Thank goodness. I can't stand food smells throughout the house. Even bacon.

I have always been a fan of closed kitchens, even when open-kitchen popularity was at its peak so that closed kitchens were regarded as "dated". I cannot stand that with open kitchens the blaring TV is right there, or, the reverse, that when you are in the living room there is the water running, pans clattering, and the disposal going.

I have a closed kitchen, though it does not have a door. There is a short hallway from the kitchen to the living room. Just that hallway separation, even without a door, creates a kitchen that is quite separate from the living room.

I'd like to go one step further and say I hope that eat-in kitchens are coming back. But that may be more an issue of lack of space and the high price of square footage. I don't like that people now sit down with their plate in the living room in front of the TV. That means no family conversation, and wolfing down food. Versus an eat-in kitchen that encourages conversation and actually thinking about the food you are eating.

I bought my home almost solely because it had an eat-in kitchen that was separate from the living room. That was hard to find.

It's difficult for me to sit and relax with guests if I can see a mess in the kitchen. I designed our house so it's a bit open for people to hang around a peninsula to help/chat while I'm working, but you can't see into the kitchen from the living/dining. Many thought an L with an island was the better layout for our renovation, but keeping a semi closed kitchen was important to me.

I concur.

I have an eat-in kitchen with a small sitting area. When we redesigned the space, the GC/KD's that suggested we open up the space to the dining room/living room to make a great room because it would be better for resale and everyone is doing it didn't get the job. I am a firm believer in separate dining rooms. But I have the space to indulge in 2 eating areas and they both get used.

I don't want my kitchen opened up to everything - I really don't.

I like the look of the open kitchen/living homes and had contemplated it for ours. I have an open doorway from living to kitchen and it's all open from living to breakfast area at end of kitchen. So, it does feel somewhat open. But I had wanted to take out the wall that separated the two spaces which really would have left me with less area for cabinets and relocating the refrigerator to an odd location.

I'm glad we didn't open it up now and if I really think about it, I like to prep and cook by myself without onlookers, so it was the right decision for us.

I prefer closed kitchens, too. I am a messy cook and after I make a big meal for my family I can shut the door and pretend it doesn't exist while we eat.

I have an open kitchen with a sofa. I also have a dishwasher where the dirty dishes go. So no one needs to look at them. I spent years with closed kitchens. I was MIA.

Kitchens in NYC lofts and apartments are often interior and rarely have ventilation -- only one 5 in the article had windows. Sliding glass doors are very applicable.

To say closed kitchens are returning in NYC apartments is one thing. To say they are returning elsewhere seems like an overstatement from what we've been seeing here for the past 10 years.

I do like the closed kitchens I've had, I like being done with dinner and outta there, but I wish each one had a little sitting area besides the kitchen table. I like the pocket doors application, though. I could go for that.

My kitchen is closed and I prefer the quiet while I am cooking. Many of the open floor plans homes that I have seen that are lived in (as opposed to Parade or staged homes) look a bit untidy. The owners are good housekeepers, but in real life there is the stack of mail, the school books and or office papers, a few dishes to be dealt with, a few pet toys etc. - seeing all the normal little piles of clutter at one time makes for a sense of untidiness.

I often felt that open plan might be cheaper to build, and in times of economic difficulty the housing industry often looks to save money.

Yay! I'm another closed kitchen fan. I also have a small home, so I think this does make a difference. It's nice to have separate spaces for people to hang out - someone can read or watch TV in the LR and not be bothered by someone in the kitchen doing something else. We don't have a separate family room or den or one of these other duplicate rooms that many people have - it would be less important in this case. As others mentioned there is almost always some clutter too - I like to keep this limited to the kitchen and kitchen table so the LR and DR and usually clean/empty and pleasant to be in regardless of the state of the kitchen. I love having an eat in kitchen too! It was a big sell for me for the house as well.

We chose this house we are in because the kitchen was separate for the family room. I have never liked open floor pans. It was getting hard to find a home in our area back in the mid 70s that didn't have the kitchen family room combo. The doorway to the family room is still a bit too wide for my taste but I like the light. It will be narrowed somewhat in the near future after the Solatubes are in and the window is replaced by a glass door in the kitchen. I have a lot of friends with newer, much larger homes but they are so open the space is wasted IMO. It doesn't feel spacious to me. It seems restrictive. It reminds me of living in an apartment. I chose a single family home for the rooms.

I love my separate kitchen, and my 40-something daughter likes hers, too. Trying to be a scintillating hostess and cook at the same time is ridiculous. Did I put the salt in twice? Did I turn on the oven? Geeze! And is one is lucky enough to have help for a big party, who wants them with your guests? I doubt they like it either! I blame Martha for this nonsense...

I'm so happy to read this - maybe I'm late to the party, but I didn't realize this was the new movement. I'm thrilled. I'm about to re-do a kitchen in a newly purchased house, maybe this is the way to go...?

I prefer a closed kitchen, and have one now, but I think there are circumstances that would make an open kitchen to the living room the better choice.

If you are a mom with young children and you want to keep an eye on them when they are in the living room. Or, if your family dynamic is such that everyone gathers in the living room to watch football or whatever, leaving you a lonely "widow" closeted away in the kitchen (this can be helped by installing a small TV in the kitchen if need be). Or, if your kitchen is small and windowless, it is better to try to open it up to the living room.

If you are going to have a closed kitchen, I think it needs to be spacious with good windows. As noted in above posts, it needs to be eat-in if at all possible.

I always wondered what bang for the buck they are getting on HGTV where every project starts with opening up the kitchen. The mother can't see their kids playing scrabble on the dining room table or something. Then the project runs into load bearing walls, plumbing stacks, etc. Somehow previous families managed to live in the house for 50 years or whatever, but they must have the kitchen opened up.

Anglophilia- your comment made me giggle. With my first child I wanted to keep an eye on her all the time, but now we have two--ages 3 and 6--I've learned they play nicer and resolve problems quicker when they think I'm not watching. And I need my space!

granted, we don't have room to dedicate space to a playroom so our kids do have a couple totes of toys in the livingroom, but they spend most of their play time digging in their dirt pile in the back yard :-)

I agree with you on the playroom, Anglophilia! When children are in the living room at a gathering they should be socializing (this is a learned skill), not playing with toys. They can then 'escape' to the playroom with their cousins/friends while the adults visit; it's a win-win for all involved.

I'm going from a tiny, closed off kitchen to a wide-open one right now, so can't relate to the trend to close them off.

My home was built in 1951. The home has separate formal rooms and kitchen. I recently did a large addition to add a family room and second master suite.

I was limited in how to deal with the separation issue due to load bearing walls. The over sized galley style kitchen with no center island leads into the dining room through a swinging door on one end and into a keeping room with a large arched doorway at the other end. Do a 90 degree turn in the keeping room and you are in the family room.

It's really not separate but not open. It's a hybrid. You can sit at the table in the keeping room and see both spaces. I can make noise in the kitchen and DH can still watch TV in the family room. But, it's not entirely open. We like the arrangement.

I recently gave a private showing as a favor for a realtor friend to a young couple. They did not buy my home, but I was interested in the critique. They felt that it wasn't open enough for their lifestyle. They didn't want to spend money on formal areas that they might not use. That's fine. It didn't fit their perceived lifestyle. But, when they fast forward to about 10 years and have teenagers, they will be begging for this design.

I do think the emphasis on open design at HGTV is driving a lot of this. Efficient, useful design will stand the test of time. There's something for everyone out there. The journey is finding it.

I have had both. My first preference would be an eat-in kitchen and keeping room (a few chairs, fireplace, TV, music) and a great room off the kitchen, but not 100% visible off one side of the kitchen and a formal dining area off the other but again, not 100% visible from the DR. Second preference is open.

Agree on bigger kids toys and such living in the basement or an upstairs loft.

I have a closed eat-in kitchen and love it for every day living with hubby and two kids (11 and 13yo) . Our eat-in area has an upholstered banquette with seating for 6 that essentially serves as a mini family room (keeping room?) for us because it's such a cozy place to hang out.

That said, we had a party and the whole "congregate in the kitchen thing" is not ideal with this plan. It got very loud and crowded. I'll have to rethink where I set up the buffet in the future in order to lure people into the dining room and living room.

I was at a party last night at a house with an open kitchen to the dining room. It had a peninsula between and counter seating on the dinning room side. Again the host's lovely living room when virtually unused but at least there was some spill over room in the the dining room area. I still prefer my closed eat-in plan for every day but I concede that it is not the ideal plan for large informal party dynamics that do not include a sit down meal in the dining room. I knew this when I planned the space but decided it made more sense to plan for the way I want it the great majority of the time. Maybe if I was a big party person I would feel differently.

I guess my point is that ones' lifestyle should drive the design. It's most important to think through the pros and cons of the various options and how they fit into how you like to live rather than going with one plan or the other based on what looks good at an open house or what's trending on HGTV these days.

I have a tiny house (1Ksf). I'm in the midst of remodeling.

The kitchen originally had doors both leading to the small DR and the hall. I took the hall door off a long time ago. It was never closed and just got in the way (and covered a nice spot for a picture.) The DR door I just always left open: it was a double-action/double-swing door and a PITA to open close/reach behind for the light switch.

Clearly, the doors weren't doing me any good. The kitchen also, in theory, had space for a small eat-in table but I never put one there.

In the remodel, I've removed the doors and made the passages into the hall and DR larger, basically pulling them back to the depth of the counters. And put cabs where there used to be space for a small table. Terribly short on cab space.

That's as far as I ever went to open. I don't like it either. I wonder if I'll ever regret not having doors into the kitchen but given the small space, I can live with it. The LR is still separate.

What always amazes me is the people that put in glass fronted cabinets. The cabinets are very pretty. The insides of my cabinets? Not so much. Maybe they'll look better when I have more cabs and don't have to cram so much into each one.

While rebuilding from the fire we had, many people gushed, "Oh, what an opportunity for an open concept!"
I don't think so.
For one, I'm messy and my ex- was a pig.
I have a ranch, which has a center, load-bearing wall. On one side is the kitchen with a dining area (I guess, eat-in kitchen) on the end, with a slider to the back, covered porch.

There is an archway on the end of the dining area (kind of behind the table area) into the front of the house, where the main entry is.

The main entry faces that archway, with the living room, (with a wall/door between) the den to the right of it.

It's a circle, because going to the right, into the den, the den has a door to the back of the kitchen.

I have openness, but privacy. If I cut out the load bearing wall, not only would the main entrance move right into the kitchen/dining area, but so would the very large windows in the den and living room. Talk about visual clutter!

I like to look, but with cathedral ceilings, I often wonder who wants to really live like that. Or do they live in their homes?

I like the idea of a kitchen with a table....open to a keeping room with fireplace and a couple of comfy chairs.

The main living room and dining room would be near by but separate. This way the kitchen is a great place to cook, visit, read, sit by the fire....but when the cook leaves the 'gang' leaves, too. Off to the dining room or living room and leave the mess behind : )

Not my plan at the current time, but close. I'm still working on the keeping room idea. Maybe the next house....

An article on NYC kitchen trends is not indicative of any trends for the rest of the country. Most designs here are based more on necessity rather than aesthetics.

My kitchen in Manhattan is closed and I hate it.

When we bought our house, I wanted an open kitchen, and got it. Couldn't be happier.

But I do understand the appeal of having it separate, it's just not what I prefer.

I have had both, and although there are downfalls, I do prefer the open concept kitchen. It is easier for gatherings, because everyone goes to the kitchen. I find it a lot easier to circulate in open concept, whereas before it felt like guests in the living room were in no man's land.

I also like it for when I am home alone. I cook a lot, and like to be able to watch tv while I do it. LOL.

It also is nice because when my teens come into the kitchen for a snack, I have a chance to interact with them.

If open concept layouts go passe, I will enjoy my "vintage" house. LOL.

I have an eat in kitchen, wouldn't have it any other way. I don't want to sit in a row at my peninsula or island. Maybe for breakfast, lunch but for dinner, I want the family to sit around the table.

When we bought our current house 5 years ago I was pregnant with our first child. I decided to knock the wall down between the kitchen and the dining room. I thought it would be easier to entertain and to keep an eye on the baby. I quickly regretted that opening. I hate that you can see the messy kitchen as soon as you walk in the door. Does the UPS guy really need to see my pile of dirty dishes? And do my guests really need to hear the dishwasher? Now that my son is 4 years old he asks me not to make smoothies because the blender is too loud. I also find that when entertaining the party gathers in the kitchen instead of the living room where we have invested in nice furniture pieces.

Fast-forward to 2016 - we just bought a
new (old) home since we're now expecting baby #3 and need a bigger place. First
thing on my priority list was a closed kitchen. I realize that I don't need to
see the children all the time and they don't need to see me either. The kitchen
will undergo a complete gut but no walls are coming down this time.

We have the best thing ever right now-the partially-open, partially-closed kitchen. It opens to the dining room(with the option to close the door) and to the family room. It's not seen from the entrance or from the living. So you have only pros of both plans.

New place: can't get exactly the same plan unfortunately, but we did enclose it to some degree ...so you can directly see it only from the dining space.

(But much longer to walk with that tray to the family room and TV))

You know, I always tend to think the media and "retailers" or "design people" tend to hype what is "in", "out" or "on the comeback". I doubt closed kitchens ever went out of style, the people that like them always like them and will keep liking them. I, for one, love an open design and would not do a closed design, but I like roooooom. If a closed design met my needs for room and function, I would not turn my nose at it, but if all things were equal and an open design had the same aspects, I would take it.

I think the thing to go into any design is what fits YOU, not what it is, out, or making a comeback from an article.

Not ragging on the OP.. heh... not in the slightest.. heh. I always enjoy articles about style as it makes me wonder what sort of person would change their mind due to one and would they ever really be happy.

Sorta reminds me of that movie Runaway Bride with Julia Roberts where she did not know what her favorite way to have eggs was.

Anyways....slow day.. bored to tears.. so thought I would ramble :P

Russ

Ever since I was able to emerge a bit from taking care of kids and enjoy my old design muse, I have been surprised by the amount of "group think" that affects people. Someone on HGTV remarks that this or that is outdated, or an important design consideration, and without even thinking about it large numbers jump on the bandwagon. Suddenly I will see design dilemmas about "outdated" stairs, which are not outdated at all - but someone on HGTV made a remark about a similar staircase. People do not feel they are adequate parents unless they have a "sightline" (never mind jr is not at home half the day.) People discuss ripping out decades old hardwood because it is dated - excuse me, it has been around for a hundred years - it's not dated its wonderful - count yourself lucky to have found it under the carpet.

I could go on, but Victoria is funnier. This is more about kitchens - but same follow the trend mindset:

http://victoriaelizabethbarnes.com/a-manifesto-against-the-tyranny-of-luxury-kitchens/

I live with a bunch of slobs so I prefer a nice wall to block off that area of our home. I learned this in our first home. It was a split level with the stairs opening into the kitchen with the sink dead a head. Lived there for 10 years with young children. I hated it. Our home now is perfect with the kitchen, eating area and family room at the back. Love this lay out. I suppose I could clean up after everyone all the time but I don't wanna! :) We'll just keep it seperate.

We are about to build a new home in Lake Tahoe that we intend to be in for a long time. Right now we have teenage boys who are beginning to cook more and more but are very messy. My husband works from home and the mess irritates him. When we started designing the house, our architect went ahead and planned for an open kitchen because that's what all her other clients wanted. The house will sit on a narrow, lakefront lot and the way the kitchen was laid out was great if I wanted an open kitchen. But as somebody who really likes to cook and have everything organized and neat, I found it awkward and surprisingly not big enough. It seems like an open kitchen is geared more towards entertaining. I want my kitchen to be a more efficient, working kitchen. I insisted that I have a semi-closed off area because an open kitchen is not conducive to hiding away the mess, finding time/space to focus and concentrate when you need to cook, plan for dinner or a party (for some reason, my DH likes to have serious conversations with me while I am cooking dinner), delineate a boundary between the main cook and guests (which I know you can do with an island), try to keep stuff from the other rooms from always ending up in the kitchen, and also allow the person who is cooking/cleaning to watch the TV shows or listen to radio that they want to instead of being beholden to what the rest of the family wants to watch. Sometimes, too, you want to surprise somebody with a birthday or special meal/cake and that's hard to do in an open kitchen. Also, when my kids were little, I had to teach them about not leaving their toys in my cooking zone. I think an open plan makes this harder to instill and I was always worried about the kids getting burnt and me tripping over a toy. After reading some of the discussions in this forum, I think I am going to have another meeting with my architect and design in barn doors or pocket doors so I can choose to close off the kitchen at times.

Took me 3 tries to say Machia.. yea, that word.. lol

So, bad example... makes her sound a little uppity herself, but yea, I get the point.

It's totally okay to build a dream kitchen and have it have all the bells and whistles. I am making one myself, but not because some show told me, but because I flat out like it that way. I like sight lines, not because I need to see the kids, but I need to see what the heck is going on around me. Since I do most the cooking, if I put a wall between me and the rest of the family, I may as well live in the kitchen by myself.. lol.. wait.. hmm..

naaaahhh

R

We recently moved out of a house with an open-plan kitchen and into an older house with a self-contained kitchen. I feel very cut off from what the rest of my family is doing, and I find myself letting the kitchen stay messy for longer because I don't want to be stuck in there cleaning. I'll be happy when we remodel and I get an open-plan kitchen again.

My 1912 house has 3 doors in the kitchen, one to a bedroom (the other door in the bedroom is to the jack and Jill bathroom - ugh!), one to the mudroom, one to the dining/living room.

All these doors really bug me, BUT I can close them all and that makes it feel great in there.

I do love having doors in the kitchen. It's such a great way to regulate the temperature of our house. I suppose that is why they were built this way, instead of an open plan, in the first place.

We moved to a new home 7 months ago. Our previous kitchen was a closed eat-in with a huge pass though to our patio providing a lot of natural light. New kitchen opens to the family room. Not loving the open concept as much as I thought I would. The noise created in the kitchen can be annoying for everyone else. Also the house is set-up where the outdoor patio and deck are only accessible from the family room. We like to entertain outside, so everyone passes by the kitchen on the way out, no ability to hide anything at all. We are talking of eventually relocating the kitchen, need more space the current kitchen is dark, small and just not nearly as functional as our old kitchen. If we do, move the kitchen, our preliminary design has the ability to be closed off for entertaining/noisy cooking. Love the idea mentioned of a keeping room. Perhaps the best use for my old kitchen.