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What works best for me, and I've had two houses built that way, is a huge country kitchen.
The guests can stand around visiting, the family can eat in the kitchen, but it can have the door closed and be shut away from the rest of the house.
What I am seeing is the disappearance of the living room. Open concept is a family room containing a kitchen. No living room / parlor in houses any more.
My family has been out house hunting recently and it is very difficult to find a good kitchen. My conclusion is that very few people actually cook any more and the kitchen is a decorating statement, not a practical food preparation area. Great big shiny stainless steel appliances, high end granite counters, very little storage space and very often, very little usable counter space. But, darn, they really look good.
My inlaws have a very NOT open concept, and that presents a different kind of problem: getting trapped in a small nook of a room with Uncle Blowhard, with only one path out.
Not sure what I'd choose...a boomy loud open room with lots of escape paths or the trapped in a corner thing.
Ah yes, good ol' Uncle Blowhard. In that case, there is only one thing to do: distract him and RUN LIKE HELL!!!
Quote:
Originally Posted by oregonwoodsmoke
My family has been out house hunting recently and it is very difficult to find a good kitchen. My conclusion is that very few people actually cook any more and the kitchen is a decorating statement, not a practical food preparation area. Great big shiny stainless steel appliances, high end granite counters, very little storage space and very often, very little usable counter space. But, darn, they really look good.
Wait, what? You mean that huge island smack in the middle of the floor isn't useful for something other than walking into?
My family has been out house hunting recently and it is very difficult to find a good kitchen. My conclusion is that very few people actually cook any more and the kitchen is a decorating statement, not a practical food preparation area. Great big shiny stainless steel appliances, high end granite counters, very little storage space and very often, very little usable counter space. But, darn, they really look good.
Well, you have to make a distinction between actually cooking, vs. standing around gabbing while something heats up (these first two things are what the vast majority of people actually do), vs. the TV fantasy of "entertaining" and maintaining scintillating conversation while simultaneously effortlessly making whatever "gourmet" recipe is hot this week, vs. the TV fantasy of baking cookies while the darling little children quietly play with coloring books just over the counter.
For actually cooking, by which I mean preparing a bunch of food as quickly and efficiently as possible, I think the best setup is a galley setup; my current preference would be two counters facing each other at approx. 5 or 6 feet apart; sink in the middle of one with countertop space on either side; range in the middle of the other one with ditto, and fridge across the short wall at one end. Make the counters and thus the kitchen as long or short as you wish depending on how much countertop space you want. Both sides are lined with upper and lower cabinets.
For standing around gabbing while something's heating up, you could probably just put an opening in the middle of one of those walls of that galley - either over the sink, or over the stove - or you could go to the layout where the work surfaces are in an L and the other corner is where the kitchen table is.
I have had the big spread-out kitchen with island, and it caused a lot of walking around when actually cooking. I have also cooked in a long strung out kitchen all laid out along one wall (very much like what I see in a lot of current houses) and again there was a lot of walking.
What works best for me, and I've had two houses built that way, is a huge country kitchen.
The guests can stand around visiting, the family can eat in the kitchen, but it can have the door closed and be shut away from the rest of the house.
What I am seeing is the disappearance of the living room. Open concept is a family room containing a kitchen. No living room / parlor in houses any more.
My family has been out house hunting recently and it is very difficult to find a good kitchen. My conclusion is that very few people actually cook any more and the kitchen is a decorating statement, not a practical food preparation area. Great big shiny stainless steel appliances, high end granite counters, very little storage space and very often, very little usable counter space. But, darn, they really look good.
Yes I heard that. I don't cook and don't honestly need a kitchen yet we sunk tens of thousands into our remodel which looks fantastic but I have no idea if it's functional. It's ridiculous but that's what people expect at a certain price point or even at ANY price point. It's a bit of a real estate fetish to ooh and aah over these big shining kitchens. Ours is pretty and has high end appliances and a lot of prep space for food that won't get prepped. It's absolutely absurd.
I've lived in prewar homes with lots of separate rooms and currently live in an open concept midcentury. we almost never used the large living room or large dining room in our separate room prewar houses unless we were entertaining. The LRs and dining rooms were huge chunks of wasted square feet in the house 90% of the time.
we use every inch of the space in our open concept room as the flexibility allowed us to use the space to accommodate our needs instead of having separate rooms designed for designated purposes like a formal living room or formal dining room.
Last edited by texan2yankee; 03-19-2019 at 03:40 PM..
Honestly, they don't really bother me. The kitchen being in the middle is kinda perfect if you have a larger family over. The kitchen is the main focal point anyway.
Honestly, they don't really bother me. The kitchen being in the middle is kinda perfect if you have a larger family over. The kitchen is the main focal point anyway.
Hahaha that reminds me of a condo I rented years ago when I was young and poor. It's an apartment layout. People would freak if you suggested they go back to apartment living yet in practice this is what is being offered.
Genuine question, not meant to be snarky but why would a kitchen island be a focal point for anyone? Except in a kitchen?
Hahaha that reminds me of a condo I rented years ago when I was young and poor. It's an apartment layout. People would freak if you suggested they go back to apartment living yet in practice this is what is being offered.
Genuine question, not meant to be snarky but why would a kitchen island be a focal point for anyone? Except in a kitchen?
lol I wanna know where you had apartments at then. I've never seen an apartment layout like that before, and I'd not consider that "poor". Most apts kitchens are small and tiny that I've lived in/seen.
All I know is, my kitchen is never pristine more than once a day, so why would I want guests to have a view of it? Also, I like being able to get away from the noise of the TV.
Open plans are much more noisy. Especially if you have a bunch of screaming children. The echoing and noise is a deal breaker for me.
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