Open concept homes, fad or long lasting style? (bedroom, addition, kitchen)

[Nepenthe]

Originally Posted by PNW-type-gal

I purposely designed and built and open floor plan because I much prefer them. I don't care for the concept of "formal" living and dining rooms, and I spend far too much time in my kitchen to close it off.

Plus I don't want to live in a huge house with a lot of rooms that are rarely used and are just for show.

Bingo! I searched long and hard for a new floorplan or used home with a floorplan that made sense for me. The little side rooms or back rooms are mostly wasted space.

But then I'm a single guy. The fewer walls and rooms, the better! My new home (if I end up being able to buy it due to skyrocketing interest rates) will be small -- 1642 square feet -- but will have a nice open living room/nook/island kitchen (where I'll spend 90% of the time I'm home) and relatively small bedrooms. I knew when I first walked in a model that finally I had found a decent floorplan with no tacked on rooms, inconvenient walls, or awkward lonely areas.

I really don't understand the concept of an office room either. Why would I want my office/desk to be shut away in some lonely auxiliary room? I'm not even going to have a dining room. My nook will be my office, which will be directly connected to the living room, the kitchen, and the back door. No intervening walls. Places to eat? Back patio which is right off the kitchen/nook, 24 sq ft island seating three comfortably, couch/loveseat/chaise with motion table in the middle, or my desk (where I currently end up eating most of my solo meals here at my apartment).

Originally Posted by potatosoup

...seem better suited to smaller houses...

Yah, that may be the case.

Originally Posted by potatosoup

...no clear delineation of space.

Well, I'm going to have different flooring surfaces in each. So there's a line of demarcation there.

Originally Posted by misplaced1

I don't like the open house at all. I prefer some little nooks and rooms you can have some quiet time or privacy in. I rent a house that is pretty much open in the dining/living/kitchen/family rooms. Unless I want to hide away in a bedroom or the bathroom there is no privacy or quiet. Sometimes I'd like to have a quiet morning or evening without hearing games or TV or music.

Okay, I can see that. My whole house will be my quiet/privacy room after living in noisy apartments for 17 years. I s'pose it would be different if I were living with other people full time in the house.

Originally Posted by LizzySWW

I don't like them mostly because when someone walks in your open concept home....they can see straight in your kitchen sink area. I'm not that neat all the time. I like to have some division between the public spaces.

I'm pretty neat -- again, easy as a single guy. Even if I built my dream house -- a dome house -- I'd want the master bedroom/bathroom to be private though.

Originally Posted by GLS

...there is less need for formal dining rooms. Fewer people "retire to the formal living room" after dinner for simple coffee and conversation.

Yah, I see maybe eight people being the largest group I'd ever entertain at once, and for that this house will suffice. Usually just a couple. Actually, I've been in a couple of otherwise really nice homes recently for conversation and been disappointed because of the acoustics of hard flooring surfaces, so that's a bigger concern for me.

Originally Posted by GLS

Many modern day kitchens intentionally display their stainless steel appliances, designer sinks, and custom counter tops.

True -- my kitchen is the room where I'll have some nice touches -- nice island counter, custom backsplash, nice lighting, silgranite sink, etc.

[GLS]

The last few posts are an excellent example of what should drive design, as opposed to HGDTV and trendy marketing. The house design has to please YOU. Therefore, in response to the OP, "some say potato(soup) and some say vichysoisse".

[Cosmic]

Sort of a way of selling a small house to be something bigger than it actually is. If you remove walls it looks bigger. More like apartment living to me.

Plus I hate that idea of the kitchen is the prime mover in the house. Get serious, that is where you fix the chow, end of discussion. I sure ain't going to sit in there, eat and discuss World Affairs. Are you nuts, I just looked at all the stuff in there cooking the eggs. In old Europe, thinking especially Italy, the kitchen is very plain, you make the best chow there, you serve it somewhere else.

Forget that going to somebody's house fancy zillion dollar kitchen and we sit in there on stools eating off paper plates or tin trays. You spent a fortune so I can do this!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Total nuts. I AM NOT impressed one iota.

Even in my old road shack I have a nice formal dining room. I eat off the best family china EVERY meal. I have nice formal comfy chairs, nice table settings, cloth napkins please. I do miss my old dining room in the last shack, had a very, very nice china closet in the dining room. Big dining room table for games, doing puzzles, eating in a civilized manner. When I had my old pup, she knew how to do a formal layout during meals. Dining rooms are about history, structure and arranging the day into periods based on function and worth. Nice for long reads on the newspaper. NO JUNKY CRAP FURNITURE IN THE DINING ROOM. Room for class and formal stuff.

I also want a separate room for the computer room, library, dressing room. Structure to the life. I will do informal if only me around. Meals in front of the TV. My living room is a sort of great room, kind of open space. Formly two rooms that span the entire front of the house. One side sort of laid back, TV, informal. Other side formal big chairs, sofa, everything in its place.

A house and life in general need structure and organization. All this open concept is pushed by lazy women that do not want to do housework, do the women's work, clean, cook and please the man of the house. My GF loves my structured house. Is over joyed at being able to do the duties involved. Nothing like having the best. Hands to work, hearts to God and feeling all is right in its place.

[old_cold]

Originally Posted by Cosmic

All this open concept is pushed by lazy women that do not want to do housework, do the women's work, clean, cook and please the man of the house. My GF loves my structured house. Is over joyed at being able to do the duties involved. Nothing like having the best. Hands to work, hearts to God and feeling all is right in its place.

Dem's fightin' words, man!
In our very open house, the kitchen was outfitted to blend in (not 'kitcheny' and utilitarian looking) and had to be kept up twice as nice as if it was shut off.

[Nepenthe]

Originally Posted by Cosmic

Sort of a way of selling a small house to be something bigger than it actually is.

Yes, maximizing the space, a good thing.

Originally Posted by Cosmic

More like apartment living to me.

If I could get one of those lofts with one big room, or a monolithic dome house, I would, but as an alternative an open plan is a good compromise.

Originally Posted by Cosmic

Plus I hate that idea of the kitchen is the prime mover in the house. Get serious, that is where you fix the chow, end of discussion. I sure ain't going to sit in there, eat and discuss World Affairs. Are you nuts, I just looked at all the stuff in there cooking the eggs.

While I'm cooking, I can converse with my guests. I can hear my audio system or listen to the news because my audio/video system is connected. It doesn't make much sense to me to shut the kitchen away behind walls. I'm not consigning the maid/cook to her kitchen to make the meal, I'm doing it myself, and in doing so I want to be right there.

One of my favorite steakhouses has the kitchen centrally located, which is excellent.

Originally Posted by Cosmic

In old Europe...

I don't live in old Europe, do you?

Originally Posted by Cosmic

Forget that going to somebody's house fancy zillion dollar kitchen and we sit in there on stools eating off paper plates or tin trays.

Paper plates have their place -- cookouts on the back patio grill, for instance. Otherwise, island dining can be elegant with padded back and butt raised seats, plenty of room for each person, soft pendant lighting, the hi-fi system quietly playing, etc. And that's about as formal as I'd probably want to go anyway.

Originally Posted by Cosmic

I eat off the best family china EVERY meal.

Wow, if you always use the best then what do you do when it's a special occasion?

Originally Posted by Cosmic

...formal comfy chairs...

Possibly mutually exclusive adjectives.

Originally Posted by Cosmic

Big dining room table for games...

You got me there, a nice poker table would be grand. I've been considering several options for this.

Originally Posted by Cosmic

Dining rooms are about history...

Lost me here.

Originally Posted by Cosmic

...arranging the day into periods based on function and worth.

Prefer to let my days be organic and fluid. No day or meal is ever the same as another. And often I enjoy music during a meal, or *gasp* the television.

Originally Posted by Cosmic

Nice for long reads on the newspaper.

The what? Do they still make those? Honestly a "big, formal" table is not the place I would think of to do a lot of reading. I do like my desk, however.

Originally Posted by Cosmic

I also want a separate room for the computer room...

I want the computer easily accessible and right there where the kitchen and the audio/video systems reside. I use the workstation quite a bit, including for work, so I definitely don't want it relegated to some lonely back room. That makes no sense at all to me. Then again, I can detach my laptop from the good keyboard, large monitor, etc. and use it wirelessly anywhere I want.

Originally Posted by Cosmic

All this open concept is pushed by lazy women...

And young single guys?

Originally Posted by Cosmic

...that do not want to do housework, do the women's work, clean, cook and please the man of the house. My GF loves my structured house. Is over joyed at being able to do the duties involved.

Wow, is this tongue-in-cheek??

[sbbet]

Fad? I built one in 1972 and again in 1985, bought another one 2005 and plan to build another one in the next year or so.

They've not been difficult to resell as lots of people like them. Plus, you only have to sell hem once.

[GLS]

Originally Posted by Cosmic

..... Get serious, that is where you fix the chow, end of discussion.

All this open concept is pushed by lazy women that do not want to do housework, do the women's work, clean, cook and please the man of the house. My GF loves my structured house. Is over joyed at being able to do the duties involved.

I enjoyed your post, but the above were particularly humorous. For those of us who enjoy the preparation and presentation of a great meal, the term "chow" is hilarious. Also, I guess I'm one of those "lazy" men who cooks to "please the woman of the house". Actually my wife and I often share the "duties involved" as a time to enjoy each other's company.

[Cosmic]

She loves to do the house stuff, I got to hold her back. In her house there is no dining room. We got to eat at some dinty kitchen table. At my house she will go whole hog. Some rooms I can not allow her to go in. My half of the living room is My Man Room, computer room is off limits. There is a limit to dooly thingees and all the lil frills. She has totally mastered getting beer out of the fridge. Great cook. For a reward I let her do the laundry and run the dishwasher. I know sounds strange but that girl really gets off on that stuff. Even will do windows. Got to be careful in the workshop, after she "Re-organizes" can't find nothing. Questions like "Can I throw this away and what is this are standard. No you can not throw that away ................

My sister has that open floor stuff. Total disaster. Got to take off your shoes, can't touch nothing, sit in some chair and look. She don't like to cook, must sit at that counter bar thing. Paper plates, must be neat. Everything is for show. And yes, you can see it all like a big open barn.

The total truth is lazy women want it way. The guy does not matter, he better follow the rules, house is no fun to actually live in. About like some animal in a zoo, somebody might see you doing whatever it is..................

At least in houses with lots of lil rooms you can go hide in one of them. Declare it yours and put a padlock on the door.

[Chango]

I personally don't like having the kitchen open up right into the living areas. I bought an old house that has the kitchen as a completely seperate room and made myself happy.

BUT...I don't think the style is going away anytime soon. Instead of reacting against having a messy utility area totally visible to more formal living space, the utility area has become formal, fancy and even the focal point of the house. It works just fine and lots of people like it. People from 100 years ago would scratch their heads in disbelief.

[StarryEyedSurprise]

Depends on the real style of the house. If we're talking about a unique home that was designed to take advantage of the land around it (views, etc), then I love it. If you're talking cookie-cutter, modern housing, then no. I'll take a more traditional home over that any day.