No doublt about it after living with both types it is "open" for me. It brings the family together.

We took out a wall to open the kitchen, into the dining area and living room. I love it, however it makes me keep the kitchen clean and dishes done

I have had both open and closed concept. I now have open and LOVE it. Yes, it can get a little noisy when you have a large group of people, but overall I love being able to visit with everyone while I'm working in the kitchen. Before, I always felt closed off and not apart of where the action was. So it is open concept for me!

We have a kitchen that is partially open. I did not want to see the dirty dishes and sink from the living room area.
so from the livingroom you only see the dining table. For the rest of the house everything has its own room that can be closed. The TV has its own room and double slider doors that open to the main living room. Hall ways are all enclosed and so are ceilings. I love it. There are many of us so enlcosing the kitchen would probabaly not be a good idea but I have alsways been glad it is only partially open. Our home is very new and the more closed concept is not in here. Many people mentioned they like the layout though. We also have porches wrapped around the house and 5 French door opening from different areas and rooms onto the porch so on nice days we can add the out doors to our living space.

Open. My living room, dining room & kitchen combined are 20'x20'. I love being part of the action instead of being ostracized in the kitchen.

I love our open floor plan.

Dislike open concept. I don't like having to turn up the tv because the dishwasher's running or bacon is frying or I'm running the mixer or something. My kitchen is open to the dining room, so when I have company they can sit, drink coffee or coke, and visit while I cook & clean up. Love my house.

We used to live in an apartment that was vaulted open concept. Living room and dining room were open to each other, kitchen had a huge pass-through window open to the dining room. There was a 2nd floor loft open to the lower level, we used it as a family room. Downstairs was always freezing in winter, upstairs was always unbearably hot in summer, and the ceilings were so high I could not clean the cobwebs. I hated that apartment, and my DH and I agree, we will NEVER live anywhere that has vaulted ceilings again.

have had both and prefer closed...we have open now and hubby blasts the tv so loud i can't stand to cook or clean.

Wow, I'm finding the responses really interesting. It's much more equal in votes for both ways than I expected. Our kitchen does have a 2-level counter separating it from the family room but does nothing for noise control of course. It's best (or worst!) feature is that it's the drop-all area. Ugh. :roll: :roll: It's supposed to be used as a breakfast bar but we've never put stools there and I doubt we ever will.

Unfortunately with the floor layout, we couldn't enclose the kitchen with any practicality. And a project like that is so far down on the financial priority list that it's not even in existence. I hope I don't sound like I'm complaining. I'm so very thankful for all that we've been blessed with. I'm just finding I miss my solitude I guess. LOL.

I see advantages to both. Separate kitchen allows a cooking mess to be hidden. I don't know about everybody else but if I'm cooking I don't clean pots and pans before we eat otherwise the food would get cold. On the other hand if open to family room you can keep an eye on the kids.
One thing I don't like is great big open spaces up to the second floor. I feel like I'm trying to heat or cool a space where no one can enjoy. I would rather have an extra room for quilting instead of looking up 2 stories in one room.