Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Times have changed. We don't have servants cooking our food for us, where we want them behind a wall. Now it's the family members (being politically correct here - not assuming it's necessarily the mother/wife) cooking in the kitchen. It's no fun being the person who is cooking for everyone and being excluded from the conversation or game on the television, etc.
And the heating and cooling is more even.
It just makes more sense in today's lifestyle for most Americans. Some things become obsolete over time. Like the glove box in a car having nothing to do with actual gloves anymore. Times change. Some things, like floor plans, become obsolete.
Actually, you make a good point. In some homes, men and women, or kids and adults, cook together. And sometimes guests hang out with the cook as they finish meal prep. Kitchens in an open plan should be bigger, and open to the rest of the living area. But there are some horridly laid out open plan homes. There are of course badly laid out segmented room floor plans as well.
The OP seems to have just discovered the existence of open plan homes. But this a trend that started mid Twentieth Century.
I so wish it would go away . I like doors , I like walls and I like a space where I can go and shut the rest of the house away .
Open plans usually have rooms with doors. Bedrooms and bathrooms, and sometimes offices. If you have a spare bedroom, you can turn that into an inner sanctum.
everyone who doesn't like open floor plans just doesn't have to live in one. Plain and simple
OK, let's run that pop fly out.
I am familiar with the city of Dallas.
Go and find me 10 houses within Dallas city limits with asking prices between $250k and $500k, that were built between 1950 and 1980, and tell me how many of them don't have evidence of being converted to a pseudo open plan.
Then go and find me 10 houses in the suburbs of Plano, Richardson, or Frisco, new construction, between $250k and $750k, and tell me how many of them are not marketed as open plan.
I will be very surprised indeed if more than 30% of the first group haven't undergone massive remodelings to remove walls. I will be very surprised indeed if even 10% of the second group are "traditional" floor plans with a separate kitchen and kitchen door.
So what do you recommend for someone who actually has to work for a living and needs to buy a house, and has let's say $400k for a budget? They aren't going to be buying a lot and hiring an architect.
It's real easy for you to say "if you don't like A, then just buy B" but if you don't find any B for sale, then that statement's not productive.
Oh geez! Just stop it! That statement is just BS!
You could probably use some cheese and crackers to go with the rest of that "whine"!
You are just rude and disrespectful! You think that only your opinion matters.
I am talking about choices. If you like open floor plans - live in those. I am not trying to stop anyone from the ways they want to live.
The thing is that unless you build a custom house from scratch, there are no closed floor choices on the market. At least where I live, I didn't see any.
But there ARE people who would prefer to live in closed floor plans. Why is that a BS??
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.
But they have to live in that open floor house all year long because there aren't other choices on the market.
The problem of missing walls is not only the smell, the sound, the lack of privacy, the increased costs of cooling and heating, the lack of intimate corners, the lack of variety of different rooms made for different purposes, but also a limited space for furniture and art and big spaces need some uniformity in color themes, furniture types, floors, decorations etc.
Only rich people can buy houses with several rooms they can purpose for playing, reading, craft, work or such.
Open spaces need to always be tidy and clutter free, otherwise they look messy and chaotic. If you have one big open space and tiny bedrooms for your family, then you can't create such cozy, personalized spaces.
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.
When someone who isn't your close friend walks into such house, he is exposed right away to everything there - your kitchen, dining and living space. Not everyone is comfortable with that. Especially if there are other family members busy with their own stuff like cooking, eating, doing homework or other work, watching TV or reading, perhaps leisurely laying on the couch, dressed in house clothes. Maybe people don't care about that anymore?
Kinda weird to me, if you can't redirect those visitors to your study, library or office without disturbing others.
Bigger McMansions have some sort of an entry hall and extra rooms, but smaller houses and condos generally don't.
Change people's mind or at least give them an option, and they might start to appreciate closed floor plans. Many already wish they live in those.
I understand the complaints you have, but many of us don’t share your disdain.
My last house had a Great Room, but had an adjoining kitchen. I had to tramp through that big room, over carpet, to get to the slider that opened onto the deck. In my present house, our living space is open, but you enter the home into a hall, that leads to the living area. And, oh joy! I am only a few steps from my back door to my back porch.
You know what else? My grandkids like my house. My granddaughter told us she likes it because it is “modern.” They move around in it happily, I have to say.
I actually like my open concept. I live in a small house, so if my living room/kitchen/dining area wasn't open, I would have small, closed-off rooms. I enjoy this layout very much, it works for me.
I dont care for the open floor plan. Right now we are renting while our home is being rebuilt. If someone is watching Tv its loud while cooking in kitchen. If people are talking in kitchen drives me crazy while trying to watch Tv. Master bedroom is off of living room you can hear the noise in living room. Laundry room is off living room you can hear the washer or dryer while watching TV.
Our house was very quiet, but we had separate rooms.
I dont like people coming into a very short entry and your near the kitchen , you can see the livingroom when walking in.
I understand the complaints you have, but many of us don’t share your disdain.
My last house had a Great Room, but had an adjoining kitchen. I had to tramp through that big room, over carpet, to get to the slider that opened onto the deck. In my present house, our living space is open, but you enter the home into a hall, that leads to the living area. And, oh joy! I am only a few steps from my back door to my back porch.
You know what else? My grandkids like my house. My granddaughter told us she likes it because it is “modern.” They move around in it happily, I have to say.
I don’t think people disagree with you that many don’t share the disdain, but the issue is that not everyone likes that. I just like to have a little separation between the kitchen and the main living area. I don’t always have a perfectly pristine kitchen at all times. Many of the houses where I am now have separation, but that is because they are split levels. I care for rooms below ground level that aren’t a basement less than I like the open concept!
The office thing is definitely very dependent on the needs of the buyer though. I looked for the exact opposite of you - I wanted an office that closed off, and a family room/den that was more open to the rest of the house. But I work from home 70% of the time and need to have a private space with my dual monitors and sound-baffled doors that can fit my huge desk with ergonomic chair. In my old house, this space was in one of those "nooks" and I couldn't stand it.
I guess that's a long way of saying "meh, to each their own". I personally like open living/kitchen/family designs because I entertain a lot and it's easier when you have 40-50 people over to not shove them into tiny rooms.
... now, as soon as it ever cools off here in Texas, I can kick the triple french doors open from the living room to the deck and it's football party season.
Oh that would be totally do-able in our new house - you'd just have the family room/den as the main living area and use the closed off den as an office.
We have a home office but we use laptops and wireless stuff to the printer. Our new "den" has lots of built ins and we are able to put all our files as well as the printer - and karaoke stuff AND a big screen TV - in the built ins - out of sight. So it's a multipurpose room.
I look for the ability to "circle" through a house - kitchen, living room, dining room, and back to the kitchen again - with easy access to outside for entertaining. That can be possible with either open or more closed floor plans. What I don't like is "dead ends" in a house.
We are having a football party here in Texas at our new house September 29 - Saints vs. Cowboys!
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
