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That means you have to keep your kitchen really clean all the time.
Is that really a problem?
Other features I don't care for are too many windows (glass is cheaper than brick)...
You're clearly not in the building business! "glass" IS NOT cheaper than brick!
Particle board shelves are pretty awful, too.
Pretty much any shelf will be some type of "engineered wood". How it's finished, and how it's used can be as good or better than an actual board shelf.
Other features I don't care for are too many windows
Yeah, I'm not thrilled about all the extra windows, either.
They're OK in some rooms, like a living room or dining room. Where they really bother me is in bedrooms. In the late spring and summer when the days are really long, the sun in the early morning wakes me up. If you have big windows it's harder to cover up that much window space to keep out the sunlight. Smaller windows are a bit easier (not as much border space around blinds for light to leak through).
Obviously you can have two climate zones. Problem solved.
Heat rises in closed floor plans too, you know.
There were two climate zones. Downstairs was chilly. Upstairs was tropical, uncomfortably warm. With the first floor entirely an open floor plan including opening to the stairs, there was no containing the heat downstairs. Heat rises naturally but in the old Victorian homes I grew up in, the stairs were in a hallway with doors that could close it off from the rooms. Thus the rooms downstairs could retain their heat without it all going up the stairway.
I would say fads can go on for quite a while. Though yes, we can debate the definition of "fad" I suppose.
I'm sure you can find houses with open floor plans, or something resembling it, even back in the 1800's. But I hope it's agreed it didn't really become a thing until starting about 30 years ago.
turf3 has it right: It's not just that open floor plans are popular, it's that EVERYTHING is built with an open floor plan these days. You have no choice whatsoever unless you buy an old house or hire an architect to design you a custom house. If builders built a mix of things these days, I wouldn't be ranting.
Ask the builder to put up interior walls for you: should not be too expensive as the walls don’t have to be load bearing.
Problem solved.
Ask the builder to put up interior walls for you: should not be too expensive as the walls don’t have to be load bearing.
Problem solved.
No, problem NOT solved.
I have been in a lot of open-plan houses, of different degrees of openness, both built that way and remodeled, as a potential buyer. Generally I've reviewed what it would take to add walls in certain locations to make the house more what I would want.
I can tell you that it is VERY RARE that adding a wall (say, between kitchen and family room) would work out.
Usually adding a separating wall to a house that wasn't designed for it will cut off lighting or ventilation in unacceptable ways. One of the advantages of combining multiple rooms into one is that a window on one side will give light to the whole area. Put a wall in there and you create long dark sausages of rooms.
As to restoring remodeled and "opened-up" houses by putting walls back, unfortunately that's almost never practical either. One of the most common reasons to "open up" an older house is to expand the kitchen and modify the relationship of the kitchen, in-kitchen eating area, dining room, and family room. After it's done, you've got appliances installed in spaces that used to be another room, drains, electricals, and gas lines relocated, and all kinds of other things. Sure, you could undo all that and turn the house back into what it originally was, but the cost would be exorbitant.
What I’ve noticed in our area is that one level homes are more open than some two story homes. In the two story homes you might have a separate dining area, and/or a separate living room.
And I remember in 2012 seriously considering a one level home that had separate rooms throughout except for a smallish kitchen/family room. The rooms seemed small to me, even though it was a largish house. And I hated coming in the front door and having to decide in which of three directions to go.
So, in my limited experience and observation there are some less open floor plans, though perhaps not in brand new construction.
A little perspective on this old, continuing argument. As a real estate photographer, I've visited thousands of homes in my metro area. This is what I've found. Open floor plans are a way for a small, starter home to look bigger than it is. When first-time buyers go shopping, they're cost-constrained, and worried about what their friends and parents will think of their choice. Their price range may say "under 1500 sq. ft.", but if half of that area is in one big room, at least that feels big. Too bad if the bedrooms are too small for anything but a bed. It's all show business, and first impressions are everything. If you can walk into a wide, tall space that exceeds the expectation set by the exterior view, you win!
If an open plan was the real sign of luxury and fine living, however, you'd see it more in high-end homes. But you don't. Excluding lofts and apartments, every big home I visit has dedicated rooms for specific functions. Sure, kitchens often open up to eating areas, but other rooms offer privacy. Those dedicated rooms may be as large as the open plan Great Rooms of small houses, of course. The open floor plan seems to be a very bottom-up feature, introduced by converted industrial spaces and popularized by small-home builders.
When I renovated my rental house, I took out walls that portioned off three tight rooms and left it open. That saved money on a project that was over budget, and it played to modern tastes. It's loved by the young folks who rent it, but I wouldn't live there. I need privacy and quiet. Walls give space to hang artwork and to place furniture against. The open plan makes a home look bigger, but it lives smaller.
A little perspective on this old, continuing argument. As a real estate photographer, I've visited thousands of homes in my metro area. This is what I've found. Open floor plans are a way for a small, starter home to look bigger than it is. When first-time buyers go shopping, they're cost-constrained, and worried about what their friends and parents will think of their choice. Their price range may say "under 1500 sq. ft.", but if half of that area is in one big room, at least that feels big. Too bad if the bedrooms are too small for anything but a bed. It's all show business, and first impressions are everything. If you can walk into a wide, tall space that exceeds the expectation set by the exterior view, you win!
If an open plan was the real sign of luxury and fine living, however, you'd see it more in high-end homes. But you don't. Excluding lofts and apartments, every big home I visit has dedicated rooms for specific functions. Sure, kitchens often open up to eating areas, but other rooms offer privacy. Those dedicated rooms may be as large as the open plan Great Rooms of small houses, of course. The open floor plan seems to be a very bottom-up feature, introduced by converted industrial spaces and popularized by small-home builders.
When I renovated my rental house, I took out walls that portioned off three tight rooms and left it open. That saved money on a project that was over budget, and it played to modern tastes. It's loved by the young folks who rent it, but I wouldn't live there. I need privacy and quiet. Walls give space to hang artwork and to place furniture against. The open plan makes a home look bigger, but it lives smaller.
Bingo. You said it all, especially that last sentence. Well, those last two sentences. I speak from personal experience on this one!
I understand a lot of the sentiment with the last 2 posts here, but I tend to disagree. I think some of that mindset is skewed by viewing things through the lens of what one tends to prefer themselves.
For starters, the definition of "open plan" is REALLY vague. In some peoples' minds, the only "open plan" they think of is apartments, lofts, or suburban homes with a living area that is a box rectangle with a kitchen in the corner.
For me, when I say I like "open plan", what I'm referring to is Frank Lloyd Wright, Richard Neutra, Joseph Eichler. And if you don't consider these to be "high end" homes - we likely won't see eye to eye on this discussion at all.
However, following that thread, I disagree pretty strongly that open floor plans are "bottom-up" and "cost-constrained" "starter homes". Exactly the opposite! It's a floor plan that works best in more custom homes that can properly work with the philosophy and then it doesn't translate well to cheaper starter homes who try and emulate the idea. Yet many people ONLY focuses on the cheap iteration of this idea (which is poorly done) and ignore the high-end side of open floor plans.
Tacking on to that, I'll add that open plan feel is a design STYLE preference, not driven by being 'high end' or not. Many people only view 'high end' homes as 'big' homes and they also tend to lean toward 'traditional' architecture. A buyer who wants a large, traditional home, by nature wants ROOMS. They want a movie room, a game room, a workout room, a craft room etc. This is an architectural preference related to QUANTITY of rooms. Very often, the living/dining/kitchen in these homes today still meets the concept of what I consider an open floor plan, they are just then tacking on 10 other rooms that shift the dynamic of the house.
I have friends in multi-million dollar 2000ft2 custom homes that are absolutely "high end"; no expense was spared. They just value smaller floor plans and more open floor plans over pure square footage and quantity of rooms. Our home is also open plan by choice - no cost constraints drove my choice and this is potentially a 'forever' home and definitely not a starter home or neighborhood. And one only needs look in high end custom housing blogs, magazines, and real estate listings to see the many, many high end open concept homes. Multi-million dollar, modern, open concept homes, are almost a dime a dozen in Austin these days.
And please note that I'm not saying one is BETTER than the other. I just feel it is quite incorrect in my experience to equate 'open plan' with cheap, starter housing.
As a PS - i think this is the key:
"If an open plan was the real sign of luxury and fine living, however, you'd see it more in high-end homes. But you don't. Excluding lofts and apartments, every big home I visit has dedicated rooms for specific functions"
You clearly state every "big" home you visit has dedicated rooms for specific functions. But that isn't an argument that open floor plans aren't a high end choice; it's simply a reflection of the experience of visiting a "big" home. A "big" home with lots of rooms for various functions by its very nature won't be open floor plan. But it doesn't negate the viability of preference for open plans.
Last edited by Sunbather; 03-07-2024 at 11:11 AM..
I tend to prefer more open-plan layouts. I don’t like the overly-defined and sometimes stuffy feel of a house with a bunch of walls in the way. I know some people have noise complaints, but I don’t find that to be that much of an issue myself. A lot of these older homes where defined spaces were the norm just feel really constricted and they aren’t nice spaces to spend time in.
Just my $0.02.
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