Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
You can't avoid open floor plans, especially if you are looking to get a new house. Also, to sell your house you need a fairly open plan. To get rid of cooking odors caused by open floor plans, make sure you have an exhaust fan that vents to the outside and if you don't, build one. Use it all the time.
And then also use these in the kitchen, they really do eliminate odors and actually do work -way better than Febreeze. I've personally tested it out on very smelly Greek, Italian and Indian cooking.
Also, to sell your house you need a fairly open plan.
LMAO. So all of us who own traditional older homes with separate rooms are going to have to do major construction on our houses before we can sell them? LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL
I never really gave it much thought (my house has a separate kitchen but combined family and dining room). I really didn't give open or closed floorplan much thought. But my mom hates open floor plans and I can see her point. She hosts all the big family parties and the kitchen gets to be a mess. She likes to be able to close it off and forget about it until everyone leaves. She says with an open plan, she would feel compelled to be in there cleaning because it would be an eyesore.
She also doesn't like having furniture "in the middle of the room" and likes walls to hang pictures and artwork on (she also likes lots of windows to let in the light so that leaves few outer walls for art).
She and my dad had a custom house build with a closed floor plan in mind and lots of people like it.
I saw a lot of Chinese families in CA built a separate closed small kitchen ( they call it "wok" kitchen ) to cook smelly stuff. The main kitchen is just for show.
I have lived in both and much prefer a more open floor plan. I like the plan my house has now. We have a formal dining room and formal office (with glass doors) in the front of the house. Walk down a small hall, past the stairs, and the back of our house is open (kitchen, kitchen eating area, and family room). Best of both worlds.
Also wanted to add that the reason old houses were built with separate rooms (many with doors) was because it was practical at the time. You didn't have central air-conditioning or heat. So you closed off all the rooms and only heated one, and that's where everyone "lived" so they didn't freeze. That's not an issue anymore, so the open plans have become more popular.
The house I grew up in was 200 years old. We had doors on every room. The kitchen had used to be a porch that was at one point enclosed to build a kitchen. The original house probably didn't really have a kitchen. I loved that house, but my current house, with it's much more open floor plan, is a lot more practical, especially since we have kids.
I guess ours is an open floor plan although I have seen floor plans much more open
than mine. Our kitchen is open to the family room and there is a dividing wall between
the kitchen and living room but it doesn't go all the way to the ceiling. I like this
plan, had it built in 2005 and I still feel like it's a new house.
Me too. I'm an old house nut and I LOVE seperate rooms, including a kitchen inhabiting it's own room.
You really can't rely on HGTV to determine what people like/dislike. They have an agenda to sell home improvement stuff and are more about trying to manufacture needs/wants in the market than trying to address real needs/wants on the ground.
Unfortunately people watch HGTV, then knock out walls making it hard for people who like the separation to find a suitable home. My parents moved into an open floor plan house. My mom hates it, feels that she's living in an apartment. I hate listening to the refrigerator come if I'm sleeping on their couch. Or listening to the dishwasher while watching TV.
Also wanted to add that the reason old houses were built with separate rooms (many with doors) was because it was practical at the time. You didn't have central air-conditioning or heat. So you closed off all the rooms and only heated one, and that's where everyone "lived" so they didn't freeze. That's not an issue anymore, so the open plans have become more popular.
The house I grew up in was 200 years old. We had doors on every room. The kitchen had used to be a porch that was at one point enclosed to build a kitchen. The original house probably didn't really have a kitchen. I loved that house, but my current house, with it's much more open floor plan, is a lot more practical, especially since we have kids.
In a lot of houses that old, the kitchen was in a separate small building. That way, if the kitchen caught on fire, it was less likely to spread to the house.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
