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Building houses with open floor plan is CHEAPER. Just look how everything in a house became cheaper than, say, 50-80 years ago. From the thickness of the walls and solid foundation to quality of windows and doors.
In an older home they're probably built with plaster and lathe, making them structurally stronger than the drywall construction of modern homes. These older materials also provided a better sound barrier and insulation.
Now houses are cheap and affordable for every pocket. Not the exterior, but the interior is affecting the price you pay and most people engage only in debates about floors, appliances and build in kitchens.
Open plan is a builder's dream - so much less work to do, so much faster to sell.
People were told that open floors are great and they just follow the fad because everyone else is following and they don't want their houses look different.
As you probably noticed, most people will not make any drastic changes to their homes, changes THEY would like, because they are always afraid that it will affect the resale. People buy houses, pay mortgage and from the day one think already about resale.
That's probably explains why so few people built homes with closed floor plan when they built it from scratch.
This fad is sitting deep in their mind and nowadays interiors seem to look all the same. Sure, people have different kitchen cabinets, granite counter tops or even appliances, but the open floor concept looks in every home the same. When a stainless steel is in - everyone has them, liked it not. Same with granite tops, same with floors - pergo for cheap houses, engineering wood for more expensive etc. Even interior paint is a matter of a trend. Just look how many houses have rooms painted in gray...
They were told that they absolutely need open floors to "entertain" their guests, to communicate with other members of family, to feel "connected", to control their kids...etc.
Homes became places where one can really hide (kids rooms are soo small they can't really sleep, play, learn or have other kids over) to do their own stuff without being constantly visible and a part of home life. There is hard to escape to read quietly, or listen to music, or watch their own choice of tv program or even talk with their friends without being seen and heard by everyone else. I also think that's not good for ones mental health either.
One needs to hide in their bedroom, which I think isn't really a place to visit with others. With open floors concept, bedrooms (except for master) became smaller and smaller.
People buy houses and decide on interiors mostly to make their friends or the next buyer happy and they often follow the trends regardless of their own wishes.
Just read the threads on this or other forums.
Buying a house was cheaper 50-80 years ago. What was your income 50-80 years ago versus today?
Have you built a home with plaster and lathe? It is structurally sounder than new construction?
New construction is cheaper than 50-80 years ago? It sounds like all you know about construction in the US is based on TV.
I rather enjoy our non open floor plan. Or at least, it works for us and how we live. People in different living spaces engaged in different activities is nice.
An open floor plan works well for smaller homes, lets natural light into more rooms, and allows the kitchen to be central to the house.
This is true, however it limits furniture placement. I've toured several apartments with open concept living room/dining room/galley kitchen set ups. Some had barely room enough for a full size couch. Almost all had absolutely no wall space to set up a TV/entertainment unit or bookshelves.
Quote:
Originally Posted by elnina
I also hate the concept of walking from outside right into the living room. You see it in apartments, condos and smaller houses all the times.
My current apartment is set up this way--it's like living in a motel, and it took me a while to get over it. I personally like some sort of entry way with either a closet off to the side or a short hallway with enough wall space to put up a coat rack on the wall.
Quote:
Originally Posted by James Bond 007
And yet it seems nobody even questions this paradigm anymore, and automatically everything gets an open floor plan. Without exception. Do they even ask home buyers if they really like the things, or do they simply assume they will? It seems to be the latter.
What I've been seeing is a lack of intelligent design. Either type of floor plan will work if it flows well and make sense. Personally, I'm not a fan of completely closed off kitchens.
I owned 2 homes--one was a raised ranch, the other a Cape Cod. On the main floor of the the raised ranch the kitchen was closed off but there was no demarcation between the living room and dining room. I would have preferred the kitchen open onto the dining room with a boundary maintained by a bar/peninsula. An archway between the dining room and living room would have given those spaces enough definition. The family room was in the finished basement where we kept the TV so anyone doing kitchen prep was completely cut off from the rest of the family.
I absolutely hated the Cape Cod. Again, the kitchen was cut off from the dining room. The formal living room flowed into the dining room but the space was L-shaped. The formal living room was long and narrow (I called it "the bowling alley") with a picture window on the exterior long wall which made furniture placement a nightmare. You couldn't really have a coffee table because it would obstruct the flow into the living room, and there was no place to set up a TV/entertainment unit across from the seating arrangement. The family room was on the other side of the house (divided by the wall on the other side of staircase to the second floor)--also long and narrow. It had a fireplace with a large built up hearth in the middle of the long wall across from the doorway which essentially divided the space into two. You couldn't set up seating around the fireplace--the room was too narrow. It was completely cut off from the rest of the main floor, again cutting off anyone doing meal prep from the TV and the rest of the family. I hate the necessity of having a TV in every room.
Open floor plans make sense for families with young children. Mom/Dad can be working in the kitchen with one eye on the kiddos if they're watching TV, playing on their laptops or doing homework. "Shotgun" style of architecture--where the rooms are laid out linearly--really doesn't work for small homes.
The old Sears craftsman style homes had the right idea. Though the kitchens were sometimes closed off, there was a nice flow through the rest of the rooms, properly demarcated by architecturally rich features such as built-in bookcases or archways.
Personally, I'd like to see walk-in pantries make a come-back. I'm old and short and am tired of using a step stool every time I have to access something from the second and 3rd shelves of the overhead cabinets (only to have it hit me in the head on the way down!) or to have to stoop down to drag out some small heavy appliance. I like kitchens that at least open up to the dining area. I really don't see a need for a formal dining room unless you're into entertaining. Ideally, laundry units should be on whatever floor the bedrooms are located, OR off the mudroom in larger homes.
I hate the open floor plan. It was the only non-fixer-upper affordable thing I could find in my current locale. I cannot understand how anyone finds this better for personal comfort or entertaining. I just love having guests in my living area where they can see the mess from food prep before dinner, and the bigger mess after dinner unless I take time to clean everything up while they feel guilty watching me. Then we can all enjoy sitting in that giant room that's now hotter than Hades from using the oven, and God forbid I fixed anything using onion or garlic, and try to converse over the noise of the dishwasher. I miss my old house with a huge separate eat-in kitchen, where I could have guests at my discretion, and a beautiful dining room, and separate living room for socializing, and den for anyone finding it necessary to turn on the television.
open concept, or "open kitchen" here in NY means that they do not have to have a window in the kitchen, as it is open to the living room, and therefore has a window. This started here in NY because of rules and laws of "old law tenements", then "new law tenements", and obviously because of a/c, the requirements here in NY were that every room had to have a window, but when designing high rise apartments it is almost difficult to have a window in the kitchen, and forget even having a window in the bathroom, but by having an "open kitchen" thus opening up to the living room, there you have the legal window in the room. thus making the room, completely legal.
Also, people now a days, live differently than they did years ago, where as kitchens were considered "utilitarian" and not a focal point at all, but a dining room was. Maids and servants were in the kitchens, and the food was served in the dining room, but today we are much more relaxed and not as formal and focus everything around the kitchen, so having it open to the family room, or living room, depending on what region you live in, it is desireable.
of course not everyone like it, it also depends on the size of the "open concept". meaning is it really open from every angle in the home, or is it somewhat open....there are many variables as tp what constitutes open concept.
Now here in NY when they design an apartment and describe it as "open concept" and the room is 12 x 15 and the kitchen is shoved in the corner, we all know that is BS and that is NOT an open concept, or what 'open concept" is supposed to be.
We have apartments here in NY where there is a wall in the living room, and they call that the "kitchen".....
and all they have is a breakfast bar and not one single place to put a table and 4 chairs....that, to me is not open concept at all, i can go on......
But to answer the question, will it ever die, Im thinking not, since its been around since the 80's.....
personally, I dont like it, but then in a friends house i did like it because the family room faced the back yard and the kitchen was behind it, meaning as you sat and watched Tv from the couch, the kitchen was behind you and you werent looking at a stove......no matter what type of stove you have be it some foreign name that i cant pronounce, and i dont care who makes it, it is not pleasing to look at.....nor is a fridge.
But, come on... How oft people are entertaining? Some do once or twice a year, if even. Some do on their backyards, patios, enclosed terraces, with BBQ kitchen, sitting arrangements and all.
I'd say conservatively 20 times per year between birthdays and games/fights I'll have anywhere from 20-50 people over. Summertime in Texas, almost everyone except the kids are indoors the majority of the time.
I have no idea why people even care what someone else's preference is.
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