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Every time I look on Zillow, or go look at new houses in a development, they ALL have open floor plans. New apartments these days also have open floor plans. I lived in one for a year a few years ago.
This has been going on since, as far as I can tell, the 90's, maybe even somewhere later in the 80's.
Even renovations of older houses tend to "open it up" and tear down half the walls to create open floor plans. Often at the expense of the charm of some older houses.
I've read explanations of why these are supposed to be so desirable, but it just seems so ... faddish. "If you have an open floor plan you can see everything that's going on in the kitchen-dining room-living room," says the rationale.
So what? Did it ever occur to anyone that there might be good reasons why one might NOT want to see every bloody thing going on in every room? Like, maybe you're in the kitchen talking on the phone while you're cooking and your kid is watching TV in the living room with the volume on loud, and you're having a hard time hearing what the person you're talking to is saying because the TV is on so loud. Stuff like that.
If there was a wall between the kitchen and the living room, it wouldn't be a big deal, and you wouldn't need to shout at the kid to turn the TV volume down so you can hear the other person on the phone.
There have got to be as many good reasons for HAVING walls as there are for NOT having walls, if not more.
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.
If we take this reasoning to its logical conclusion, why not just get rid of all walls and get it over with? No walls in the bedrooms, bathrooms ... open it all up!
If walls exist for good reasons in bedrooms and bathrooms, does it not occur to anyone anymore that walls might exist for good reason in kitchens, living rooms and dining rooms?
Is anybody ever going to start questioning the fad, realizing it's not a big deal? Or will we be condemned to slavishly believing open floor plans are still a good thing 100 years from now?
I just noticed this thread. A mod can merge it with that one, if he/she desires.
The number of people in that thread saying they don't like open floor plans makes me think I'm right that builders just build them that way without even bothering to think about it anymore. Would be interesting to see if there are any builders anywhere who DON'T build houses with them.
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. Many people don’t like open floor plans, but many do.
Just as there are bad and good segmented floor plans, there are bad and good open plans.
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.
If something has happened for decades is it really a "fad"? I happen to love open floor plans. I am certain there are architects that would love to design a closed floorplan house for anyone who wants it.
Well, my point in these discussions has always been that the majority of people are not in a position to "hire an architect to design it the way you want it"; and that the faddish insistence on the open plan has made it nearly impossible to buy an existing house in some areas that isn't open plan; either originally built that way or modified.
The usual chorus of "if you don't like it don't buy it" fails to take into account that for many people a non-open-plan house simply isn't available within their budget.
We are currently moving from a house that does not have an open floor plan to one that has a more open (but not completely open) floor plan. What it has is open archways between the kitchen and the living room and breakfast nook, but it has a dining room that is around a corner and most importantly, IT HAS A DEN WITH A DOOR THAT CAN BE SHUT so you don't have to have a TV blaring all over the house.
To me, that's good enough separation. Like someone else said, there are good and bad floor plans of every type. Personally I like a bit more separation but since it's just my husband and me we don't really need it.
Oh, the "office" is more of an office nook - a desk area that's in a large hall. I am going to use that area for crafts because now "offices" are so mobile we don't really need to use a desk.
We are currently moving from a house that does not have an open floor plan to one that has a more open (but not completely open) floor plan. What it has is open archways between the kitchen and the living room and breakfast nook, but it has a dining room that is around a corner and most importantly, IT HAS A DEN WITH A DOOR THAT CAN BE SHUT so you don't have to have a TV blaring all over the house.
To me, that's good enough separation. Like someone else said, there are good and bad floor plans of every type. Personally I like a bit more separation but since it's just my husband and me we don't really need it.
Oh, the "office" is more of an office nook - a desk area that's in a large hall. I am going to use that area for crafts because now "offices" are so mobile we don't really need to use a desk.
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.
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