We are older and retired. We have an open living room and dining room. Love it. When family and kids come over we can all be together. When husb is working on table I can watch TV or sit in a comfy chair in living room and still be with him. We have a kitchen and small familyroom when we want to be by ourselves or he is watching another program on TV than I am.

When we are in out tiny trailer in FL the open concept is fine with me - living room, ktchen, and table are all in an area of about 22 x 11 feet.

It's actually easier to keep that tiny area tidier than our bigger place in MN. Probably because there is a lot less STUFF there.

In MN, I would love to be able to close off the living room from the kitchen/eating areas. Mostly because of the noise. DH and DS both talk VERY LOUDLY and it drives me nuts.

We lived in Arizona for 30 years and every house we lived in there had an open-space plan. In Arizona it was lovely; lots of light and a spacious feeling. When we retired to East Tennessee, a more traditional sort of home seemed right for the area so the house we built here has a pretty enclosed kitchen. What I have found, though, is that everyone comes to the kitchen when we have family gatherings. I do like it though and I know exactly what you mean about those quiet times. My big kitchen window looks out over the mountains and I revel in the time I spend, all to myself, doing little chores.

My current home and last one had the open concept and it is what I prefer for all of the pro reasons that you mention. I really like being able to cook etc in the kitchen and not be removed from the rest of the family while they are watching tv, chatting etc. I feel like I am included instead of 'stuck' in the kitchen away from activity. So far I haven't experienced any negatives.

Different strokes for different folks.

I prefer a separate kitchen. I don't want to look at the mess when we are relaxing in the living room!

Ours is an open floor plan...large living room, with kitchen & dining room open off from it. I had always had a separate kitchen. My DH won the coin toss for buying this house. While I do have to say that I have found it to be great for entertaining, everyday life, not so much. Too much noise interference. DH, Mr. "I love this floor plan so much we have to have it", cranks up the TV volume everytime I am in the kitchen. Guess running water, pans clanking, cupboards closing, are just too much noise competition for him.

I, for one, will not have a floor plan as open as this one ever again. Might not want a totally separate kitchen, but I want to at least be able to work in the kitchen without the TV drowning me out.

After 17 years with a kitchen/den (my nest with Tv) plus a separate living rm (hubby's big screen TV room) and dining rm., we've moved to a smaller open concept house. I perfer the separation for our live style. In the new house I have set my sewing room up as my den and that works out OK. I'm adjusting and can see pros and cons to both. The noise of the open concept gets on my nerves. I need some quiet. Also when my husband and I have separate company the other one has to either go to another room, to the back porch, or something. He doesn't want to hang with my HS friends and I don't want to intrude when he and his guy friends get together. We are 67 and 69 so you still need your own space when you get old :>)

I have lived in both and each has an advantage. I like being part of the conversation when preparing a meal. But when my husband was watching TV in the living room and I was preparing dinner around the corn with just the two of us in the house he was always complaing about the noise I was making in the kitchen. He had a partial lost of hearing and friends didn't think I was noisy in the kitchen but he was always complaining about the noise coming from the kitchen to the point I was tiptoeing (so to speak) around in the kitchen. He had put cushions on all the doors and drawers but I have never been a drawer or door 'banger'. It's hard to take a pot or pan out of a drawer without a bit of noise. I don't think TVs nor kitchen have any business being close to each other. LOL Bars are a great way to privatize (?) the kitchen somewhat to hide the dirty dishes or whatever but I don't like being walled in, I guess, so for me it's 'open spaces' with a bar.

We had the seperate rooms for 10 years then opened it up to one big room. With the children grown and gone, now we wish we could afford to seperate the rooms again. They have been open for almost 25 years now.

I find the kitchen to be a busy, noisy, dirty, sometimes greasy room. There are always shopping bags and packages and dog food and human food coming in and going out. Every time I walk in the kitchen, 2 springer spaniels follow me. We call it The Food Room. They just know.

I want that room off in its own space. I don't want to look at it when I'm not in there. And I don't want anyone to know that i soak my dinner dishes while I enjoy some time in the chatroom in the evening. (Uh-Oh oops! Now everybody knows!)