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I don't really understand this business of cooking smells being somehow trapped inside a kitchen if there is a wall between the kitchen and the family room.
If I put a turkey or cake in the oven or have something slow cooking in the crockpot, the smell goes all over the house. I'm not going to be able to secretly bake chocolate chip cookies without the whole house knowing about it.
I'm not sure where all of the gross, greasy smells are coming from unless someone is doing a lot of deep fat frying. And, if you clean as you go there is no reason for your kitchen to be an unsightly mess. Of course, if the kitchen sink is full of old, crusty dishes and there is grease and crumbs all over the counters that would be a different story completely.
I live in a small ranch house (we didn't build this house). The kitchen/dining area is open to a small sitting area (living room) where we watch TV (we also have a TV room in the finished basement but we are generally only down there in winter).
I would never again purchase a home with the kitchen open and adjacent to the sitting area. Every noise, every smell, every time my husband pulls out a bag of chips and makes that crinkly noise while I am watching the news.....it's beyond annoying. Can't put up a wall because the space is just too small.
I do agree though, that the smells of whatever I am cooking waft to the back bedrooms (only two) - especially if I fry something, even if I turn on the fan, open the windows, and clean up after myself (which I do).
I live in a small ranch house (we didn't build this house). The kitchen/dining area is open to a small sitting area (living room) where we watch TV (we also have a TV room in the finished basement but we are generally only down there in winter).
I would never again purchase a home with the kitchen open and adjacent to the sitting area. Every noise, every smell, every time my husband pulls out a bag of chips and makes that crinkly noise while I am watching the news.....it's beyond annoying. Can't put up a wall because the space is just too small.
I do agree though, that the smells of whatever I am cooking waft to the back bedrooms (only two) - especially if I fry something, even if I turn on the fan, open the windows, and clean up after myself (which I do).
Oh well. Maybe in my next life
ugh, I get it.
Nothing to me is worse than hearing clanking dishes or any kitchen noise while watching TV or relaxing, reading a book, or whatever ones enjoys doing.
Last edited by nightcrawler; 04-30-2023 at 11:58 AM..
In a rancher. Had a wall between the living room and kitchen/family room/den. Removed it and made it a "great room."
Now, it doesn't look like a "double-wide." It makes the house, "more usable."
Had a house with a formal living room before. Best furniture, best carpet, best paint. NEVER used. It was like a shrine. Something to not even walk into.
Now, my living room gets "lived in."
I don't really understand this business of cooking smells being somehow trapped inside a kitchen if there is a wall between the kitchen and the family room.
If I put a turkey or cake in the oven or have something slow cooking in the crockpot, the smell goes all over the house. I'm not going to be able to secretly bake chocolate chip cookies without the whole house knowing about it.
I'm not sure where all of the gross, greasy smells are coming from unless someone is doing a lot of deep fat frying. And, if you clean as you go there is no reason for your kitchen to be an unsightly mess. Of course, if the kitchen sink is full of old, crusty dishes and there is grease and crumbs all over the counters that would be a different story completely.
Who are these people who can't tolerate the smell of FOOD, anyway? I mean, come on! It's what allows you to LIVE.
People are just getting too precious to live, these days. I think they need a year in the Army.
I LOVE the smell of good food wafting through the house. While I don't have an open concept in my '32 house, there are no actual closed doors anywhere on the first floor except to the powder room off the mudroom at the back of the house. The kitchen has a large opening to the dining room and one to the front hallway, where there is a wide opening to the living room (which also has open french doors to the dining room). Sound and smells from the kitchen go into the rest of the first floor (even with the french doors between the dining and living closed as they are nowhere near air-tight). It's just not an issue.
There’s nothing like “first world problems” to ruin a perfectly practical house that “you” bought.
well fortunately, my kitchen IS away from my living room, so yay!! for me, I bought the right type of apartment that suits my needs perfectly, so again, yay, me!
and no one said these are first world problems......................
Would you leave as-is - or knock down the wall to create more open concept?
I would probably enlarge the opening, not necessarily removing said wall. Even if load bearing enlarging can be done with a header.
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