Our home has an open-concept floor plan with an eat-in kitchen open to the family room. One big space. We bought into the idea that it's a great set-up for entertaining, enjoying family time, etc. Fast forward 10 years. If I had the choice to do it again, I'd choose a house with a kitchen as its own separate enclosed room. I've found that the open-concept rooms only lead to louder noise. Too much competition for air space. When a group is gathered, multiple conversations simultaneously go on from one end of the room to another. At other times, the television competes with the volume of the dishwasher/microwave/exhaust fan, . . . . I've learned that I miss the days of quietly washing the dishes after dinner, enjoying some thinking time or some soft singing. I miss the coziness an enclosed kitchen can provide. If I had my druthers, we'd wall our kitchen in but I think that might not bode well for resale someday as it seems open-concept is what people want.

What do you prefer and why?

Open Concept. Love it. Have had both and still prefer everything to be open. To me, all the noise and confusion just adds to life.

I lived in an open concept and found it to be annoying also. I like being able to get away from the noise, and go make my own noise.

I like open. We had enclosed when I was little, can't say I cared for it. I think open allows you to more interact with family while prepping dinner and such.

"Open Concept" is the new normal these days. I like the separate rooms. It gives privacy and does add to the quiet

I have the open concept and you have to keep your kitchen clean! I would love to have what they used to call a gathering room with a kitchen, large space to eat and a family room with a huge fireplace. The one thing I'll never have again is the 2 story great room. What a waste of space and hard to heat!

we have a very compartmentalized house. My kitchen is definitely it's own room. I wish mine were a little more open as I end up fixing dinner in the kitchen while family and friends are in the Living room talking and I miss out on all the conversation. It's no fun to be isolated. However, we have a small group Bible Study at our home at least one day a week and when the kids were younger, we could close off the kitchen and not have to hear them so much. I have noticed that when our model of home sells, the new people have been opening up the kitchen. I can see that thru the living room window at dusk, before curtains are closed. One of these days I am going to knock on my neighbors house and ask if the will show me what the did to open up the kitchen.

I have a kitchen, dining room and living room as one large open room. The kitchen is defined by wrap around counters. I like it, except I am the world's messiest cook so when we have company the messy kitchen is there for everyone to see. I would not wall mine in since I have a gorgeous view through the windows in the dining room (and lots of light).

I like a separate kitchen. Go for it :-).

Do not like open concept. like large individual rooms. open = no walls to hang art/photos/quilts, etc. etc. means no place for all of the stuff that I have bought in the last 50 years.
Oh and the wall in the family room that went all the way up to the roof, nix that, and put a fourth bedroom there. 12,000 for a loft that is always too hot and too cold but 5,00 for a fourth bedroom.

I would LOVE a kitchen going into a Dining room...we have NO dining space in this house..in the kitchen is a tiny table that 3 of us can barely fit at! HATE it...

We have the open concept and I like the fact that I don't feel left out of what is going on in the family room while preparing a meal in the kitchen. I agree that it cuts down on wall space for decorating and we don't have young children, so the noise factor isn't a problem.

I like to be able to "close" the kitchen when I'm not open for business!!! :) So you can tell my vote is for a kitchen ... and not an open concept.

I'm a firm believer ... that everyone has their own lifestyle and their homes should be just that. And further, I don't believe in renos (or lack of) for the sake of re-sale value. Get your enjoyment out of your home, and when the time comes to sell, there'll be someone just like you who will praise you for that closed in kitchen!

I would so love to make my kitchen a separate room though it's an impossibility with my home's floor plan. I have a somewhat overgrown alley kitchen (no table, only a sit up to the counter spot with a separate formal dining room which I would never want to lose). I love my home ... though the kitchen is a bit of a bug-bear!!

I like the separate kitchen, but with a window into the next room...I don't like the open concept, if I don't get my dishes done then no one has to know! ;)

I definitely prefer the open floor plan. As for the noise and such, I don't have a problem with that, we never entertain. LOL

I like the open concept to a certain extent. We are in the process of remodeling. Now we have a kitchen, dining room living room and family room on the 1st floor. I need a larger kitchen so we are combining the kitchen and family room and making the living room, diningroom a seperate family room. Men and sports in one and the people that want to converse in the other. I had to fight, my DH wanted all one room so he didn't have to get out of his chair !!!!

Definitely prefer the open plan. I've had both and I like the way we use the open area more. If I had a young family again I would have 2 dishwashers to help keep it clean all the time.

I'm an apartment dweller. I feel so cheated when they charge top dollar for rent and stick the kitchen island in the living room. No, sorry, I want a separate kitchen. It can open onto a dining room, but not continue into it.

I'm glad you created this thread, because it shows me that some people really do like an open concept kitchen for good reasons. But it's not for me.

I have the best of both worlds and I love it. Our kitchen is open to an eat in breakfast area and then a sitting area (it's called a sunroom because it has two sides with windows, but it's just part of the house). The Great room is opposite the "sunroom" and those two rooms share a double sided fireplace. So, if guest want to sit and visit while I'm in the kitchen, it's a perfect setup. If they want to retreat to the great room and watch tv, they can do that too. If I could only have one, I'd have a hard time choosing, but I think I'd like a little separation... but with a big kitchen :-)

I prefer a closed off kitchen. I like to have some down time, and cooking is part of that. My house is open, and I would change it if I could.

i like open concept. my space is not large, so open makes it seem larger.

We kind of have a half open kitchen w/dining area. I would like to take down the wall between the kitchen/livingroom, but there is a fireplace in that wall. It is also where the TV is, and would mean that we would have two less walls and the wallspace would be gone off of those two walls, so maybe it is not such a good idea...

Interesting discussion- I thought I wanted an open plan until I realized all the wallspace that we would lose...

Okay... some of these comments are good news to me! My little kitchen is almost a galley & I've wondered over the years if I should have changed the floor plan to "lose" the wall between the kitchen & family room..... GOOD.... looks like I've saved myself some $$$

I like a separate kitchen. :P

Well I have had both and now am very happy with an L shaped arrangement with the kitchen in the small part of the L and an island seperating it from the dining room. If I could only figure out how to stop the island from being a catch all drop zone, it would be perfect!

I love (and have) an open floor plan, however, with 4 cats, I'd love to be able to close off the kitchen while I'm cooking. They want to "help" a little too much! :shock:

We live in a 100+year old farmhouse and I can tell you...I hate that it is full of walls! We have been looking at home plans and preview homes and think we have found a great floor plan. In it, the kitchen is separate but the breakfast area does open next to the huge great room. We are so looking forward to open space!!!

I've had both. Depends on size of kitchen. If it's big closed if space is small open

We just moved from an open concept to walls and I really like it except when a football game is on and I am in the kitchen cooking.......

Mine is some of both. The end where the stove is built in, is enclosed for three feet and then opens to a two height counter top. That counter seperates the kitchen area from the family room. It does make both rooms feel bigger.
I need a better designed exaust vent over the stove. I know the vapors from cooking settle on the family room furniture. That is my major complaint about the open plan. ;-)

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.