does anyone else hate open floorplans?

[Anonymous]

Don't feed the trolls. They'll keep coming back.

[Anonymous]

peopel who like open floor palns like to socialize, people who don't like them don't like to socialize.

end of thread

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:pocket doors are used to install a door where there isn't enough swing space for preferable standard swing doors. They are often used to retrofit onto renovation where a door is too tight.

Or, if you were actually at all familiar with DC housing stock, they are used in beautiful period Victorian homes to provide an open and airier feel that can also be turned into seperate rooms e.g. the happy medium between open plan and seperate rooms.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:pocket doors are used to install a door where there isn't enough swing space for preferable standard swing doors. They are often used to retrofit onto renovation where a door is too tight.

A 'standard swing door' remains there whether it is open or closed. If you want an airy open space without giving up the option of breaking it up a pocket door makes a doorway appear to be doorless while open.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why is there someone in this thread who is so invested in open floor plans that she keeps calling everyone else an idiot? Why does it matter what other people's preferences are?

Right? Who cares if someone likes or doesn't like an open floorplan? You're certainly not going to change someone's preference by calling them an idiot!

The person who keeps posting those screeds against people who don't like open floor plan comes across as mentally ill. There can't be any other reason for someone to get so worked up by the fact that some people have a different personal preference in how their house is laid out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I love having separate spaces for different things. When we have parties, it is nice for different groups to congregate in different areas. And I can set up the dining room in advance because it isn't in the main gathering area. That said, we have a semi-open floorplan - large walkways between most rooms. I can see the family room from the kitchen, but we also have a pocket door that can close the kitchen off. The kitchen itself is big enough for 6 or so people to gather. This arrangement has really worked for our family.
That said, I probably have a dinner party or other party where I'm cooking about 5 times a year. It always cracks me up on house hunters and other HGTV shows when people look at open kitchens and say "ooh, i love that I"ll be able to cook and still interact with my guests at parties." Unless you have a party every week, that seems like a really silly reason to choose a floorplan!

I guess I don't understand the preference to have your party guests separate from one another. I'd hate having to host and running from one room to another to talk to all of my guests. We only feel comfortable inviting a limited number of people to our (closed floorplan) house at once specifically for that reason. I wish we had a larger open space to invite more of our friends and family over.

Not the pp, but I guess for me it's like the the difference between being at a big wedding in a convention hall or ball room, and being at a wedding held at a historic mansion or tavern where you can move from one room to the next, each time enjoying a slightly different ambiance. It's about intimacy even if you have a large crowd. It's a different feeling and surely there's nothing wrong with either.

And some people don't like crowds at all and prefer to hang out in a smaller room with fewer people. I know people who won't go to big parties because they don't want to be stuck in a large space with tons of people. But they will go to a party at a house where they know they can hang out in the study or the kitchen.

But I think whether or not you like an open floor plan is more about how you live day to day, rather than about just how you entertain, and obviously there are just different feelings about that. Nothing wrong with either. Vive la difference!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I love having separate spaces for different things. When we have parties, it is nice for different groups to congregate in different areas. And I can set up the dining room in advance because it isn't in the main gathering area. That said, we have a semi-open floorplan - large walkways between most rooms. I can see the family room from the kitchen, but we also have a pocket door that can close the kitchen off. The kitchen itself is big enough for 6 or so people to gather. This arrangement has really worked for our family.
That said, I probably have a dinner party or other party where I'm cooking about 5 times a year. It always cracks me up on house hunters and other HGTV shows when people look at open kitchens and say "ooh, i love that I"ll be able to cook and still interact with my guests at parties." Unless you have a party every week, that seems like a really silly reason to choose a floorplan!

I guess I don't understand the preference to have your party guests separate from one another. I'd hate having to host and running from one room to another to talk to all of my guests. We only feel comfortable inviting a limited number of people to our (closed floorplan) house at once specifically for that reason. I wish we had a larger open space to invite more of our friends and family over.

Not the pp, but I guess for me it's like the the difference between being at a big wedding in a convention hall or ball room, and being at a wedding held at a historic mansion or tavern where you can move from one room to the next, each time enjoying a slightly different ambiance. It's about intimacy even if you have a large crowd. It's a different feeling and surely there's nothing wrong with either.

And some people don't like crowds at all and prefer to hang out in a smaller room with fewer people. I know people who won't go to big parties because they don't want to be stuck in a large space with tons of people. But they will go to a party at a house where they know they can hang out in the study or the kitchen.

But I think whether or not you like an open floor plan is more about how you live day to day, rather than about just how you entertain, and obviously there are just different feelings about that. Nothing wrong with either. Vive la difference!

I'm the pp who dislikes my closed floor plan. I understand the preference for intimacy, I'm as introverted as they come, but I do have a (small) circle of friends I like to spend time with. Over the holidays, we few friends over for eggnog and appetizers, but had to limit the guest list to 5 adults as that's the max our living room can comfortably hold including us! It would have been nice to invite an extra 5 or 6 friends (which still isn't a large party IMO), but I'm not in college anymore and don't want my friends sitting on the floor

An open space would have been perfect for that situation and I'm determined to have that in our next house.

[Anonymous]

Well, right now I'm in my kitchen listening to Beethoven, and my DS is in the living room listening to Kids Place Live. Couldn't do that with an open floor plan because it would drive me nuts to hear both.

Or if I'm watching TV in the kitchen when I cook, I don't want to compete with whatever's on the tv in the other room.

Some of us still like separate rooms.

BWT, I have a huge eat-in kitchen with island and table, a big dining room, and a decent sized living room, as well as a large study. So even though all the rooms on the ground floor are separated by doorways and hallways and archways, the house is well equipped to have many guests over at the same time. And the flow on our ground floor works works well -- you can walk completely around the center stairs. Wouldn't have it any other way.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I hate truly open floor plans. I like a defined sense of space, and since I often work at home I like to have a quiet room to be in. I like a sense of coziness when I'm sitting down to read, and open floor plans don't do it for me. When I'm in the kitchen or study, I don't want to hear what someone else is watching on the tv in the living room. When I'm sitting down to eat dinner I want it to be in a nice calm environment, and don't want to see the sink filled with pots and pans. And yes, I do clean my kitchen every day, but I don't clean up immediately after I finish cooking a meal - I wait until after the meal is over.

We have good flow through our house, but still have discrete rooms. To me that's ideal. It's harder to have that in a small house, though.

Also, I need some walls to hang my art on.

I have an open floor plan and guess what? It includes walls. So much wall space, in fact, that I have no problem finding room for our art and photos. What a bizarre comment.

I have a huge art collection. If I took down walls between my kitchen and dining room and living rooms I'd have to get rid of some very nice pieces because there wouldn't be room for them anyway. Plus I'd have to get rid of some antique furniture that goes up against the walls.

To each his own. I'm glad you like your house. I love mine!

[Anonymous]

I love to cook, and I make some very elaborate meals. I bang pots, chop and stir vigorously, use noisy appliances, and create some astounding messes. I need walls and a door. I don't want to worry about all that racket filling the entire downstairs. I have no interest in setting a beautiful dining table, only to sit next to what looks like a warzone. I also don't need conversation and company while I'm trying to finish the perfect meuniere sauce.

Contractors have been busy for years, tearing-down walls between kitchens and dining rooms. The trend's been excellent for their revenue streams. I predict that business will be just as good in 10-20 years, when people decide to rebuild those walls.

[Anonymous]

I hate open floor plans. I hate most floor plans that are not original to the style of the house. That being said, we are buying a house with an l-shaped living/dining room, but the kitchen is an entirely separate room. We're that not the case, we would not buy it.

I also predict the death of open floor plans again. Soon.

[Anonymous]

I like some openness but many houses today are too open for my taste. I really hate the open layout with the kitchen along a wall in the middle of the house, which is such a common style in a lot of recently renovated row homes. I wouldn't mind having everything except the kitchen open, but at the very least if the kitchen is open I prefer it's on one end of the open space.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I hate open floor plans. I hate most floor plans that are not original to the style of the house. That being said, we are buying a house with an l-shaped living/dining room, but the kitchen is an entirely separate room. We're that not the case, we would not buy it.

I also predict the death of open floor plans again. Soon.

I think they will die too, but because time will show that many open floor plans have massive structural issues will need to be remedied after a decade or two of use.
Most of the open floorplans we see in this area are in older homes and flippers are not reinforcing the upper floors/ceilings. All those original walls were built to hold up the structure. People are gonna be f#cked when their floors start sagging.

[Anonymous]

They will get less popular, and then after a decade or two, will get popular again. My parents house that was built in the 70s had an open floor plan. My grandparents house that was built in the 40s did not.

[Anonymous]

I hate open floorplans but I do like having extra-wide doorways to connect each area and help with flow.
I also strongly dislike very chopped up old houses with a tiny doorway to the kitchen.

I guess I prefer semi-open floorplans? (I don't know what else to call it.)