Who likes open concept when the kitchen is open to the living or family room?

A

Aneeda72

Well-known Member
It’s very popular these days, open concept. I hate it. Our last house, very modern, had the kitchen open to the family room. When ever you cooked, you could not hear the tv over the appliances, or anyone who was speaking. The cooking smells went everywhere, and if you cooked with grease (we don’t) that would be in the air and make the dust stick to the furniture. Nasty.

Yes, you can entertain and be a part of the group, somewhat, with open concept. But when it’s just family, ugh. Plus if you have a kitchen fire, house goes up very fast. I’ll never have an open to the living room space kitchen again. What do you think?
 

Aneeda72 said:
It’s very popular these days, open concept. I hate it. Our last house, very modern, had the kitchen open to the family room. When ever you cooked, you could not hear the tv over the appliances, or anyone who was speaking. The cooking smells went everywhere, and if you cooked with grease (we don’t) that would be in the air and make the dust stick to the furniture. Nasty.

Yes, you can entertain and be a part of the group, somewhat, with open concept. But when it’s just family, ugh. Plus if you have a kitchen fire, house goes up very fast. I’ll never have an open to the living room space kitchen again. What do you think?
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My wife strongly agrees with you and has made this same comment to me on numerous occasions.
LOL, just one of the many areas where I completely defer to her judgment.
 
I had it in our house in Spain where it's called an American Kitchen ...and for a while we had the living part blocked off with screens.. but now we've had a wall built to separate the kitchen from the livingroom but with a hatch.. it might not sound like it's made a difference but even with the hatch there's a lot of difference ..I'll see if I can find some photos

This is the kitchen with the new wall ... and hatch!


ic-ap4909-8-1529015711.jpg


This is my livingroom in Spain...

DSCF7588.jpg
 
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Oh, I LOVE bright, open design! If I designed my own home, I would have one big square, open room with huge windows. (except for bathroom and a bedroom, (which should be private). As people are expressing their creativity more now, I think every home should have a huge OPEN room to use as a studio, music room or library.
I'm one of those people who knocks out walls to open up everything!
 
Gaer said:
Oh, I LOVE bright, open design! If I designed my own home, I would have one big square, open room with huge windows. (except for bathroom and a bedroom, (which should be private). As people are expressing their creativity more now, I think every home should have a huge OPEN room to use as a studio, music room or library.
I'm one of those people who knocks out walls to open up everything!
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A huge open room to what other rooms? The kitchen?
 
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Aneeda72 said:
It’s very popular these days, open concept. I hate it. Our last house, very modern, had the kitchen open to the family room. When ever you cooked, you could not hear the tv over the appliances, or anyone who was speaking. The cooking smells went everywhere, and if you cooked with grease (we don’t) that would be in the air and make the dust stick to the furniture. Nasty.

Yes, you can entertain and be a part of the group, somewhat, with open concept. But when it’s just family, ugh. Plus if you have a kitchen fire, house goes up very fast. I’ll never have an open to the living room space kitchen again. What do you think?
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I love traditional architecture, though some of the new modern contemporary styles are nice as well, but if I had the means to build a new home, it would be formal, with formal rooms separated by double, multi-paned bevelled glass doors (with transoms and sidelights).

There's something more cozy to me about traditional spaces, and if I'm working in the kitchen, I do not want to be the spectacle of company or even family.
 
I don't want the kitchen waaaay off away from everything but I do not like the totally "open" concept.

I really don't want guests staring at my kitchen. As neat and clean as I like to keep it, it definitely *does not* look like something in Architectural Digest". I would not care to have it as the focal point in the house. If my guests want to come visit me in the kitchen, well...….they asked for it and they deserve what they get....LOL.

What I have is a large high-vaulted area that encompasses the kitchen/dining/living area. Between the living room and the kitchen/dining area is an 8' high wall with a wide opening into the dining area. I can talk to anyone in the living room without them seeing me drop the turkey on the floor and put it back on the platter (just kiddin', just kiddin'....) but it delineates one area from the next without being totally "cut-off". Works for me.....
 
Our retirement home is very small so separate spaces wouldn’t work. 99% of the house reno shows I’m addicted to create an open kitchen. There’s no hiding the view into the kitchen. I had a raised counter built in ours and if we moved I’d insist on the same. I can still visit with guests and when dinner is served nobody is looking at at the paraphernalia I used to make the meal.

This open plan left me with very few walls to hang art. I’ve heard others have the same complaint.
 
I appear to be pretty much the lone voice of dissent here 😂

I love an open floor plan. After the wedding we’re going to be tearing down the wall between the kitchen and the living room to
open the whole space up!! If I had my way we’d rip out the wall between the living room and den, but it’s a load bearing wall plus the arrangement of the spaces wouldn’t work well.
 
Ronni said:
I appear to be pretty much the lone voice of dissent here 😂

I love an open floor plan. After the wedding we’re going to be tearing down the wall between the kitchen and the living room to
open the whole space up!! If I had my way we’d rip out the wall between the living room and den, but it’s a load bearing wall plus the arrangement of the spaces wouldn’t work well.
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You're not alone. Our kitchen, dining, and living room all are pretty much one big 20'x40' open space. Wife loves it that way.

IMG_0003.JPG
 
Ronni said:
I appear to be pretty much the lone voice of dissent here 😂

I love an open floor plan. After the wedding we’re going to be tearing down the wall between the kitchen and the living room to
open the whole space up!! If I had my way we’d rip out the wall between the living room and den, but it’s a load bearing wall plus the arrangement of the spaces wouldn’t work well.
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No, My post was the same open and cheerful! Thought I was alone!
 
We bought a small cottage in 1989 and gutted it. The main floor was sectioned into tiny rooms - the whole house is only 25' wide by 39' long! So anything was better than what it looked like when we first walked in the front door!
1-LR-1989.jpg
Yes, that is indeed what it looks like - fake plastic bricks, and splinter-y outdoor shingles, on the entry to the kitchen. The arch is just a benderboard and up close, you can see the original rectangular doorway in the photo below.

For some very odd reason, the upper cab doors were painted black. But the base cab doors were painted brown! With cracked, chipped yellow and green tiles, it was.....ummmm, sad. Very, very sad. Also, this was the sum total of cabinet space: 2 uppers, 4 lowers.

Oh, and that window? It was so far back you couldn't see out of it anyway. I couldn't even REACH it!
3-kitchen1989.jpg

So we blew it all away - raised the ceiling (the roof needed to be redone anyway) and opened the LR/kitchen/new DR (used to be a back bedroom). I also don't want my kitchen completely open, so there is a pony wall between LR and kitchen, and a double-wide pantry between kitchen and DR so when seated at the DR table, you can't see the (often messy) stove, LOL. Yes, this photo below is taking from almost the exact same spot as the first photo above. Big change, isn't it?
4-LR1990-LR.jpg

I eliminated the upper cabinets on the sink side of the work triangle in exchange for waist-to-ceiling picture windows with an unobstructed view of the East Bay hills - no curtains or blinds needed, totally private yet in the middle of the city:
12-kitchen2003b.jpg

BTW, these are all old photos, taken between 1989 and 1990 while still under construction. Here's the pantry divider just after it was installed. It's two 18" wide pantries screwed together. Love the pull-out shelves on the bottom sections! The board you see on top was boxed in; we took out part of a load-bearing wall so this takes its place.
7-kitchen1990pantry-LR.jpg

I LOVE the view, and when we sit in the LR you can see the trees and sky! Full of daylight all day long. Absolutely no regrets at taking out the solid walls, but glad we put the pony wall in.
 
How about a semi-open plan. My long living room (lounge) runs parallel to the kitchen/dining room, split by a supporting wall and used to have a doorway just big enough for saloon-type swinging doors (can you say *dated*??? oy vey). Anyway, entertaining was very hard... you were either IN the living room or IN the dining room... So when I remodeled I had 2/3 of that wall taken out. The kitchen is not directly visible from most of the living room but there is lightness, airiness and *flow* to the rooms now. Dinner parties are much more enjoyable. The pics are of the living room with me standing in the dining room. The kitchen is to my left.IMG_0057.JPGIMG_0058-001.JPG
 
@CinnamonSugar, I have nearly the same phone as you do. It’s rarely used. The sound is far superior to any of my other phones. Considering the weight, I don’t know how I’d talk for a couple of hours at a time.
 
I dislike this arrangement too. The only advantage that I can see is that you can watch the children while you're cooking. Once a meal is cooked and eaten, I want to sit in a different room, not spend the evening with the lingering smell of our meal. Cooking smells also penetrate the furnishings...very unpleasant!
 


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