paint, so he just sprayed on some weird paint with gritty stuff built in. You can't clean it and the drywall is directly under the one layer of paint. (Super obvious in exposed corners.) Really tough to paint over, too.

Edited October 17, 2018 by RootAnn
Updated with dimensions

[happypamama]

I’m laughing because we just remodeled our kitchen, majorly, and I was insistent that I did not want an island. I had an island and hated it. Even aside from it being freestanding and thus a pain to clean under it, it always made the space feel cramped. We went with a U-shaped kitchen with a peninsula on one side, and I am so happy with the arrangement. It isn’t huge, but it works so well for me.

 

And no open floor plan, really. That wasn’t a concept in 1830 when my house was built, at least not for the living and kitchen areas. The kitchen-dining area will eventually be one big room, but the dining half won’t be done for a while. But our family room is totally separate from the kitchen/dining, can’t even see one from the other, and the family room has a door. I can see both family and kitchen from the schoolroom, but they’re still very separate spaces. 

Edited October 17, 2018 by happypamama

[SamanthaCarter]

I have been in two homes with Greenland islands. They were both lake houses. One has a second kitchen. 

Ive been in several houses with very large islands, and in all of those cases, the kitchen was clearly a status symbol. These are people who are barely home and eat a ton of meals out! 

The previous owners of my house tore out the wall between the dining room and the kitchen. It was the right thing to do since both were tiny, cramped rooms. I just wish that they had gone with galley kitchen instead of a too big island. The island is too wide and it’s a bar on one side, problem is that the dining room area on the bar side is far too small for table and chairs AND bar stools! What the heck? That’s exactly where we have to walk to get to the back door! I put shelving in the space under the bar overhang. It’s ugly. 

[lmrich]

My youngest dd has lots of super rich friends with huge, beautiful, designer kitchens. - I think one has been in a magazine - They are the nicest and most generous people, and my dd hangs out at their houses a lot. BUT they always order out. She has never had a home-cooked meal there. In fact, my dd likes to bake and has asked to bake for her friends. The mixer had never been used. 

Side story - we brought all the kids up to our small, rustic mountain cabin. I made large meals and served fun appetizers (I love to do this). Her friends have asked if they can come back. They did not eat out one meal over the weekend! For many of them that was a first! Sometimes simple is beautiful!

 

[KungFuPanda]

You’re missing the point. Those giant islands are FOR ENTERTAINING.  I’m not sure how interesting it is to watch me cook, but OK. Be entertained I guess. 

I’ve considered annexing my breakfast nook to get more counter space, but I can’t quite figure out how to make it wheelchair accessible AND create more counter space. Also, I’m short so normal counters are a wee bit tall for me and I need to work at the table sometimes. Until I puzzle it out I’m stuck with a little 2x4 peninsula. 

ETA: Maybe I don’t get the entertaining angle because I’m old and my friends prefer not to be perched on barstools in the kitchen. I have people over all the time, but we gravitate to plusher seating. 

Edited October 17, 2018 by KungFuPanda

[SamanthaCarter]

3 minutes ago, lmrich said:

My youngest dd has lots of super rich friends with huge, beautiful, designer kitchens. - I think one has been in a magazine - They are the nicest and most generous people, and my dd hangs out at their houses a lot. BUT they always order out. She has never had a home-cooked meal there. In fact, my dd likes to bake and has asked to bake for her friends. The mixer had never been used. 

Side story - we brought all the kids up to our small, rustic mountain cabin. I made large meals and served fun appetizers (I love to do this). Her friends have asked if they can come back. They did not eat out one meal over the weekend! For many of them that was a first! Sometimes simple is beautiful!

 

This is so sweet. ❤️

[SamanthaCarter]

Old homes used to have work tables in the kitchen. The kitchens were not designed for appliances, so they were just some storage, a sink and an icebox/ fridge. I think as we got more stuff to store in our kitchens, the work table went away to make room for lots of cabinets, diswasher, counter space for appliances at the edge of the room. The island thing might just be a modern swing back to the work table in late 20th century to 21st century houses that are big enough for all of it. 

Edited October 17, 2018 by SamanthaCarter

[Annie G]

17 minutes ago, SamanthaCarter said:

Old homes used to have work tables in the kitchen. The kitchens were not designed for appliances, so they were just some storage, a sink and an icebox/ fridge. I think as we got more stuff to store in our kitchens, the work table went away to make room for lots of cabinets, diswasher, counter space for appliances at the edge of the room. The island thing might just be a modern swing back to the work table in late 20th century to 21st century houses that are big enough for all of it. 

I grew up with Gram and Mom having a Hoosier cabinet and pulling out the work table when needed, and my two sisters and I each have had Hoosiers since we have been married. But we never use the work table as intended because we have plenty of counter space, which Gram and Mom didn’t have.   So yeah, I can see the island being a substitute for a work table. Or at least the place to serve the takeout food.g

We’re currently house hunting and we need lots of space for bookshelves. Open concept sucks for that. But what drives me crazy is seeing a house that has a dining room, eat in kitchen, and a breakfast bar that is butted right up to the eat in kitchen. Who are they kidding? I’m betting half the meals are eaten in front of the tv anyway. I need bookcase space and sewing space, people!

[Murphy101]

I really hate open floor plans. There. I said it. I don’t think it is very home cozy, rather it feels very commercial. Like office cubicals to me.  Sometimes a gal just wants to have a convo with her friend and some coffee in the living room without listening to kitchen noise or just get the kitchen clean for its 15 seconds of nonuse without hearing the living room tv or the gaming argument at the dinner table.

And like a pp I like the work kitchen triangle. I don’t have one in this house and it drives me batty.  That said, I’d love either an L shaped kitchen that the _ part is nice and big and clear of all appliances. I have to go to my dining table if I want to do something like roll our connimon rolls or anything that really hogs counter space without having to constantly move so someone can access one of the appliances.  

[PrincessMommy]

While I don't want a island the size of Greenland ?  I do want one bigger than the island i had at our previous house.  IT was built in the early 90s - so it really was 2x4'  It was enough room to have my stove top, but no room to chop veggies, etc.  Basically, it was pretty useless and in the way.   I'm looking forward to putting in an island here at my new house though.  

[madteaparty]

11 hours ago, Farrar said:

Have you ever read this article about the evils of open-floor plans? There's a bunch about how now some people have secret, "messy" kitchens hidden behind their show kitchens.

https://www.theatlantic.com/family/archive/2018/05/the-curse-of-an-open-floor-plan/560561/

A friend of ours is a big time chef and in a private event (where chefs you’d have seen on food network cook, for example), they were told by the homeowner they were not supposed to cook in that kitchen, they needed to go to the other one. The food network chef (not my friend) refused...

[madteaparty]

15 minutes ago, Murphy101 said:

I really hate open floor plans. There. I said it. I don’t think it is very home cozy, rather it feels very commercial. Like office cubicals to me.  

I hate them too. And people talk about traffic flow, this is not a highway. Plus I sauté onion way too much, I don’t want my living room or bedroom even to smell like food. 

[Miss Tick]

45 minutes ago, Arctic Mama said:

I’m considering designing my next kitchen with sliding partition, like floor to ceiling frosted glass or shoji screens. We will have a bunch of pocket doors anyway for accessibility reasons and between that and making the setup a bit of an L shape for the view while cooking and eating, I’m thinking it would at least give me the choice of a more open concept during the school day but being able to close it off at night when I’m cooking and just want some peace and music, or to hide some or all of the mess from guests.

 

crazy?

I like that idea! I think there were a couple of those in our house when it was first built. However since it was built in the early 50's I suspect they were those rubbery, accordion-pleated dividers, so I'm not terribly sad they are gone.

9 minutes ago, madteaparty said:

I hate them too. And people talk about traffic flow, this is not a highway. Plus I sauté onion way too much, I don’t want my living room or bedroom even to smell like food. 

Due to weird airflow in my house, anytime i cook with hot oil and forget to close the door to my bedroom i dream about working as a carny at the fried foods concession.

[Selkie]

I'm a fan of open floor plans. The old farmhouse I grew up in had rooms that felt closed-off and dark, so when we built our house, I wanted it open and airy and full of light. Our kitchen, dining room, and living room are all open to each other and I love it. It was great when the kids were little and I could work in the kitchen and keep an eye on them without them being right underfoot. It's still nice now that they're older because it makes it very easy to interact and carry on conversations. Maybe I'm weird, but I don't mind anyone seeing what's happening in the kitchen, either. ?

As for bookcases in an open floor plan, our hallways are all lined with built-in floor-to-ceiling bookcases. 

[fairfarmhand]

1 hour ago, Arctic Mama said:

I’m considering designing my next kitchen with sliding partition, like floor to ceiling frosted glass or shoji screens. We will have a bunch of pocket doors anyway for accessibility reasons and between that and making the setup a bit of an L shape for the view while cooking and eating, I’m thinking it would at least give me the choice of a more open concept during the school day but being able to close it off at night when I’m cooking and just want some peace and music, or to hide some or all of the mess from guests.

 

crazy?

I was admiring Mary Tyler Moore’s pull down screen in her one room apartment the other day. Her kitchen is part of the living area, but she has a lovely pull down stained glass type thing to separate the kitchen from the rest of the apartment. I was marveling at how brilliant that design was last week.

[fairfarmhand]

I found this article and it has wonderful photos of Mary Richards apartment, including that kitchen!

https://hookedonhouses.net/2009/07/05/mary-richards-apartment-on-the-mary-tyler-moore-show/

[lavender's green]

Whoever built my neighborhood didn't get the memo that kitchens sell houses. Mine has no room for an island unless we do some serious remodeling. I might just start leaning on DH about it. Plant the idea in his head so that it can come to fruition in a few years. Right now it's cramped yet has a bunch of wasted space, and it drives me crazy. I think the builder wanted to be able to advertise that it has a breakfast nook. But it also has a dining room right next to it! The kitchen could easily be double its size and still have room for a small table if they had done it differently.

I also hate open floor plans. Well, sometimes it works well with the style of architecture. But for most places, I want walls, boundaries, barriers to noise and smells. I like each room to have a defined purpose. I like to be close to my family but not necessarily hearing every word or seeing every mess.

[SamanthaCarter]

Oh my. That MTM kitchen would totally work in my house! Except there’s no fridge. 

[forty-two]

I like open plan houses, too.  I think a large part of it is that I grew up in one - the living room and dining room were just one big room, divided by the freestanding fireplace in the exact middle, with a nice vaulted ceiling.  ( I noticed when I looked at houses that I much preferred higher ceilings in the living areas, even if they weren't as high as my parents'.)  My parents' kitchen is small, along the width of the dining room side of the big room, with a bar separating the kitchen from the big room - when we were house-hunting, all kitchens seemed plenty big to me ;).

Anyway, our new house has a similar semi-open plan as our last one: the living room, dining room and kitchen form a U-shape, with the living room and kitchen on opposite sides of the U (with a wall in between) and the dining room on the bottom part of the U, connected to both.  So you can't see into the living room from the kitchen and vice versa, but they both flow into the dining room and you can see both from the dining room.  I like it - I like the feel of spaciousness and I like being able to see everyone from my standing desk in the dining room.  I like how everyone in the living areas are both together while also being able to be in different spaces - the separate spaces that all flow into each other, allowing for both togetherness and separateness as desired, is the best of both worlds for me, just as advertised.

The bookshelf issue is a real one - we have 11 full size bookshelves and 8 others of varying sizes.  Idk how I'd do in a house as open as my parents (although, the big room is big enough I think you could line all the walls with bookshelves and have the furniture in the middle and it would work out).  But in this house I stashed bookshelves everywhere I could - lining a wall of the dining room, a wall of the living room, low shelves under the picture window on another living room wall, lining a wall of the hallway (the point of having a four foot wide hall for me is apparently so that I can put a row of bookshelves along it and still have 3 feet of walkway :lol), lining the wall of the hall nook (that otherwise could have held a desk) and in the master (we have lots of room in the master, so of course I need to fill it with bookshelves).  I love open space and lots of windows (for lots of light), but those things definitely cut into the bookshelf space.  Mostly that means whatever walls I do have are covered with bookshelves, instead of large pictures or blank space or other pieces of furniture.  (I had to put the wall maps on the doors, because I had no wall space for them.)

[Sneezyone]

Our new home has very distinct rooms/spaces which DH doesn’t like. He’s tall and likes big, open spaces. I prefer the separation. 

The previous owner updated the kitchen completely but (clearly) wasn’t much of a cook. The appliances look brand new, the cabinets are great and the granite is lovely but the fridge and sink and stove are separated by an island that has a too-big overhang and interferes with traffic flow. The only way it will work is if we open up the wall between the kitchen and LR so that’s what we plan to do...next year.

Kitchens and baths do make/sell homes and our bathrooms are straight outta 1987. The biscuit beige has to take priority over the funky kitchen layout. A gal can dream tho!

[GoodGrief]

Back in the '60s. in the midst of a 100+ yo tiny rural Mississippi farmhouse remodel that included adding indoor plumbing and heating that didn't involve a fireplace, my grandmother fulfilled her dream of having a sofa (and, sadly, carpet) to her tiny kitchen. She loved it, and a sofa (it was replaced at least once) stayed until the day she died. That's where everyone hung out, mostly ignoring the large living area they added at the front of the house. It was an early version of the open floor plan ? I was able to go back to the house recently, to see what the current owners had done to it. The carpet is gone and now there is an island (and a pantry, and the built in wooden ironing board has moved to the new laundry room).

[G5052]

Yes, when we were getting ready to sell our house, the realtor recommended that we extend the countertop on the island because of that trend. More workspace and areas where people can sit!

[ktgrok]

When we remodeled our kitchen after a flood my parents were adamant that we needed to tear down a wall to have an open concept. It would be so much nicer/easier! Um, no. I need places to gate my babies either in or out, not to mention the dogs. Doors and walls are a good thing. 

[Guest]

16 minutes ago, Ktgrok said:

When we remodeled our kitchen after a flood my parents were adamant that we needed to tear down a wall to have an open concept. It would be so much nicer/easier! Um, no. I need places to gate my babies either in or out, not to mention the dogs. Doors and walls are a good thing. 

Another thing that kind of kills me on the reno shows is when they are renovating, say, a 1920’s farmhouse, and of course the main wall they want to bust out is load-bearing. Obviously! But the designer will say somethhing like, “Wow, it’s going to cost $12,000 to put in a new double-reinforced 20’ header to support the house...but we simply must get rid of that wall!” (Or worse - they decide against renovating a bathroom or putting in a real laundry room because all that money went into the reinforced beam!) I’m just sitting there like ?. 

I’d be gettin’ my laundry room! Leave the wall! ☺️

[ktgrok]

52 minutes ago, Quill said:

Another thing that kind of kills me on the reno shows is when they are renovating, say, a 1920’s farmhouse, and of course the main wall they want to bust out is load-bearing. Obviously! But the designer will say somethhing like, “Wow, it’s going to cost $12,000 to put in a new double-reinforced 20’ header to support the house...but we simply must get rid of that wall!” (Or worse - they decide against renovating a bathroom or putting in a real laundry room because all that money went into the reinforced beam!) I’m just sitting there like ?. 

I’d be gettin’ my laundry room! Leave the wall! ☺️

I'd give up a kidney for a laundry room! No way would I trade open concept for no laundry room - those people obviously don't do their own laundry!

[Bluegoat]

I tend to prefer less open concept too.  It just works better for the way I like to do things, I think in a lot of cases it is far more practical.  

I suspect a lot of this stuff comes down to bad design though.  It's not that an island is necessarily bad, but people don't really design it in properly. It doesn't necessarily make for a better working kitchen, it can make it worse.  

But with a lot of these things, especially on design shows, they are aspirational.  People want a giant island and granite countertops etc, even if it doesn't fit the house or doesn't work, because it stands for success and wealth.  And also people are often pretty uninspired and they don't really know what they want - there is a real phenomena of people spending money on this stuff and then they can't figure out why it's not great functionally.

I do think one other factor is probably light - when people want to "open things up" sometimes what they really want is a sense of enough light.   

[Annie G]

Bluegoat, you’re totally right about the light- I crave natural light. It drives my family crazy sometimes. 

[rebcoola]

I agree that people really want light I sometimes feel like my extremely large somewhat open plan main floor feels cramped.  It is because it  is not as bright as my old house due to a number of factors.  Taking out the existing walls would help but overall it would be much less functional.

[Guest]

59 minutes ago, Bluegoat said:

I tend to prefer less open concept too.  It just works better for the way I like to do things, I think in a lot of cases it is far more practical.  

I suspect a lot of this stuff comes down to bad design though.  It's not that an island is necessarily bad, but people don't really design it in properly. It doesn't necessarily make for a better working kitchen, it can make it worse.  

But with a lot of these things, especially on design shows, they are aspirational.  People want a giant island and granite countertops etc, even if it doesn't fit the house or doesn't work, because it stands for success and wealth.  And also people are often pretty uninspired and they don't really know what they want - there is a real phenomena of people spending money on this stuff and then they can't figure out why it's not great functionally.

I do think one other factor is probably light - when people want to "open things up" sometimes what they really want is a sense of enough light.   

Yes, that is exactly right. There are a couple of TV designers (the cowboy guy from Restored and Nicole Curtis, Rehab Addict) who seek to renovate suitably to the period of the house, as well as having it function correctly for the homeowners. It is one reason I like watching those two shows because they are restoring the homes to suit their period, as opposed to others (Property Brothers, Chip and Joanna) who have a particular look that repeats throughout all their houses. 

It is nice to have ample light. That is one thing homes built in the first half of the 1900s rarely had. People needed to prevent heat loss through the windows so they were small, not numerous and covered with drapes and sheers for insulation. 

[Frances]

14 hours ago, Selkie said:

I'm a fan of open floor plans. The old farmhouse I grew up in had rooms that felt closed-off and dark, so when we built our house, I wanted it open and airy and full of light. Our kitchen, dining room, and living room are all open to each other and I love it. It was great when the kids were little and I could work in the kitchen and keep an eye on them without them being right underfoot. It's still nice now that they're older because it makes it very easy to interact and carry on conversations. Maybe I'm weird, but I don't mind anyone seeing what's happening in the kitchen, either. ?

As for bookcases in an open floor plan, our hallways are all lined with built-in floor-to-ceiling bookcases. 

I’m with you. I grew up in a ranch house with closed off rooms, except the kitchen/dining room and wanted the exact opposite. I also love our kitchen, dining room, and living room being open to each other, and we have big picture windows and high ceilings to boot. I love how open, bright, and airy it all feels, especially when the weather turns dark and gloomy. And it’s great for entertaining.

And I think I’m really the odd one out on islands. I grew up with one and have never wants one since. They just seem to be in the way, and I especially don’t like the look of any type of stools in a kitchen (or really anywhere in the world but maybe a bar), and they often seem to go with islands.

[mom@shiloh]

In my last house, my island was so big that my brother called it a continent instead. It was a big farmhouse kitchen and the island took the place of a kitchen table, but was more convenient to work at because of the height. ?  I absolutely loved it.  There was a minimum clearance of three feet around all of it, and in some places there was a four foot clearance.  There was room for eight people to sit around it and there was still an area about 2' by 3' for work space.  Everyone gathered in my kitchen and either sat around or helped with food prep.  

[Storygirl]

I have to admit I like big islands. I wish mine were bigger, and it's a good size.

But I'm very particular about them. I hate it when a key element of the kitchen (usually the fridge but sometimes the oven) is located on the opposite side, so that I have to constantly walk around and around the island while I'm cooking. I do have that here, unfortunately, though the appliance placement is better than in some kitchens I have lived in.

I also hate kitchen sinks in islands, because I do NOT want my dirty dishes stacked there, right where I am working with the food. I want a separation of the dirty things from what I am going to be eating. And I often have dishes waiting to be washed, and I don't want that in the middle of my island all of the time. And when I am entertaining, I don't want the area that I am using to display the food to also be the area where people pile their dirty things.

Putting the sink in the island is a popular things in newer homes around here, and we saw it a lot when we were house hunting. Hate it.

[Storygirl]

I like to have a little openness from room to room, but I dislike the open concept fad. I don't want people to see my kitchen from the front door, because my kitchen is a heavily used work zone. Keeping it clean enough for the world to see at any moment would be a nightmare for me. I need for people to be able to come into the home and NOT see the kitchen.

Also, during the reveal scenes on those shows, I always think that there is NO WAY those homes will still look that way after they have all of their personal possessions put back in. It's an illusion, but I admit to buying into it and feeling that I SHOULD keep my home looking perfect like that all the time. I can't measure up to that, but those shows make me think that I should.

[Splash1]

I have a huge island that I chose in my open concept house.  I never watched HGTV as we didn't ever have cable or satellite tv.  It is basically the size of an uncut piece of granite about 4ft by 9ft.  I have a prep sink on it toward the end by the stove and refrigerator and we can seat four on one side and end on bar stools.  I did it so I could cook and do projects with the kids when we were homeschooling and now that they are middle school and up and attending school it is still used all the time for homework, snacks, lunch, etc.  Sometimes it's a pain to keep neat but I like having a space to work while the kids can do their school work.  I also purposely made the kitchen big enough the family could work together to get the meal on the table and then cleaned up.  My kitchen has been in constant use for the last 14 years.  I do see a time when we're empty nesters that it won't be as wonderful but I'm thankful for it now. ( we built our house, whole family affair plus grandparents 14 years ago when kids were 3,5,6,9 and not born yet.)  I can see why this wouldn't be for everyone but with a big family and constant friends over it was nice to have the extra space.

 

Edited October 18, 2018 by Splash1

[ashfern]

My kitchen (not designed or laid out by me) has a double island. There's room for it and I love the storage but it's a bit much. I like to say my kitchen is stupid big.