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I don't like open floor plans, either. I don't want to look at dirty pots and pans while I eat dinner, or listen to the dishwasher gurgle while I'm reading or chatting with friends or the spouse. I want both an eat-in kitchen and a dining room, a living room and a family room or den.
What horrifies me even more than an open floor plan is when an older home has been gutted, stripped of its walls, and turned into a clone of a modern home.
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Originally Posted by Irishtom29
I call it the "kitchen table". Now isn't that simple?
Agreed. Those "dining rooms" that are extensions of the kitchen are just ... eat-in kitchens.
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Originally Posted by TempesT68
A formal dining room is one that is closed off on 3 sides.
Funny. My dining room is only closed off on one side -- the outside wall.
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Originally Posted by stan4
4. It makes much better use of natural light (I am a natural light junkie).
No. It just allows builders to crank out houses as cheaply as possible.
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Originally Posted by nightcrawler
so all these years when people did not have open concept, they still did somehow manage to take care of the kids.
My mom would look out the kitchen window into the backyard.
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Originally Posted by wilson1010
It will not have a TV, Lazy Boy or be open to the kitchen or the living room.
If it's not open to the kitchen, how do you get the food in there????
I like the social access of the open floor plan. I have had many parties in my living/dining L-shaped room with the kitchen behind the fireplace wall, so it is not visible to people in the livingroom. I have lived with this plan for 35 years and love it. I used to have a separate livingroom and then the large part was a den/dining/kitchen and hated that. I am with you that I don't want people seeing my kitchen while I am cooking and I don't want to be bothered while I am cooking. My kitchen is small and basically a one person space. I am not a person that spends a lot of time in the kitchen.
I think "formal dining room" is a legitimate term. It means a room devoted solely to dining that can be essentially closed off. It may not have closable doors but will not be open to any other room. Only a hallway. It will have a dining room table and chairs, a china cabinet and a sideboard or buffet. It will not have a TV, Lazy Boy or be open to the kitchen or the living room.
A formal dining room is a legitimate term. It has nothing to do with what is in it or where the one wall leads to. It means it's closed off on three sides, or has doors that can be closed off making it only one open wall.
A formal dining room is a legitimate term. It has nothing to do with what is in it or where the one wall leads to. It means it's closed off on three sides, or has doors that can be closed off making it only one open wall.
I stand by my opinion that a formal dining room does not have a TV or a Lazy Boy. Just because it's a room doesn't make it a formal dining room. It takes a room, it's furnishings and it's usage.
And, if it is open to the family room as you suggest it might, it is not a formal dining room.
Last edited by Wilson513; 12-31-2010 at 07:34 AM..
I grew up in houses and apartments that had dining rooms and have owned a couple as well.
I haven't learned to speak pompously though; nor to parrot people who twist language to sell goods.
I so wish you did not take offense to my remarks. You see there is actually a substantial difference between a "dining room" and a "formal dining room." Any room devoted to dining is a "dining room." See the photo I posted above. That was from a real estate listing described as dining room. The definitions posted above by me and others describe what is a "formal dining room" so that the reader or listener knows that it is a separate room not open to the kitchen and able to be closed off for a private meal.
Think of a time when there was a cook in the kitchen other than a family member or the circumstance where there is a group of teens over to play Call of Duty on the 100" TV in the family room. A formal dining room would necessarily exclude those persons.
Lose the chip on shoulder and accept that there is a difference.
That was from a real estate listing described as dining room. The definitions posted above by me and others describe what is a "formal dining room" so that the reader or listener knows that it is a separate room not open to the kitchen and able to be closed off for a private meal.
So because real estate sellers started calling things that weren't dining rooms "dining rooms" now we need a new word to differentiate a real dining room? That's not my problem; not being a salesman I'm free to call a kitchen table a kitchen table, an eating area an eating area and to call a dining room a dining room.
This reminds me of the way sellers displaced the simple word "house" with "single family home"; the word home sounding warm and fuzzy and house being a cold simple description. Note too that the weak minded, the pretentious and the officious are always impressed by more syllables; like saying correctional center instead of jail (and correctional officer rather than guard). And formal dining room rather than dining room. Come to think of it even dining room is pretentious; why not eating room?
But my responses to these points would be:
1. What if you really have no interest in being "together"? I kind of want to be separate.
2. I don't have kids, but even if I did, I wouldn't necessarily need to be looking at them constantly. I think being separate from them for a few minutes would be good for my sanity.
3. I don't really have a need for something to seem bigger. If I have 1500 square feet and it's divided into separate rooms or all in one big room, it's still 1500 square feet, and I like separation. Also, I maintain that open floor plans have tons of wasted space. There's so much space devoted to "flow" and not really being used. I actually use all my space.
4. All my separate rooms have lots of nice windows, and I get lots of natural light. Plus, if the sun is glaring on my TV, I can close a few shades and see the TV better. If I had tons of 20ft windows in a huge great room, this would not be so easy.
5. I have no need for a pool table, ping pong table, or to play basketball inn my living room. I think the "versatility" in a lot of the open plan homes is an illusion or myth. When you actually live there, you find you are very limited as to what you can do with the space. My sister's house is twice the size of mine and it's open-plan while mine is separated rooms. My rooms are much more versatile than hers, because I can change what I use any given room for, and it doesn't affect the other rooms around it.
First of all, who says you need one or the other? I'm actually building a house with an open floorplan at the moment, but the whole house isn't one big loft. There are plenty of rooms and doors that you can retreat to. Like you, I value "alone" time and sometimes I just need to get away. When that happens I'll go into the library and shut door (or basement, or a bedroom/office, or one of the other spaces) So I'll still be able to do all of that, plus I will have the versatility to take advantage of a large open concept living space when entertaining, or when the family is all together, or when we just want to hang out "together".
If you like clearly defined and separated rooms, that's wonderful. It's your opinion and it works for you. Obviously you're not alone as many of the responders to this thread share your preferences. However, many of the advantages that have been listed for the open concept *are* valid and many people do have legitimate reasons for liking them. All your objections to these points are based on your personal preferences and your personal lifestyle... which is not shared by all America.
The open floor plan just works better for some family lifestyles, or some people simply prefer the way it "feels". It's as popular as it is for a reason (and that reason isn't that we have a nation full of zombies who were brainwashed by HGTV...) The nice thing is that there is more than enough variety in the housing market for everyone to get what they want.
So because real estate sellers started calling things that weren't dining rooms "dining rooms" now we need a new word to differentiate a real dining room? That's not my problem; not being a salesman I'm free to call a kitchen table a kitchen table, an eating area an eating area and to call a dining room a dining room.
This reminds me of the way sellers displaced the simple word "house" with "single family home"; the word home sounding warm and fuzzy and house being a cold simple description. Note too that the weak minded, the pretentious and the officious are always impressed by more syllables; like saying correctional center instead of jail (and correctional officer rather than guard). And formal dining room rather than dining room. Come to think of it even dining room is pretentious; why not eating room?
I think we all dislike the torture of language that sales people put us through. And, I agree that a "house" is a building and a "home" is the specific building a particular person lives in: their "home."
So, at least we can agree on that.
Returning to the topic, I suspect that the open floor plan is intended to give the buyer the appearance of greatness in a smaller house. Historically, houses with living areas in the 1000 square foot range were pretty grand places. But, the whole thing about mommy holding court from behind the burners is pretty odd and I personally wouldn't have it. If there is food to prepare someone should get into the kitchen and get it done. In my house that would be me. So ladies, don't flame me.
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