Fighting the open floor plan concept

[Junie]

25 minutes ago, Dotwithaperiod said:

Mine is similar, except our little home is round. So you walk in the foyer, turn left and there’s a curved hall with 3 bedrooms and a bathroom. If you turn right, you see the living room with a small dining area. Past that is a tiny kitchen. The middle of the circle is the laundry room and stairs to the basement. Must of the exterior walls are windows. 

It took me a long time to get used to, I had dreams of finding the perfect old farmhouse while DH dreamed of building a log cabin. The acoustics are amazing, though, music just resonates all around.

 

I am reading the description of your house and picturing a perfect little hobbit hole.

[DesertBlossom]

I am surprised that for some of you your cooking aromas don't waft through the house. My kids smell everything. Our kitchen is at one corner of the main floor, and the stairs to bedrooms at the opposite corner.... And my kids still come flying down the stairs when the smell of brownies makes it up to them. 😅

[mumto2]

I love a somewhat open floor plan as I hate being stuck in the kitchen while everyone else is having fun in the main part of the house.  It truly makes cooking which I used to enjoy feel like way too much work.  My mess may be isolated but so am I..........I will never buy a house where the kitchen isn’t somewhat connected to the rest of the house again.  Maybe a large kitchen with a huge dining area which I had in one house would be OK..........

[MrsRobinson]

I go back and forth on the open concept argument. 

I recently went to a party at a newly built custom home and I personally thought they took "open concept" to a whole new level. You walk in the front door directly into the "living room" but the living, dining and kitchen was literally one giant square room with a super tall vaulted ceiling. The kitchen cabinets and counters were in one corner of the square and there was a huge island in that kitchen corner. The dining table was in the other corner and the couches floated in the middle of the room around the tv/fireplace. For some reason, I found it completely unnerving. 

We are house hunting right now and I can't understand how a huge 4 bedroom house has a dinky kitchen with very little cabinet/counter space, open concept or not. Why???

[TravelingChris]

I have an great room that serves as an entry way  and entry way.  From the living room area, you can't see the dining room since it is around the corner but there is no door between dining room and great room.  There is a pocket door between kitchen and dining room, and no door, but partial wall between great room and kitchen.  There is a sunroom off of the great room.  Our family room is downstairs and is a much smaller open concept room, with a another kitchen that has an eat-in area ( while we do use the fridge that was left, we only use the second dishwasher rarely, and had the electrical oven disconnected when we moved in because we had to use the last remaining electricity for the washer and dryer.

[Bluegoat]

9 hours ago, MrsRobinson said:

I go back and forth on the open concept argument. 

I recently went to a party at a newly built custom home and I personally thought they took "open concept" to a whole new level. You walk in the front door directly into the "living room" but the living, dining and kitchen was literally one giant square room with a super tall vaulted ceiling. The kitchen cabinets and counters were in one corner of the square and there was a huge island in that kitchen corner. The dining table was in the other corner and the couches floated in the middle of the room around the tv/fireplace. For some reason, I found it completely unnerving. 

We are house hunting right now and I can't understand how a huge 4 bedroom house has a dinky kitchen with very little cabinet/counter space, open concept or not. Why???

 

I think it's because of the huge open space.  It would be easy under those circumstances for a poisonous snake to drop down on your head, or a tiger to come at you, and what would you do?

That sounds silly, but I think that there are certain proportions of space that are comfortable for us, and others that make us feel somehow anxious.  Context matters to - a sort of vista looking down from a hill can be lovely, but a similar amount of space in an indoor setting feels off.

One of the effects of modern building materials is you see these rooms that seem abnormally large, in more domestic settings.  It's because they can engineer the ceilings to make huge rooms, where before that kind of thing only worked with special expensive settings like huge cathedrals.  But those tend to create feelings of awe, or maybe contemplative wonder, not feelings of domesticity.

[shawthorne44]

11 hours ago, DesertBlossom said:

I am surprised that for some of you your cooking aromas don't waft through the house. My kids smell everything. Our kitchen is at one corner of the main floor, and the stairs to bedrooms at the opposite corner.... And my kids still come flying down the stairs when the smell of brownies makes it up to them. 😅

 My husband loves misc. spices.   For a couple of years I swear everything he cooked smelled nasty.  I once falsely accused him of making something a little more nasty smelling than normal.  Turns out it was our skunked dog and we only figured it out because he wasn't cooking anything.  We then bought the exhaust fan with the biggest motor we could buy that cost less than $300.  

[DawnM]

I don't mind part of the main floor as open.  I like the kitchen open to the family room and the sunroom.  I do not like the landing on the 2nd floor to be open.  You can't sit in the room below as adults and have the kids in the landing area and not hear each other as if you are in the same room.

The sound carries, and if the bedrooms are near that landing, you can't sit in the family room or kitchen and watch TV with any sort of volume or the bedrooms can pick up the noise.

[Arcadia]

6 minutes ago, DawnM said:

  I do not like the landing on the 2nd floor to be open.  You can't sit in the room below as adults and have the kids in the landing area and not hear each other as if you are in the same room.

 

We didn’t like that layout because many of my relatives climb anything they can climb when they were under 5. Baby/child proofing is harder. I fell off the upper deck of a bunk bed in my aunt’s home when I was very young and had a big bump and bruise, scaring everyone there (grandpa, aunts, uncle, parents and 4 cousins).

I do like having a high ceiling in the living room when in hot climates. It is so much cooler there when temperatures reach above 35degC/95degF compared to the other rooms with height of 2.2m/7’2”. However cleaning the ceiling and getting custom made curtains were a pain as we had wall to floor windows on one side. The view was lovely though from the 3m/9’10” by 2.8m/9’2” window. 

[PrincessMommy]

12 hours ago, Bluegoat said:

 

A lot of people I have noticed, when they talk about wanting an open floor plan, will talk about how people always come into the kitchen when they have gatherings and such, to chat and socialise.  That may not happen everywhere but kitchen parties are quite traditional here, and anyway, people do want to chat when they visit in most places.

I think what they are envisioning is a way to have that kid of casual atmosphere where you can also work, but still have a place that seems like it is for guests and socialising, not just a little kitchen with everyone crammed in.  I think what you are describing kind of accomplishes that.

I like houses that have a "nook" for a kitchen tale and a dining room, but rather than having two tables, I like to use the nook for a more casual sitting area where people can chat to the cook, or the cook can sit and keep an eye on things while reading etc.  

This is exactly what I am going for.  When we have the kids over they want to be in the kitchen and talk with me.  This is the only spot available (I'm standing at the sink).  I'll have 3-4 kids sitting on the stairs talking with me.  You can see the edge of the lamp - the previous owner had a table there - but it completely blocked the flow between the sunroom, hallway, front of house.  Very awkward.   I can't wait until they knock out a wall and put in a sit-at island.

 

Edited March 14, 2019 by PrincessMommy

[Ellie]

14 hours ago, Bluegoat said:

A lot of people I have noticed, when they talk about wanting an open floor plan, will talk about how people always come into the kitchen when they have gatherings and such, to chat and socialise.  That may not happen everywhere but kitchen parties are quite traditional here, and anyway, people do want to chat when they visit in most places.

I think what they are envisioning is a way to have that kid of casual atmosphere where you can also work, but still have a place that seems like it is for guests and socialising, not just a little kitchen with everyone crammed in.  I think what you are describing kind of accomplishes that.

I like houses that have a "nook" for a kitchen tale and a dining room, but rather than having two tables, I like to use the nook for a more casual sitting area where people can chat to the cook, or the cook can sit and keep an eye on things while reading etc.  

I have never been to a kitchen party. o_0 The only time that people are in the kitchen is when the house is quite small and there's no where else to go. 🙂

Because of my semi-open floor plan, there's kitchen partying going on, especially if it's a cookout, because the kitchen is at the back of the house, but that kitchen is clean when people arrive. I don't want to be cooking and whatnot after my guests are here. I don't find that enjoyable.

[Lanny]

Our house has an open floor plan. My wife and I began drawing the floor plan, based on where we lived before. The roof is very high and yes the large Kitchen is open to view.

When people walk into our house, the majority of them immediately remark about how relaxing it is.

We enjoy the Open Floor Plan.  

[Carol in Cal.]

1 hour ago, Ellie said:

. I don't want to be cooking and whatnot after my guests are here. I don't find that enjoyable.

Me, neither.  

I go to great lengths to do everything I possibly can in advance, down to the smallest details.  I want to enjoy my guests and relax with them, not show off how busy I am.

Dips are premade and in the fridge in the actual containers they will be served in.  The table is set.  Ice is in the glasses in the freezer if I have room, or at least in a bucket if I don't.  If we are having rice, it is in the cooker waiting for the button to be pushed.  Meat is marinading for quick cooking.  Anything soupy is already made, or made to the point where the pasta is precooked but not added (so it doesn't get soggy).  Chips or cracker containers are opened and resealed, and right next to their serving bowls.  Salad ingredients are clean and dry, and the dressing is made and in the bottom of the salad bowl to be whisked again at the last minute, veggies dumped on top, and tossed (1/2 a minute).  If I'm serving cooked veggies I try to pick a recipe that will hold well if done in advance, or better yet, something that can rest in a marinade and be served cold or at room temperature.  Alternatively, something that is dead easy to make fast, like popping corn into a pot.  No job is too small to do in advance.

[Ellie]

6 minutes ago, Carol in Cal. said:

Me, neither.  

I go to great lengths to do everything I possibly can in advance, down to the smallest details.  I want to enjoy my guests and relax with them, not show off how busy I am.

Dips are premade and in the fridge in the actual containers they will be served in.  The table is set.  Ice is in the glasses in the freezer if I have room, or at least in a bucket if I don't.  If we are having rice, it is in the cooker waiting for the button to be pushed.  Meat is marinading for quick cooking.  Anything soupy is already made, or made to the point where the pasta is precooked but not added (so it doesn't get soggy).  Chips or cracker containers are opened and resealed, and right next to their serving bowls.  Salad ingredients are clean and dry, and the dressing is made and in the bottom of the salad bowl to be whisked again at the last minute, veggies dumped on top, and tossed (1/2 a minute).  If I'm serving cooked veggies I try to pick a recipe that will hold well if done in advance, or better yet, something that can rest in a marinade and be served cold or at room temperature.  Alternatively, something that is dead easy to make fast, like popping corn into a pot.  No job is too small to do in advance.

(((soul sister))))

[Bluegoat]

2 hours ago, Ellie said:

I have never been to a kitchen party. o_0 The only time that people are in the kitchen is when the house is quite small and there's no where else to go. 🙂

Because of my semi-open floor plan, there's kitchen partying going on, especially if it's a cookout, because the kitchen is at the back of the house, but that kitchen is clean when people arrive. I don't want to be cooking and whatnot after my guests are here. I don't find that enjoyable.

 

You need a certain amount of rom for a kitchen party.

 

[May]

I’ve lived in both and I prefer the open concept, minus the vaulted ceilings.