open kitchen: yes or no?

[gretah]

We moved into a house with an open concept kitchen 2 years ago. An open concept kitchen means it is now part of your living space. If the kitchen is not always clean, that is a problem. Between the smell of dirty dishes and the grease that well used kitchens normally produce, the odors get throughout the whole house. Also everyone can see the kitchen with the dirty dishes. If you keep a clean kitchen or never cook, then an open concept kitchen is great. People love to congregate in the kitchen. But no one wants to congregate in a dirty kitchen.

I agree 1,000%

 

[Bestwifeever]

The first thing they do on most of the HGTV shows is knock down the nonloading bearing walls around the kitchen, so some potential buyers would certainly be attracted to a very open kitchen.

 

[FIREd]

We have a large, high end kitchen. But it is entirely separate from the dining room, and we like it that way. We don't want to see the all messy pots and pans and such while we eat.

+1. Also, I prefer to restrict cooking smells and grime to the kitchen. But an open kitchen looks nice.

 

[Ronstar]

Our kitchen is only open to the breakfast nook. Just finished remodeling it a few months ago. New hardwood floor, cabinets, counter tops, trim, paint, appliances. Had to move a small piece of wall.

I would not want to tear out walls just to make an open kitchen. You never know what kinds of plumbing, electrical, hvac, and framing issues you can run into.

 

[Lewis Clark]

We have a large, high end kitchen. But it is entirely separate from the dining room, and we like it that way. We don't want to see the all messy pots and pans and such while we eat.

+ 1

Open kitchens can be nice because they allow people working in the kitchen to interact with people outside the kitchen. But they also allow people outside the kitchen to interact with the dirty pots, which are often best kept out of sight. If you are considering the open kitchen concept, consider having some type of low counter or area for barstools between the kitchen and the other living spaces. This way, those dirty pots can be sitting on the counter next to the sink, and dirty dishes can be piled high until being moved into the dishwasher, yet still be out of sight from the guests.

Also, completely agree with the previous poster who mentioned getting quiet appliances. They will make a huge difference. Our current dishwasher is so quiet that the water flowing down the drainpipes is louder than the machine itself.

 

[Pellice]

One detail if you do have an open kitchen - avoid open shelves or cabinets with glass doors. These were all the rage 20 years ago, but to my mind never made sense, be the kitchen open or closed. They required museum-worthy display of the contents, and that required in turn that the kitchen rarely be used. Otherwise, the shelves gravitate to "most used items most conveniently placed." And that goes double for short people like me. Items are mostly arranged with my reaching radius in mind. Cabinets closed and contents unseen!

 

[MrsHaloFIRE]

I wonder if an open kitchen is going to be super passe in maybe 10-15 years when everyone is going to walk around and say "shiplap uggh. barn doors? ughhh." They have to change the design to keep selling stuff. I always think of my niece perhaps shopping for her first home saying "this stainless minimalism is yucky. Cant I get some white wall to wall carpeting and some brown paneling??" hahaha FWIW shopping for a house HaloFIRE was not interested in seeing the kitchen from any other room in the house. Did not want dirty pots in line of site from the formal dining. Did not want kitchen smells/noise in the LR. So as much as its a dealmaker for some, its a deal breaker for other folks

 

[iloveyoga]

I have had both, and also vote for open. You do have to have a quiet dishwasher, and the biggest downside to me is I can always smell what I cooked. I cook a lot and most of the time it is ok. But that is one downside I have noticed and I can see why the kitchens were separate back in the old days.

 

[Midpack]

I wonder if an open kitchen is going to be super passe in maybe 10-15 years when everyone is going to walk around and say "shiplap uggh. barn doors? ughhh." They have to change the design to keep selling stuff. I always think of my niece perhaps shopping for her first home saying "this stainless minimalism is yucky. Cant I get some white wall to wall carpeting and some brown paneling??" hahaha FWIW shopping for a house HaloFIRE was not interested in seeing the kitchen from any other room in the house. Did not want dirty pots in line of site from the formal dining. Did not want kitchen smells/noise in the LR. So as much as its a dealmaker for some, its a deal breaker for other folks

Interesting question, which style changes endure and which (quickly) make a house look dated. We expect to buy a new house in 2019 and open concept with no formal living or dining room are musts to us. I hope we don’t regret it. We are trying to stay with timeless choices and avoid choices that will quickly date the new house.

Open concept has been popular for quite a while (30 years?), and kitchens were where for the help prepared meals long ago before central heating/cooling, but who knows. Open concept will demand we keep the kitchen clear and clean unlike a separated kitchen.

 

[Aerides]

Interesting question, which style changes endure and which (quickly) make a house look dated.

Anything that is all the rage on HGTV will look somewhat dated in 15 years. So basically, the entire Joanna Gaines aesthetic. It's lovely, but everything has a half-life.

When it comes to layout and floor plans though, unless you are moving in 5 years, build for what you want to live in.

 

[Midpack]

Anything that is all the rage on HGTV will look somewhat dated in 15 years. So basically, the entire Joanna Gaines aesthetic. It's lovely, but everything has a half-life.

When it comes to layout and floor plans though, unless you are moving in 5 years, build for what you want to live in.

It’s hard to believe everything (anything) on HGTV will be dated in 15 years though I don’t doubt much of it will (certainly many color palettes). It would be nice to recognize the new ideas that will endure, I wish I could but I’m sure I’ll be wrong often. For example, open concept and stainless steel appliances seem to have endured for decades, but we’ll see.

 

[iloveyoga]

Oh, and back to the OP, my personal opinion, I would not tear down walls to make an open kitchen.

 

[Jerry1]

The kitchen in my house is going to need a total redo at some point: new cabinets, countertops, sink, and appliances. The question is whether I should consider going further and converting from an L-shaped galley kitchen to an open kitchen (probably big bucks involved - removing walls, etc.) There are lots of interesting articles on this topic on the web, and opinions are mixed.

The current kitchen isn't totally closed: it opens to a dining area via a window and to a living area via a doorway. However, like most '70s homes a completely open kitchen wasn't on the original agenda. The house is in a solidly middle-class area and really doesn't need any upper-class touches.

Does anyone love their open kitchen and consider it a must-have for any new home they might purchase?

P.S. The cute 900 sq. ft. Sears home I owned in the Chicago area back in the '90s had a straight galley kitchen. Trying to convert that kitchen to an open plan would have been difficult/impossible. Hopefully no one would ever even try.

We renovated our kitchen last summer and opened it up in the process and are so glad that we did. There was previously a pocket door from the hallway and a pass through above the sink to the dining area. We took out the wall from the far side of the pass through all the way around the corner and replaced cabinets, countertops, etc. We are very happy with the result.

After and before.

Of course it all depends on what you have versus what you could get given the trouble and expense you’re willing to endure. If I had a kitchen like pb4uski, I would really want to open that up. The pictures shown look like that was a great change to the kitchen. I don’t think anyone wants to be in a fully enclosed box.

To me, it depends what it opens up to. I like some separation from the rest of the house. Our kitchen is open to the family room at one end (galley kitchen) and there’s a door opening to the rest of the house. That works well for me. We redid the house when we moved in. The kitchen wasn’t ideal, but it wasn’t worth the cost to open it up further plus, when you start taking down walls, where are you going to put cabinets? Where you gonna put your stuff? So, to me, it depends on how open. Room to move around and have some people congregate is good. Wide open, not for me.

 

[kcowan]

We have both. A galley kitchen with pocket doors at both ends and a totally open concept looking onto the dining/living area in our southern home. We like them both.

 

[steelyman]

We have both. A galley kitchen with pocket doors at both ends and a totally open concept looking onto the dining/living area in our southern home. We like them both.

Pocket doors are useful and address some of the “separation” concerns mentioned so far. I had them in my former home that were normally open to a combined living/dining area. Normally everything was left open (that helped in keeping things looking sunny/light throughout) but you could close off the kitchen when you wanted.

In general, I like an open kitchen.

 

[socca]

When I first started dating DH, I saw his kitchen and thought "oh no..." because it ruined the house. Tiny, with a dropped ceiling hiding the lighting, and cabinets all around it top and bottom. The bones were wrong.

I forgot to mention the tacky dropped ceiling, archaic lighting, and horrid '80s wallpaper. We bachelors are tolerant of such stuff, but really it all has to go.

With only 1700 sq. ft. total to work with and a typical Florida ranch split floor plan (guest bedroom/bath separate from the other bedrooms/baths, with the kitchen in the middle), the options seem limited. Completely opening up the kitchen seems extreme to me - it goes from being almost an afterthought to dominating the available living spaces. However, I'll try to keep an open mind if/when I chat with contractors this summer.

The posts on this thread echo what I saw on the web: some folks love open kitchens, some hate 'em, some tolerate 'em. Thanks for the feedback.

 

[Bestwifeever]

I actually think the main cook(s) should make the decision. We do have a fairly big kitchen for a small house (the six original rooms are all the same size), and it open through typical doorways to the dining room and the family room addition, so people walk through when we have guests. I am the main cook and for me, an open kitchen would be distracting and not appealing—it’s bad enough having six or seven people congregate as they do now at the peninsula and stools facing the stove. When we did a major gut remodel the designer did not broach opening a wall up either way, but again it is a dmall very old farmhouse style, so an open kitchen here wouldn’t feel right to us anyway.

Friends who are building a house now have a great room concept with no separation other than a giant island between the kitchen and family/living room, but the space is so big I don’t think they’ll even notice the kitchen activity. It’s a really nice floor plan with an open dining room around the corner.

 

[Bir48die]

Except after dinner when all the dirty pots and pans are there. Maybe a screen to open when the kitchen is not in use and to close when the kitchen is in use

People understand pots and pans when you're cooking. It allows you to work on the meal and converse at the same time. I have never looked down on anyone who had cookware either on the stove, counter or in the sink. I have had a complete remodel done to open up my last kitchen and my new house due to space is open to the dining room and living room. Everyone loves it.

 

[susswein]

You'd be surprised at how inexpensive it is to remove a wall, compared to the total cost of a kitchen remodel. A non-load-bearing wall could be done for a few hundred dollars, but even removing a load bearing wall would probably be less than 10% of the total remodel cost.

 

[Music Lover]

You'd be surprised at how inexpensive it is to remove a wall, compared to the total cost of a kitchen remodel. A non-load-bearing wall could be done for a few hundred dollars, but even removing a load bearing wall would probably be less than 10% of the total remodel cost.

Removing a non-load bearing wall is easy...it's the floor matching that may be hard.

Another alternative which also works for load bearing walls is to cut a large opening in the wall where a header can be inserted to carry the load. This option eliminates the need to try to match up the floor and repair the ceiling but still provides an open sight line:

 

[Jerry1]

I never thought of the wall as the problem. It’s the relocation of any/all the utilities in the wall that I assumed were expensive and troublesome to deal with. Especially if you have a two story house and utilities are running from a basement to the second floor.

 

[Ronstar]

^ if I was to do the work, this is how I would want to open up a kitchen. Far easier than tearing out walls, floors ceilings, utilities. Hopefully there wasn’t any utilities in this wall.

 

[Music Lover]

I never thought of the wall as the problem. It’s the relocation of any/all the utilities in the wall that I assumed were expensive and troublesome to deal with. Especially if you have a two story house and utilities are running from a basement to the second floor.

Yes, that can be a problem. But in most cases you can take a few measurements and guestimate where in the wall the utilities run, and if you're lucky they may be far enough to one side to allow at least a partial opening. Worst case, you aren't sure and punch a couple holes and have to repair and paint drywall.

 

[Midpack]

I never thought of the wall as the problem. It’s the relocation of any/all the utilities in the wall that I assumed were expensive and troublesome to deal with. Especially if you have a two story house and utilities are running from a basement to the second floor.

That’s exactly what we found when we did our kitchen remodel a few years ago. Lots of stuff running through the wall between the kitchen and family room, so we just kept the existing pass thru.

 

[Rianne]

We bought 50 yr old ranch. Never used the DR, so wasted space. The floorplan made it dark and too many doorways. I felt like I was in a maze. The lighting was dated and the sunroom rarely used. Carpeting old. We bit the bullet.
Tore out 2 walls, pulled up all the flooring put in bamboo flooring throughout, in the closets too. Ripped out ceilings, put in new lighting. All new appliances, granite countertops. Large stainless sink, a stove hood that actually removes the cooking vapors. Many hoods just push vapors into the attic. Put in french doors leading to the sunroom, now very bright and comfortable. The sunroom has a brick wall that looks cool because it used to be the outer wall of the house.

Our house looks like a cute brick ranch from the outside, nothing special. When we have guests and they see the inside, they're surprised. It's improved our living and entertaining so much. Worth every penny of the $50K. Our house is 2500 sq ft, hot huge but we have private space to do our own thing.

Will we make our $$ back? I don't know, don't care. When you spend so much of your time in RE, I think it's important to enjoy the space you're living in.