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my mom did the same thing.
Christmas, Thanksgiving, Birthdays, etc...
all those years I never remember my mother saying, "Drats, I missed so much of my guests"..........................
just what are these people cooking?????
Ditto my mom never said it either until she saw the open concept and was wowed by it. They didn't have rooms like great rooms back then. (I am generalizing of course, I am going on what I grew up surrounded by on Long Island). The closest we came was a "back room or family room" vs the formal living room. My current home only has the formal living room and dining room.
I'm middle aged with no children, and I love, love, love open floor plans. My house is wide open - kitchen, dining and living rooms are one large space. No separate formal living or dining rooms. The kitchen has an island with bar-height seating for extra seating. The living area is large enough for distinct seating arrangements. The open area has high beamed ceilings and a wall of windows onto a large deck and city views.
When you walk into my house, the open area, windows and view hits you - a real wow factor.
I like that my husband and I can go in and out of the kitchen, into the living area, work on our laptops anywhere in the area - sometimes I sit at the island bar and work. We always feel together, but never crowded, which is nice. If anyone wants to hunker down and work or watch TV, we have other areas we can go - an office room, den for TV watching, bedrooms of course.
We frequently have house guests and everyone loves the great room too. It makes the house look very large, open, inviting.
I think if I had children I would still want a great room - why not? People have such busy lifestyles now. It's nice to have a great room where the whole family can hang out when home.
I think as long as you have rooms to go to if someone wants their privacy or work time or workout time or whatever it is, an open floor plan is the only way I'll ever live.
I'm middle aged with no children, and I love, love, love open floor plans. My house is wide open - kitchen, dining and living rooms are one large space. No separate formal living or dining rooms. The kitchen has an island with bar-height seating for extra seating. The living area is large enough for distinct seating arrangements. The open area has high beamed ceilings and a wall of windows onto a large deck and city views.
When you walk into my house, the open area, windows and view hits you - a real wow factor.
I like that my husband and I can go in and out of the kitchen, into the living area, work on our laptops anywhere in the area - sometimes I sit at the island bar and work. We always feel together, but never crowded, which is nice. If anyone wants to hunker down and work or watch TV, we have other areas we can go - an office room, den for TV watching, bedrooms of course.
We frequently have house guests and everyone loves the great room too. It makes the house look very large, open, inviting.
I think if I had children I would still want a great room - why not? People have such busy lifestyles now. It's nice to have a great room where the whole family can hang out when home.
I think as long as you have rooms to go to if someone wants their privacy or work time or workout time or whatever it is, an open floor plan is the only way I'll ever live.
You are pretty much inside my head to a T. Again, it is not what I come from and what I really "think" I want for all the reasons you stated, plus the ones I did. As I said when I started this thread, it could be opening of the great debate. I am wondering because it has been said, Be careful what you wish for, you might just get it, and I am looking for opinions on both sides with experience before I make my decision. Your comments are exactly the type I am looking for on both sides, good and bad. Thanks.
We are house hunting and I really want a kitchen/great room open floor plan. I have seen a few homes that have the kitchen/dining room opening or arch way and the living room is on the other side of the formal dining room, with no view from the kitchen. I am really torn as I currently have the separate rooms and miss so much of the conversation because I am in the kitchen while entertaining.
Any thoughts on this open floor plan versus the more traditional?. I am sure things will come full circle eventually as they always do, but this is my retirement home and I really think this is what I want, but we have seen some great homes and the stickler is the open kitchen to great room.
I am sure this is like the great debate with no clear answers but I would like some feedback on the pros and cons. I am not asking if this is a fad or not, because I am sure that at some point we will go back to the traditional home but I don't think it will be any time in the near future. Thanks.
I don't like open plans either and would hate to go back to a kitchen that doesn't have it's own room like I've got now, but rest assured... when something such as the "open plan" has been going strong for 40 years, it's NOT a fad. Decide what you like and go for it.
I no longer want a formal living room because we never use it as intended. If this IS about entertaining, and I had to count up the days per year I entertained people other than close family as opposed to the number of days I did not entertain, there's no way I could justify having and cleaning a formal loving room.
We built our last house and it had a formal living room because, well, I grew up with one. We used it twice in 5 years. The rest of our get-togethers were casual enough that people hung out in the family room and chatted with me in the kitchen -- yes, we had an open great room as well.
In our current house (re-sale, not new build) we have a great room and a small formal living room around the corner which we use as a playroom. For us, the formal living room is a waste of space even if we entertained often... but everyone's needs are different.
I wil also add, having a great room, for us, is perfect for our family -- the people who live in our house everyday. We spend 90% of our time in this room. It's nice to be cooking and interacting with my family at the same time... it would seem odd to us if it were not set up this way.
concur, i prefer a great room. and as my children have moved to their own houses, it works just fine. but when the family was young, I got a lot of use out of formal living and dining rooms.
I have lived in both concepts. I had the traditional layout in every home I had up until I moved to Arizona. Then I bought a one-story house with a "great room" and have lived here for six years.
I'm the one who does all the cooking. I certainly do appreciate that I have access to conversation with everyone in the house when I am taking care of the day-to-day meals and cleaning up. It's great to have everything at hand and I admit I have learned to enjoy being able to see the television so easily from the kitchen. I often have my family over for holidays and birthdays and I enjoy them more when I am in the middle of the party, rather than in the kitchen finishing up last minute details, serving the food, etc. People can sit at the bar and chat with me. I usually serve the drinks and appetizers from the bar so people in the living area can have easy access but the tables in that area aren't crowded. Anyone who thinks a dinner party can be prepared ahead without someone having to go into the kitchen multiple times all through the event has never entertained my extended family.
There is, however, a different kind of entertaining the concept is less friendly to. That's more formal entertaining (people you don't know so well, times when serious conversation is called for, or very large groups). In those cases, it's not as good to have the kitchen and the cook in the middle of it all. I can imagine circumstances (not so prevalent in my life now, but I have had those times) when a visible stove, pots and pans, cooking noise, etc., is less welcome. Sometimes I would like to close the door on the food prep and serving. But that kind of entertaining isn't much a part of my life now. It also isn't that common in the very informal Southwest where people pitch in with clean up and help themselves to things from the fridge, so the open concept is more useful than not to me. Also, I have a dining table on my patio and often use that area when a meal away from the kitchen is called for.
It helps that we have a spacious and comfortable office in this house closed off from the main area. If someone wants to be alone to read or work they can go there. My extended family has a lot of teens and they go there to watch TV or play with the computer away from the adults.
I enjoy being able to see the television so easily from the kitchen. I often have my family over for holidays and birthdays and I enjoy them more when I am in the middle of the party, rather than in the kitchen finishing up last minute details, serving the food, etc. People can sit at the bar and chat with me.
I agree and this is the part I like about open rooms.
Quote:
There is, however, a different kind of entertaining the concept is less friendly to. In those cases, it's not as good to have the kitchen and the cook in the middle of it all.... when a visible stove, pots and pans, cooking noise, etc., is less welcome. Sometimes I would like to close the door on the food prep and serving.
To be honest, I would always like to close the door on the food prep. I grew up in homes with a separate kitchen to which the door shut, and I like that better. I also don't like the open kitchen/DR/FR when you're hosting say, a holiday meal and before dessert is served, dirty dinner dishes are stacked on the counter. Or a party where the pots and pans are sitting on the stove. I would love, love, love to have a door that swung shut!
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