Rebelling Against and Open Kitchen

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you keep it closed off, you won't be escaping the party to go to the kitchen, the party will still follow you there. You will just all be crammed into the small walled-in kitchen.

+1

[Anonymous]

I think it also depends on the size of your house. Open concept makes a small kitchen bearable. If your house is huge, open concept or walls will work.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Also, builders are trying to sell open floor plan because it reduces their costs (fewer walls, fewer interior doors), not because it is functional or desirable.

This. The trend was born out of builder's cutting costs. Some people like it, others don't. And now walls are in the process of coming back.

OP, your concerns are valid. DH is being shallow to want it because it's the trend. If you open the kitchen you will be unhappy, and quickly he will have a dated house.

[Anonymous]

Open concept kitchens are big for people who flip houses and price conscious builders.

[Anonymous]

Can you rent an Airbnb that’s open and try it?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:i've had both- currently in an historic home where i can close the doors and we have a formal dining room. If i was desiginng i'd do a closed kitchen and have a butlers pantry! but i'd also have a bar sort of set up in teh living room so i dont have tro dissapear into the kitchen just to get apps or drinks. So a mid century style set up?

You will love this. I have friends with this set up

[Anonymous]

I'm with you, OP. I just moved into a house where the kitchen is very central to everything. That means, when I go to cook, I have to clean all the surfaces because the kids have come in and put their book down, or their phone, or something else - and it's a huge mess. And then while I love the kids to come chat to me when I am cooking, I'm constantly hearing other chatter from the other spaces and people are coming past - give me a closed off kitchen any day.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I split the house into 2 conceptual sections: formal vs informal.

Formal is mostly at the front of the house and includes the entry hall, living room, dining room, study, and butler’s pantry. There I want walls and doors. If we are entertaining, then I want to be able to cook in private, and then I will serve meals to guests via the butler’s pantry. I do not want guests in the entry hall to see or hear things in the back of the house, so doors are helpful.

Informal is at the rear of the house and includes the kitchen with a breakfast table and the den. There I want things to be more open. I want to be able to watch children in the den from the kitchen, for example to limit screen time, and so on.

We have both a front formal staircase up and also a rear informal staircase to the children’s play room over the garage. Both basement stairs are behind doors which can be locked.

In the end, do whatever makes you happy.

We have something similar--the kitchen is closed (or at least has a standard doorway) to the front of the house, i.e. entry, living and dining room, which I am thankful for if for no other reason than we are not the type of family that can keep our kitchen remotely "presentable" for company. Then the kitchen is "open" to the back of the house, i.e. big family room, etc. so easy to hand out with a crowd if that is the vibe.

[Anonymous]

Is open kitchen a “trend”? My parents knocked down walls in the 80s to not have a totally isolated kitchen.

I don’t think things are ever going back to a tiny kitchen shut off from the other rooms of the house. I do think first floors are now more hybrid. Some closed rooms in the front and a kitchen in the back open to some living/gathering space of some kind.

Bottom line it’s your house and do what you want.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I split the house into 2 conceptual sections: formal vs informal.

Formal is mostly at the front of the house and includes the entry hall, living room, dining room, study, and butler’s pantry. There I want walls and doors. If we are entertaining, then I want to be able to cook in private, and then I will serve meals to guests via the butler’s pantry. I do not want guests in the entry hall to see or hear things in the back of the house, so doors are helpful.

Informal is at the rear of the house and includes the kitchen with a breakfast table and the den. There I want things to be more open. I want to be able to watch children in the den from the kitchen, for example to limit screen time, and so on.

We have both a front formal staircase up and also a rear informal staircase to the children’s play room over the garage. Both basement stairs are behind doors which can be locked.

In the end, do whatever makes you happy.

How often are you serving your guests meals that are this formal where people aren’t supposed to be aware of the kitchen or any cooking and how old are you?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Also, builders are trying to sell open floor plan because it reduces their costs (fewer walls, fewer interior doors), not because it is functional or desirable.

I've designed and built many kitchens. Walls make them cheaper. Drywall and framing are the cheapest materials in the building, and walls give you places to run plumbing and electrical. What gets expensive is having to figure out how to get a sink or an outlet onto an island with no walls nearby. Without walls you still want to divide the space, you end up doing that with cabinetry, and cabinetry is way more expensive than a simple partition wall. Plus you have to get cabinetry that is finished on all sides which adds to the cost considerably.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think it also depends on the size of your house. Open concept makes a small kitchen bearable. If your house is huge, open concept or walls will work.

+1. This is a different conversation if you have some massive house in the burbs. Like a lot of those designers show homes with a separate eat-in kitchen AND a separate dining room.

We're in an area of upper NW with a lot of attached houses. Open kitchen is necessary to make the space workable and avoid dimly lit rooms. I'm not saying completely open floor plan, but having the kitchen open up to at least one other space (dining or living).

Small attached houses that have a renovated kitchen but didn't open it up aren't "rebelling" - they didn't want to pay to open up the load bearing wall, and the resale value of the home reflects that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Also, builders are trying to sell open floor plan because it reduces their costs (fewer walls, fewer interior doors), not because it is functional or desirable.

I've designed and built many kitchens. Walls make them cheaper. Drywall and framing are the cheapest materials in the building, and walls give you places to run plumbing and electrical. What gets expensive is having to figure out how to get a sink or an outlet onto an island with no walls nearby. Without walls you still want to divide the space, you end up doing that with cabinetry, and cabinetry is way more expensive than a simple partition wall. Plus you have to get cabinetry that is finished on all sides which adds to the cost considerably.

And it's way cheaper to have a bearing wall than to have a beam holding up the second floor.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Trends come and trends go. Get the kitchen that appeals to you instead of following the herd.

This is correct. “Designers” invented “trends” so they will have more opportunities to work - they sell something different from whatever one has so the designer will have work to do. Classic home designs are never trendy, but are always functional

Wrong, her DH is saying open because it's trendy, presumably for resale. People do consider what will sell well when remodeling

[Anonymous]

Open is not a trend its like saying indoor plumbing is a trend