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Do couples actually use their respective sinks at the same time?
It's not about whether they do. It's just because they can. Maybe they both work and have to get ready for work at the same time?
Or how about this? As a man I don't want my damned sink surrounded by a bunch of little bottles. Capiche?
I'm single. I bought my house with dual vanity sinks as a preemptive strike, one day when I have a significant other. Well worth it for every argument I'll avoid by his and hers.
Except who gets what sink. I'm already prepared to lose this one. You'll be able to spot my sink by the absence of little bottles. And my clothes take up a third of my/our walk in wardrobe. I already understand that men get one vote and women get two.
I've been watching HGTV quite a bit recently and noticed all buyers want big, state of the art, open concept kitchen that would be "great for entertaining". They sometimes would buy a house with somewhat decent kitchen and then drop 100k to make it even bigger, with high-end appliances, etc. This is not just a HGTV phenomenon, I have a co-worker who recently spent more than 90k renovating his kitchen, with all custom cabinets, copper farmhouse sink etc.
My question is, how often does a typical American family entertain? Why would anyone buy a house based on entertaining needs rather than daily needs of the family? How many family even bother to cook in their new shinny kitchen?
I cook quite often. I entertain at least once week, which is usually a more casual "have friends over for dinner and a movie/games/etc" affair. I have people over for something a bit fancier, like cocktails or brunch, about once a month. And about 4 times a year, I host a formal dinner party.
When it's just me (or just me and the BF), we cook about half the time, and go somewhere within walking distance the other half.
Quote:
Originally Posted by mrwibble
For some reason, whenever I hear that phrase on an HGTV program, I get visions of them jumping up on their granite counter tops and belting out a show tune for their friends and neighbors. Probably says more about me that anything else
Hey, I know what I'm doing at my next party, now!!!
In my neck of the woods, guests, of hosts with open concept kitchens, rarely leave the kitchen. Meals are very casual.
The majority of buyers don't want to see properties with closed off kitchens unless they can afford to open them up and are willing to take on such a project. Age of the house does not matter so long as the kitchen is open ad baths are updated, preferably with a frameless shower door. Homes with closed kitchens, no matter how well appointed, tend to sell for less than those with open concepts.
Not sure if HGTV is the chicken or the egg, anymore.
Timeless and tasteful kitchens hold their value longer than those that are overly trendy.
They said stainless steel, granite and hardwood floors in the kitchen were passing fads. Yet,this trend is now a generation old.
Different market I guess. My neighborhood is mostly traditional ranch houses built in the mid to late 1950s and some have been updated to be open-plan, but many have not because it's cost-prohibitive to knock out so many walls and have to rearrange the entire kitchen's wiring and plumbing. The houses aren't valuable enough to justify the expense. Houses the same size as mine are just scraping the $290k mark; I bought mine 5 years ago for $190k, if that gives you any idea of how ridiculous our market here has gotten.
My house still has its original floorplan and original kitchen cabinets and layout from when it was built in 1957. It doesn't bug me enough to spend what it would take to "open it up."
Also it seems like most of the neighbors I've talked to do not like the entire common area of the house to be open-plan. They want to be able to close off at least some of it from kids, pets, etc. Even if they've cut out a pony wall between the den and formal living room, they install shutters so they can close it off. If they knock through, they sometimes hang sliding or folding doors so they can close it off if they want to.
What exactly counts as open concept kitchen anyway? If you have a large kitchen with an eat-in area, is that open? What if the kitchen (with eat-in area) is separated by walls from the rest of the house, but the walls don't have doors, is this still open?
What exactly counts as open concept kitchen anyway? If you have a large kitchen with an eat-in area, is that open? What if the kitchen (with eat-in area) is separated by walls from the rest of the house, but the walls don't have doors, is this still open?
Open concept is just that- Open. Generally no walls or very few.
One thing on our wish list when we were house shopping last year was to have a non-open concept kitchen. We were lucky to find a custom home that had just what we wanted. It's been nearly a year, and we love not having the kitchen right in the living area. I think the tide is starting to turn, and families who are living with open concept kitchens are starting to look for homes with a separation between the kitchen and living areas.
Our last house had one room in the entire downstairs. It was all open. And as such, it felt cluttered and like the room had no real purpose. We were constantly in each other's space all the time. I was obsessively cleaning the kitchen all the time so the living room didn't feel messy. I never felt like I could leave the dishes after dinner and just relax with the family, the kitchen had to be cleaned first!
Now when we entertain, we grill outside in the outdoor kitchen near the pool, so having a kitchen in the living room is a moot point.
Going to jump in a bit late on this one, but one of the selling points of our house was the separated but connected breakfast nook and the separate formal dining room with glass french doors separating the dining and living rooms. Neither of us like open concept.
Do couples actually use their respective sinks at the same time?
My husband and I do, twice every day. We could have managed with one sink, but I'm glad we have 2.
As for the open kitchen, I think it comes down to the type of entertaining you do. My husband and I have people over for dinner at least once a week, but often it is way more than that. But, it's casual entertainment where everyone helps with the food and/or we're close enough with the people coming over that we don't care if they see dirty dishes. I love the open kitchen because the space is bigger and everyone can be in one room at the same time.
Our family room is about 1/2 open to the kitchen, so IMO, it's the best of both worlds. There's plenty of space if everyone wants to be in the kitchen, but if people want to have separate conversations, they can move into the more closed off part of the family room. Either way, we can all still hear the same music and it doesn't seem like anyone is really closed away. We've got plenty of rooms with doors for someone who does want to be away from everyone else.
The house we're currently trying to purchase is divided on the first floor in a way that is advantageous for my thinking. From the front door, going to the left leads to a living room that is open to the formal dining area. Going to the right leads to a family room that is open to the eat-in kitchen.
But the living room and formal dining area are not fully open to the eat-in kitchen and dining area. Formal guests "to the left," close friends and family "to the right."
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