Backlash towards open floor plans: trend reversal or click bait?

[Jon Martin]

Seen this pop up on several “top 10 trends going out of style in 2022” type articles. It cites Covid work from home as the reason, where people desire more privacy now. 

Personally I’m having a hard time coming up with Cons, and that the Pros greatly outweigh them. Mainly being able to cook and clean the kitchen without missing out on the game or movie. Especially for parents who need to cook and don’t want to feel left out, while also making sure that their toddler isn’t running around with a butter knife and trying to stick it in electrical sockets. Open floor plans generally feel larger too. 

Does anyone actually see the open floor plan trend going in the other direction, back towards the mid century era of dark closed off living spaces? 

[Anthony R.]

Yeah, I've seen those articles also. "To everything there is a season..." Solomon wrote, so it would make sense that the trend would fade (looking at you, shiplap). I imagine the trend will land somewhere in the middle--maybe with an island or breakfast bar (or something new like a work-from-home "breakfast/desk"?) as a break between living spaces.

I'm not a builder but I imagine builders enjoyed a little savings by not having to budget for all the additional interior walls, but maybe that money had to go into costs anyway.

Open floor plans are nice, but a bit too open for me. Makes homes just look and feel like giant studio apartments. Also, I think people "Entertain!" way less than they think they will.

[Jon Martin]

All valid points. Where open floor plan looks especially awkward is when the living room is already narrow from side to side and goes straight back into kitchen like a train car. I see this often with new construction where they are trying to fit a a 2 story 3/2 with a 2 car garage on a postage stamp lot. Definitely helps to break it up with a breakfast bar. I think we could also see more partial open floor plans with offset kitchens that open up into a more square and defined living/family room. 

Shiplap also comes up on those lists lol. Reminds me of the godawful wood paneling I just spent a fortune to Sheetrock over. I would also like to see word art die a quick yet painful death real soon! 

[Steven Foster Wilson]

Quote from @Jon Martin:

Seen this pop up on several “top 10 trends going out of style in 2022” type articles. It cites Covid work from home as the reason, where people desire more privacy now. 

Personally I’m having a hard time coming up with Cons, and that the Pros greatly outweigh them. Mainly being able to cook and clean the kitchen without missing out on the game or movie. Especially for parents who need to cook and don’t want to feel left out, while also making sure that their toddler isn’t running around with a butter knife and trying to stick it in electrical sockets. Open floor plans generally feel larger too. 

Does anyone actually see the open floor plan trend going in the other direction, back towards the mid century era of dark closed off living spaces? 

 I think it all comes down to the aesthetic. How does it look? Everything goes in and out, I mean bell bottom jeans even came back. 

[Bruce Woodruff]

I doubt that this particular trend ever goes away, it just makes too much sense. Almost every remodel I did for decades involved opening up the main living space. The closed concept dates back to times where maids, servants and women were expected to stay out of sight and do all the cooking and cleaning, Those days are long gone....and people really enjoy being able to cook and talk to family or friends at the same time...whether or not they entertain much...

[Charles Clark]

Since no one else has chimed in on this I will play advocatus diaboli here since it’s a topic I feel strongly about. I grew up in a very open floorplan house and have come to hate the trend.

Open floorplans have been sold to people as "trendy" or "modern" or any number of other adjectives that get thrown around that don't really mean anything. However, it's important to remember this trend started in the not too distant past, and for a very long time before that the norm was separate rooms, so it's not surprising that there are actually considerable disadvantages of open floorplans and advantages of more traditional ones.

Opening the kitchen to the rest of the house has to be one of the worst aspects of this trend. The kitchen is supposed to serve as an area to prepare food, but in making it part of the rest of the house it becomes necessary to make it aesthetically pleasing, which not only makes it expensive but also tends to impair its function. Imagine for a minute if the home shop had the same trend, where now a workspace is supposed to be part of the rest of the house. I suppose we would see granite workbenches and stainless steel table saws appear on the market so you could sit one next to your living room and feel good about it. And for the same reason we don't put table saws in our living areas (yet) its stupid to put dishwashers, mixers, blenders, and other noise generating kitchen equipment in the same room. I'm sure whoever is watching "the big game" will love hearing the blender instead of the big play until you finish the drinks. Additionally, all odors and smells now permeate the entire house, for good or for bad, and the same goes for moisture, grease, etc.

Of course the usual explanation (excuse) offered for this is something to the effect of how much people like to entertain and need an open floor plan to do so. Which frankly I don't buy as an explanation. I love to cook, and when I am cooking I do not have time to talk to other people, watch football games, or do anything but focus on the task at hand. People that are "entertaining" guests while cooking can't be making anything too spectacular. If you are a serious cook you need space and focus, not half a dozen people milling about making small talk while you try not to burn a roux or break a mayonnaise.

I also find it ironic that people claim this is about being able to "entertain" even though people today hardly entertain at all, while people 70 years ago entertained a great deal and seemingly with no issues despite their kitchens not being integrated into their living rooms. Likewise, my grandmother raised 6 kids without ever having an open kitchen, while most people today are not going to raise more than 3 kids but somehow need the open floor plan to make this feasible, I don't buy the parenting excuse either.

Aside from the issue of integrating the kitchen into the house however, the open floorplan has other problems. Although it is often portrayed as making the house "feel" bigger, I would argue it makes it "practically" smaller. You have basically one large room, and that is it. You have considerably less wall space, and trying to fill furniture into that one big space is often awkward resulting in a lot of wasted space that does not really do anything.

And while these open floorplans are often promoted as "family friendly" I have come to the conclusion that they are a double edged sword in that respect. When I was growing up the open floorplan seemed fine as a little kid, but as I grew up I found it problematic since there was only one space in the house (aside from bedrooms and bathrooms) that everyone had to use. Yes it was huge, but there was no privacy. If I had friends over we were constantly in close proximity to the rest of the family to where everyone could hear everyone else. Not surprisingly, I mostly went to other kid's houses that had some space that was not constantly next to parents. Now while some parents might like the idea of discouraging the kids from congregating at their house, I would argue that it is better to be the parents with the house everyone congregates at. Not only can you keep a closer tab on what your kids are getting into as they grow up but it will help them build a social circle. And this same issue extends in other directions, for example, what if one family member loves watching the big game all weekend long on the TV, but other people would like some quiet time to read. Either you have conflict or everyone withdrawing to their own little rooms, which is less social than if you just had 2 spaces that people could spend time in.

I could go on, but I think I have at least answered the question of what is the other perspective on this issue. That said, I don't expect the trend will reverse on a large scale, however much I may personally want to see it happen. People usually like what they are told to like, and builders know these floor plans are cheap and easy to build. Most homes that I have seen which use a less open floor plan tended to be very expensive ones where real entertaining of clients and the like was a consideration, and curiously those people tended to have formal dining areas where you could not see the kitchen sink…

[JD Martin]

No way are open floor plans going away. 

Most of our rental properties have a dining room or some sort of dining area. In all my years of LLing I think I've seen it maybe once or twice that the DR was set up as a formal place to sit down and have a meal. Most of my renters eat together in the living room in front of the TV, or they may eat breakfast at a kitchen counter. Last house that just came vacant, they had the dining room set up as a game room with a pool table.

People do not live that way any more. Closed off spaces were just as @Bruce Woodruff said, a relic of times when you either had servants that worked in industrial spaces and methods that were a lot more crude than today, or when people were poor and could only afford to decorate out a single room as a "proper" place to entertain guests. And rooms needed to be separated so you only heated (forget about cooling) the rooms that you were living in at that time - i.e. you didn't heat bedrooms in the daytime because you weren't in there. Houses that had servants - even just a maid - simple things like cooking involved a lot of smoke and noise, none of which you wanted around guests. Kitchens today take care of those issues for you.

I live in a house that has what would be considered a "closed-off" floorplan. I have a house in Florida that is an open floor plan. I much prefer the open floor plan, where I can have a conversation with my wife and still be sitting on the couch while she's cooking, or I can turn my head and see who's at the front door without having to get up and change rooms. 

[Bruce Woodruff]

Quote from @JD Martin:

No way are open floor plans going away. 

And rooms needed to be separated so you only heated (forget about cooling) the rooms that you were living in at that time - 

Good point! I had forgotten about the heating/cooling issue. That used to be a big deal, now not so much.....

[Charles Clark]

Quote from @Bruce Woodruff:

Quote from @JD Martin:

No way are open floor plans going away. 

And rooms needed to be separated so you only heated (forget about cooling) the rooms that you were living in at that time - 

Good point! I had forgotten about the heating/cooling issue. That used to be a big deal, now not so much.....

There was a long period where that was not really a consideration yet people continued to prefer separated rooms.
And to the extent that energy costs continue to rise it is likely to be relevant again (and actually already is for a lot of people).

[Jonathan R McLaughlin]

Agreed heating, cooling is the big one, and also larger families, both intergenerational and kids in general. With the smaller nuclear family you actually want the bigger room to accommodate most people most of the time. Size of dining rooms has shrunk as part of this--we don't have dinners of 12-14 very much. And often with both parents working cooking is not an all day thing but a quick prep and a substantial chunk of the time the parents have with kids so the open plan works for that.

[Bruce Woodruff]

Quote from @Charles Clark:

Opening the kitchen to the rest of the house has to be one of the worst aspects of this trend. The kitchen is supposed to serve as an area to prepare food, but in making it part of the rest of the house it becomes necessary to make it aesthetically pleasing, which not only makes it expensive but also tends to impair its function.

its stupid to put dishwashers, mixers, blenders, and other noise generating kitchen equipment in the same room. I'm sure whoever is watching "the big game" will love hearing the blender instead of the big play until you finish the drinks. 

You have certainly never seen any of the custom kitchens I have built for customers. The kitchen has become a place to showcase counters, cabinets, islands, appliances, fancy accessories like pulldown shelves, cabinet handles, lighting, etc. The kitchen is not about pure function any longer, it is a piece of art all on it's own. Even in less than expensive houses.

I've had projects where the customer would spend $125k on cabinets alone.....Appliances that cost $100k or more.....you think they're going to build a wall so no one can see them?

Of course, we are investors and a lot of rentals will not deserve the 'open concept'. But it is still here to stay and it on top of everyone's remodel or new-build floorplan list. Really inexpensive to do (usually), especially in truss framed houses that have no bearing walls...takes about 30 minutes to tear down the partition wall and voila, there you have a huge open space. I bet most realtors would tell you that it adds value too...whether for a sale or rental perspective....

And have you heard the new dishwashers? They are too quiet really, you cant tell they're running half the time. 

Anyway a few pictures......

[Charles Clark]

Quote from @Bruce Woodruff:

Quote from @Charles Clark:

Opening the kitchen to the rest of the house has to be one of the worst aspects of this trend. The kitchen is supposed to serve as an area to prepare food, but in making it part of the rest of the house it becomes necessary to make it aesthetically pleasing, which not only makes it expensive but also tends to impair its function.

its stupid to put dishwashers, mixers, blenders, and other noise generating kitchen equipment in the same room. I'm sure whoever is watching "the big game" will love hearing the blender instead of the big play until you finish the drinks. 

You have certainly never seen any of the custom kitchens I have built for customers. The kitchen has become a place to showcase counters, cabinets, islands, appliances, fancy accessories like pulldown shelves, cabinet handles, lighting, etc. The kitchen is not about pure function any longer, it is a piece of art all on it's own. Even in less than expensive houses.

I've had projects where the customer would spend $125k on cabinets alone.....Appliances that cost $100k or more.....you think they're going to build a wall so no one can see them?

Of course, we are investors and a lot of rentals will not deserve the 'open concept'. But it is still here to stay and it on top of everyone's remodel or new-build floorplan list. Really inexpensive to do (usually), especially in truss framed houses that have no bearing walls...takes about 30 minutes to tear down the partition wall and voila, there you have a huge open space. I bet most realtors would tell you that it adds value too...whether for a sale or rental perspective....

And have you heard the new dishwashers? They are too quiet really, you cant tell they're running half the time. 

Anyway a few pictures......

With all due respect I think you have missed my point entirely and are looking at the telescope through the wrong end.
The idea is not to spend $100k on a kitchen and wall it off, the idea is to have it be a separate room so there is no need to spend anything close to $100k on it in the first place and put that money towards a better use.
To each there own, but I would never waste such sums on the kitchen, which even with that kind of money spent on it will still look less than appealing if it is actually well used.

[Bruce Woodruff]

Quote from @Charles Clark:

With all due respect I think you have missed my point entirely 

Not at all. I just think you offer your own opinions and I disagree with them. And you're flat wrong about other things. 

No big deal though, just a fun discussion.....

[Jay Hinrichs]

Quote from @Charles Clark:

Since no one else has chimed in on this I will play advocatus diaboli here since it’s a topic I feel strongly about. I grew up in a very open floorplan house and have come to hate the trend.

Open floorplans have been sold to people as "trendy" or "modern" or any number of other adjectives that get thrown around that don't really mean anything. However, it's important to remember this trend started in the not too distant past, and for a very long time before that the norm was separate rooms, so it's not surprising that there are actually considerable disadvantages of open floorplans and advantages of more traditional ones.

Opening the kitchen to the rest of the house has to be one of the worst aspects of this trend. The kitchen is supposed to serve as an area to prepare food, but in making it part of the rest of the house it becomes necessary to make it aesthetically pleasing, which not only makes it expensive but also tends to impair its function. Imagine for a minute if the home shop had the same trend, where now a workspace is supposed to be part of the rest of the house. I suppose we would see granite workbenches and stainless steel table saws appear on the market so you could sit one next to your living room and feel good about it. And for the same reason we don't put table saws in our living areas (yet) its stupid to put dishwashers, mixers, blenders, and other noise generating kitchen equipment in the same room. I'm sure whoever is watching "the big game" will love hearing the blender instead of the big play until you finish the drinks. Additionally, all odors and smells now permeate the entire house, for good or for bad, and the same goes for moisture, grease, etc.

Of course the usual explanation (excuse) offered for this is something to the effect of how much people like to entertain and need an open floor plan to do so. Which frankly I don't buy as an explanation. I love to cook, and when I am cooking I do not have time to talk to other people, watch football games, or do anything but focus on the task at hand. People that are "entertaining" guests while cooking can't be making anything too spectacular. If you are a serious cook you need space and focus, not half a dozen people milling about making small talk while you try not to burn a roux or break a mayonnaise.

I also find it ironic that people claim this is about being able to "entertain" even though people today hardly entertain at all, while people 70 years ago entertained a great deal and seemingly with no issues despite their kitchens not being integrated into their living rooms. Likewise, my grandmother raised 6 kids without ever having an open kitchen, while most people today are not going to raise more than 3 kids but somehow need the open floor plan to make this feasible, I don't buy the parenting excuse either.

Aside from the issue of integrating the kitchen into the house however, the open floorplan has other problems. Although it is often portrayed as making the house "feel" bigger, I would argue it makes it "practically" smaller. You have basically one large room, and that is it. You have considerably less wall space, and trying to fill furniture into that one big space is often awkward resulting in a lot of wasted space that does not really do anything.

And while these open floorplans are often promoted as "family friendly" I have come to the conclusion that they are a double edged sword in that respect. When I was growing up the open floorplan seemed fine as a little kid, but as I grew up I found it problematic since there was only one space in the house (aside from bedrooms and bathrooms) that everyone had to use. Yes it was huge, but there was no privacy. If I had friends over we were constantly in close proximity to the rest of the family to where everyone could hear everyone else. Not surprisingly, I mostly went to other kid's houses that had some space that was not constantly next to parents. Now while some parents might like the idea of discouraging the kids from congregating at their house, I would argue that it is better to be the parents with the house everyone congregates at. Not only can you keep a closer tab on what your kids are getting into as they grow up but it will help them build a social circle. And this same issue extends in other directions, for example, what if one family member loves watching the big game all weekend long on the TV, but other people would like some quiet time to read. Either you have conflict or everyone withdrawing to their own little rooms, which is less social than if you just had 2 spaces that people could spend time in.

I could go on, but I think I have at least answered the question of what is the other perspective on this issue. That said, I don't expect the trend will reverse on a large scale, however much I may personally want to see it happen. People usually like what they are told to like, and builders know these floor plans are cheap and easy to build. Most homes that I have seen which use a less open floor plan tended to be very expensive ones where real entertaining of clients and the like was a consideration, and curiously those people tended to have formal dining areas where you could not see the kitchen sink…

this is why we put bonus rooms in our open concept floor plans.  still hugely popular at least on the left coast in fact cant recall seeing anything but for many years now.

[Jonathan R McLaughlin]

@Jay Hinrichs bonus room! yes, there is nothing better than being near your beloved children when they are playing slightly away from you :)

[Jon Martin]

@Charles Clark I appreciate the honest reply and I always welcome opposing viewpoints, especially when someone is willing to take an unpopular opinion. Here is where I disagree. 

Kitchen aesthetics: A lot of the things you listed (stainless steel, backsplash, etc) would still be highly desired in a closed off kitchen for most buyers. Not only do those ameneties make it more aesthetically pleasing, they also facilitate easier cooking and cleaning. As for the cost, you can make a kitchen look pretty amazing with a modest bump to your budget over baseline home cheapot materials. 

Entertaining: I agree that this is overstated relative to how often most people entertain. However I think the real benefit is being able to keep an eye on your kids while you cook and/or watch some mindless entertainment, and also be able to communicate with your family while also doing kitchen tasks. 

Privacy: I don't know if I buy this one. With a closed off kitchen, do you think the parents are going to hang out in the kitchen while their kids and their friends get rowdy in the living room? I don't see it. Seems that you would need an additional living space like a TV-free "living room" (something I had in the midwest growing up, but aint nobody got space or $$$ for that in California) or a finished basement (another non-existent luxury where I live) if you want an additional living space to spread people out. 

FTR I grew up in mid-century segmented midwest homes and have lived mostly in open floorplan homes as an adult. I'll take the latter any day, so it has nothing to do with what HGTV told me to like. I've also been the guy preparing food for the ***holes watching the epic game in the other room, which is not something I ever want to have to go through again, even for my own family! 

[Adah N.]

@Jonathan W.

The open floor plan where the kitchen opens to the breakfast/dining area is great. The one where everything, living room, family room, dining, kitchen is all one room is a no-no for me. Yes, people need some privacy sometimes, more so with the wfh trend.

[Adah N.]

@Adah N.

Kitchen/family/breakfast room open is great too. As long as there is another separate living or dinning or bonus room. I expect the one big open room floor plan to go out of style too.

[Jon Martin]

Quote from @Adah N.:

@Jonathan W.

The open floor plan where the kitchen opens to the breakfast/dining area is great. The one where everything, living room, family room, dining, kitchen is all one room is a no-no for me. Yes, people need some privacy sometimes, more so with the wfh trend.

 I could get behind that. Even some partial partition walls can go a long way. 

[Tony Kim]

Quote from @Adah N.:

@Jonathan W.

The open floor plan where the kitchen opens to the breakfast/dining area is great. The one where everything, living room, family room, dining, kitchen is all one room is a no-no for me. Yes, people need some privacy sometimes, more so with the wfh trend.

Living, dining, family, kitchen all in one room? You mean one big gigantic box with everything in the open? That kind of sounds like some of the NYC lofts that were converted from commercial spaces. For the rest of the world, I don't even think that's a trend. I certainly haven't seen any houses in my area that are like that. Usually it's the kitchen, dining and living....and a separate bonus room/den that's partitioned off that's hugely popular right now.

The open floor plan is not going out of style, at least not in my lifetime. Sometime in the future, there will be a new innovative design that will replace the current open floor plan trend, but it certainly will not be anything resembling what we had back in the 70s and 80s. I could see kitchen and bathroom themes moving away from their current blue/grey/white (i.e., cold) theme to something warm again. But at a very minimum, opening up the kitchen and partitioning with an island/peninsula just looks too damn good. We aren't big on entertaining but we still love our open concept home because it just works so much better.

[Charles Clark]

Quote from @Jon Martin:

@Charles Clark I appreciate the honest reply and I always welcome opposing viewpoints, especially when someone is willing to take an unpopular opinion. Here is where I disagree. 

Kitchen aesthetics: A lot of the things you listed (stainless steel, backsplash, etc) would still be highly desired in a closed off kitchen for most buyers. Not only do those ameneties make it more aesthetically pleasing, they also facilitate easier cooking and cleaning. As for the cost, you can make a kitchen look pretty amazing with a modest bump to your budget over baseline home cheapot materials. 

Entertaining: I agree that this is overstated relative to how often most people entertain. However I think the real benefit is being able to keep an eye on your kids while you cook and/or watch some mindless entertainment, and also be able to communicate with your family while also doing kitchen tasks. 

Privacy: I don't know if I buy this one. With a closed off kitchen, do you think the parents are going to hang out in the kitchen while their kids and their friends get rowdy in the living room? I don't see it. Seems that you would need an additional living space like a TV-free "living room" (something I had in the midwest growing up, but aint nobody got space or $$$ for that in California) or a finished basement (another non-existent luxury where I live) if you want an additional living space to spread people out. 

FTR I grew up in mid-century segmented midwest homes and have lived mostly in open floorplan homes as an adult. I'll take the latter any day, so it has nothing to do with what HGTV told me to like. I've also been the guy preparing food for the ***holes watching the epic game in the other room, which is not something I ever want to have to go through again, even for my own family! 

I will throw out some thoughts here for consideration, but this is not intended to be a rebuttal.

Personally as someone who cooks, has cooked in a commercial setting, and a man, I really only care about function and not looks in my kitchen. To me, the kitchen is no different than the garage and the workshop, its there to do a job, and one that I am going to use as much if not likely more than my garage and shop combined. So being equipped to do the job is most important to me, and if it is completely invisible to the rest of the house I see no benefit in making it look nice any more than I would worry about decorating the shop or garage. All of that said, what I notice is that women tend to feel strongly about kitchens needing a certain look and that likely drives the buying decisions in many families (and yes, I am aware that there will be exceptions to this, but as a whole this is definitely correct).

As to the privacy matter, my point there was not really about the kitchen so much as the other rooms. The house I grew up in had a single large room which was the kitchen, dining room, and living room, but was also open to the loft above. Thus, the only other rooms were bathrooms and bedrooms. And yes, I think if someone intends to raise kids, especially more than one, the advantage in a kitchen where they can see the kids from is pretty obvious for young children. However the lack of a separate space will be an issue down the road.

And a final note for comparison, although I grew up in a post 2000 open floor-plan house I also spent considerable time in my grandparents ~1916 home which was constructed by a wealthy engineer of the era. It had a separate kitchen and upstairs loft as would be expected, along with many other old school features, and definitely set the standard in my mind for what I enjoy in terms of style.

[Tony Kim]

Quote from @Charles Clark:

Quote from @Jon Martin:

@Charles Clark I appreciate the honest reply and I always welcome opposing viewpoints, especially when someone is willing to take an unpopular opinion. Here is where I disagree. 

Kitchen aesthetics: A lot of the things you listed (stainless steel, backsplash, etc) would still be highly desired in a closed off kitchen for most buyers. Not only do those ameneties make it more aesthetically pleasing, they also facilitate easier cooking and cleaning. As for the cost, you can make a kitchen look pretty amazing with a modest bump to your budget over baseline home cheapot materials. 

Entertaining: I agree that this is overstated relative to how often most people entertain. However I think the real benefit is being able to keep an eye on your kids while you cook and/or watch some mindless entertainment, and also be able to communicate with your family while also doing kitchen tasks. 

Privacy: I don't know if I buy this one. With a closed off kitchen, do you think the parents are going to hang out in the kitchen while their kids and their friends get rowdy in the living room? I don't see it. Seems that you would need an additional living space like a TV-free "living room" (something I had in the midwest growing up, but aint nobody got space or $$$ for that in California) or a finished basement (another non-existent luxury where I live) if you want an additional living space to spread people out. 

FTR I grew up in mid-century segmented midwest homes and have lived mostly in open floorplan homes as an adult. I'll take the latter any day, so it has nothing to do with what HGTV told me to like. I've also been the guy preparing food for the ***holes watching the epic game in the other room, which is not something I ever want to have to go through again, even for my own family! 

I will throw out some thoughts here for consideration, but this is not intended to be a rebuttal.

Personally as someone who cooks, has cooked in a commercial setting, and a man, I really only care about function and not looks in my kitchen. To me, the kitchen is no different than the garage and the workshop, its there to do a job, and one that I am going to use as much if not likely more than my garage and shop combined. So being equipped to do the job is most important to me, and if it is completely invisible to the rest of the house I see no benefit in making it look nice any more than I would worry about decorating the shop or garage. All of that said, what I notice is that women tend to feel strongly about kitchens needing a certain look and that likely drives the buying decisions in many families (and yes, I am aware that there will be exceptions to this, but as a whole this is definitely correct).

As to the privacy matter, my point there was not really about the kitchen so much as the other rooms. The house I grew up in had a single large room which was the kitchen, dining room, and living room, but was also open to the loft above. Thus, the only other rooms were bathrooms and bedrooms. And yes, I think if someone intends to raise kids, especially more than one, the advantage in a kitchen where they can see the kids from is pretty obvious for young children. However the lack of a separate space will be an issue down the road.

And a final note for comparison, although I grew up in a post 2000 open floor-plan house I also spent considerable time in my grandparents ~1916 home which was constructed by a wealthy engineer of the era. It had a separate kitchen and upstairs loft as would be expected, along with many other old school features, and definitely set the standard in my mind for what I enjoy in terms of style.

Interesting note regarding your grandparents' house! My previous home was a craftsman bungalow built in 1915 by a relatively famous architect. The classic charm that comes from a house like this is very difficult to replicate. When we were trying to downsize and were browsing mid-century homes, we realized how much we loved the old school features of our home. The fact that our house was built before WW I consistently left me in awe whenever I reminded myself of that fact. 

We had a separate kitchen in this house also. It wasn't original as kitchens built during this time were very small. We had plans to open the kitchen up, till we decided that as empty nesters, we didn't need such a huge house anymore and sold earlier this year. 

[Bruce Woodruff]

Quote from @Charles Clark:do 

 and a man, I really only care about function and not looks in my kitchen. To me, the kitchen is no different than the garage and the workshop, 

And that's where you're missing out here. Women buy most of the house(ie, make the decisions) and they do it for the kitchen....

[Jay Hinrichs]

Quote from @Bruce Woodruff:

Quote from @Charles Clark:do 

 and a man, I really only care about function and not looks in my kitchen. To me, the kitchen is no different than the garage and the workshop, 

And that's where you're missing out here. Women buy most of the house(ie, make the decisions) and they do it for the kitchen....

 EXACTLY  hubbys just along for the ride. 

[Charles Clark]

Quote from @Jay Hinrichs:

Quote from @Bruce Woodruff:

Quote from @Charles Clark:do 

 and a man, I really only care about function and not looks in my kitchen. To me, the kitchen is no different than the garage and the workshop, 

And that's where you're missing out here. Women buy most of the house(ie, make the decisions) and they do it for the kitchen....

 EXACTLY  hubbys just along for the ride. 

Which is their prerogative I suppose, but when its my salary being spent in such quantity I refuse to let anyone else make those decisions for me.

[Tony Kim]

Quote from @Jay Hinrichs:

Quote from @Bruce Woodruff:

Quote from @Charles Clark:do 

 and a man, I really only care about function and not looks in my kitchen. To me, the kitchen is no different than the garage and the workshop, 

And that's where you're missing out here. Women buy most of the house(ie, make the decisions) and they do it for the kitchen....

 EXACTLY  hubbys just along for the ride. 

 I prefer my ride to be smooth and happy, so I do the exact same! Plus, it's obvious my wife has better taste than me... she often reminds me in case I forget. 🤣