Even in a kitchen, trouble can be cooked up. :-D

Heck, we had a dog, back when I lived with my folks before I married, who preferred to spend her time outside. And she ate the siding off the house. We let the dogs roam all over the house, with a doggy door for at-will backyard access, and the only things they really got into (but only as puppies or new arrivals) were the trash cans.

I have a friend with a two-story foyer, and she loves it because she can hear everything the kids (all 10 years and under) are up to while she's downstairs cooking, cleaning, lesson planning, etc. All of their bedrooms are upstairs.

I would kill for zoned HVAC in the rental I'm in. I didn't even know such a thing existed, lol!

I don't confine my dogs. Maybe I've been lucky? The only time they are confined to a crate is when they are new to the house and I don't know yet how they will behave.

I'm on my 5th and 6th rescue dogs, and have never had any of them damage my house or furniture.

Our dog has her own crate in the living room. When we have non dog loving people over she goes inside the crate. Her crate is her safe spot. She'll take naps in it or go and lay down when she doesn't want to be bothered.

I love my dogs and they have free access to the house but there are times I want them contained. My laundry room in our new house will serve that purpose as it did in the house we just sold. I would love to have a doggy door but dh says no. One dog is half Doberman and is big and the other is a small terrier mix so I don't even think they could even use the same doggy door.

Noise--we just sold a ranch with finished basement. My girls are grown and gone. My boys were within spitting distance of me when they were tiny but as they got bigger they craved space so they moved to the basement. It was almost like they had their own apartment! Our house was fairly wide open and noise really wasn't too much of an issue. The exception was when they had friends over and the noise from the basement traveling up. The new house has bedrooms on a second story but the first floor is open. I hope noise is not an issue.

They are teens now and I am not making the basement open to the first floor as we did in the last house. When they have friends over I want to be able to close a door.

i think lots of folks here do zones. They just don't talk about hvac so much here. The house we just sold had geothermal with 5 zones. Honestly, I think it was a selling point. Yes, zones are good..I agree.

ps. I enjoy reading your random thoughts.

No dogs now, and growing up we never confined our dogs. One of our dog's pups, though, lived around the corner. She was brilliant and had to be confined sometimes otherwise she's wreak havoc. One day the family went out and confined her in the kitchen. It was a warm spring day, and only the family room was air conditioned. She chewed through the door to get to the FR.

DH would love to be able to close off the upstairs from the cats. But of course, the caterwauling to get through a closed door would be worse than the wafting fur.

We 'dog share' two Boxers with two different owners. They are free to roam the house but always choose to be with us, or on their beds near the entry door when we are not at home. They were both around two years old when this arrangement began and there has never been a problem.

We have 7 zones in our home, the temperatures everywhere are always exactly where we want them.

We have our new plans designed with the dogs in mind and will be able to limit them to one section of the house... not just a single room. The biggest issue for us is my kids' toys. if they leave a room door open- something may get eaten. Our dog has a propensity for loving the EOS lip balm eggs. Also enjoys legos, though now that she's 2.5yrs, she seems to have lost the taste for the legos.

My dog has free roam of the house while we are gone. I think this situation is obviously dependent on the dogs behavior. ours is a rescue Boston, we put him in a kennel in the beginning, then after a while left him out for short trips and lengthened them over time. He is a paper/cardbox chewer and occasionally finds my kids shopkins, but otherwise is completely house trained.

Our new house will absolutely have zoned HVAC, which I am excited about how useful it will be.

My dog has the run of the house and has never been a problem. Ok twice when she was just around two years old we made the mistake of leaving a newspaper on HER couch. She shredded the newspaper all over the floor. Those were the only two times. She seems to know the difference between her toys and our stuff and leaves our stuff alone.

We have a baby cam now we watch her when we go out. She usually just goes up on the couch and falls asleep.

However if we needed to we could cordon off the friend's entry to keep her contained.

We'll have 3 zones in our new home. Downstairs public rooms, master suite and upstairs.

If I need to confine a dog I use a crate. Most of my house is 'dog friendly'. I currently gate access to the stairs because I have a blind dog. I expect I will always have a blind dog, because I think they are awesome. New house will be all one level. I'll be able to block off the bedroom wing if I want, but have no issue leaving the dogs out in the main part of the house. 2 of the three sleep in crates because of habit, but I like to give the blind dog a complete sense of security and this way he's never accidentally startled by another dog stepping on him, etc.

Zoning, along with solar gain and home orientation, etc can be effective - along wth zoning and fans, and HVAC systems that constantly circulate air to have a more consistent temperature - all can be accomplished in an open floor plan - you just need to have the right HVAC team!

I like open and even my master bedroom will be loft like with no true "ceiling", but I will still have some more conventional rooms with conventional height ceilings for privacy, as well as the "thunder room" that will be well insulated, with only one window and will allow us all to escape t-storms so the dogs won't be as scared.

And yes - it appears I am building a new house for the dogs...

Most this this simply comes down to personal preference - there's very little that can't be accomplished in either an open plan or a more traditional plan - you just have to...... wait for it..... PLAN!

I could leave my Golden loose in the house, but she would head for the LR sofa the minute we left - we'd see her indentation in the down cushions when we'd return (she'd head the garage door and get off the sofa - clever girl!).

But Cavalier King Charles Spaniels are different. They don't handle too much freedom well at all, no matter how good their house manners are when someone is home. Yes, I could crate them and I do when workmen are here or the cleaning woman - far safer. I just prefer to confine them to the kitchen so they can get a drink if they want, and can move around and find another spot to sleep if it's too warm together.

Many have noticed that in my new kitchen, as in my old one, I gave over a 24" bottom cabinet to the dogs for their bed. I was tired of tripping over a dog bed in the kitchen floor when cooking, and I hated to think of them having to sleep on a cold, hard floor (I know - I spoil them!). They loved their den and I would find them together sleeping in it when I'd come home.

Then Godfrey got sick and didn't want to be in his bed - preferred the floor. I lost my beloved boy almost a month ago and Shimmer has not gotten in that bed, other than to eat her dinner (it was always her eating place) since he died. I'm about to call my KD to come and install the door and shelves that we ordered for re-sale value. She prefers to wait on the floor right in front of the gate. Funny little girl. I guess to her, the "den" was for snuggling with another Cavalier, not sleeping alone.

I love open floor plans because it fits the way we live and entertain. However, our open main floor wouldn't have worked in this house as well with 3 teenagers if the basement rec room hadn't had a door :-).

As for dogs, only one dog has ever even visited our home. He was quite well behaved although his owner (my son's girlfriend) was a bit chagrined that he was so interested in going in the kitchen--he never showed any interest in her kitchen at home. I think that's because she's a vegetarian and I was cooking 16 lbs of pulled pork. That's pretty tempting for a dog! (I'll let that dog come back--he was very well behaved) We won't ever get a dog of our own, though, so that's an issue we'll have to worry about.

My doberman is kennel trained. The crate is a safe place not a punishment. When she was too young, she'd be kenneled while I was gone. At ~1.5 years, she was eventually able to be trusted to have free roam. It wasn't black and white, there was mistakes haha. Combination of training and "baby proofing" but a dog is a dog

Our dogs have full access to the entire house. We never felt the need to crate train since I work at home and have a strict policy of not leaving the dogs alone for longer than six hours at a time. Also, we allow dogs on the furniture, how else do you cuddle with your furbaby? The only problem I have with that, is my Boxer, Lola, takes my spot in bed if I get up to go to the bathroom and then pretends like she's asleep when I get back!

If I need to corral the dogs, the laundry room is the best place. Besides, that's where their food and water are located. Sure they occasional find something to get into, but are not even in the realm of mess making like children!

We have a gate at the top of the stairs, so if we need to, the dog can be confined to the second floor.

We thought we would use the laundry room for when we left, but our dog is a pretty good pup, so no accidents. Plus we take him with us a lot.

We have a fairly open floor plan and 3 dogs. The youngest is just shy of 10 months. She started out in a crate (in the laundry) and graduated to the kitchen family room area which is all vinyl tile. We do have play yard fencing propped in a doorway and in the most open part between family and dining room (6'?). It is easy to make it whatever size you want it based on the number of panels. Honestly any dog could knock this barrier over in a heart beat, but mine don't even try. They respect the boundaries inside, outside not so much! They have not done any damage to anything in the house (with the exception of their beds/toys), not allowed on furniture, and no access to trash and don't counter surf. Once they figured out not to potty in the house, they have not had any accidents.

I was at a model home recently and they a pet pocket door. I thought it was a pretty cool feature. Something like this:

I love that gorgeous pocket door. What a great way, too, to guide people away from where you don't want them. Like, don't come THIS way to get to the beer, go around the corner. Or, I just mopped the floor don't you dare track in here with your sandy swim stuff on.

Can I present another musing? I see a lot of plans where the master suite is behind the kitchen, between the garage, mudroom, laundry, and kitchen. Or you walk out of the bedroom directly into the breakfast nook. This bothers me no end because it reminds me of the maid's quarters or my first apartment. I always comment on it, too. But so many people say it doesn't bother them that I wonder if I've just watch too many Hazel and Brady Bunch reruns.

If this is your layout, enlighten me! I'm always ready to change my mind.

Anglo...I'm so sorry about your pup.

Locating the master bedroom suite where a maid's quarters would be located may be just telling it like it is.

I see a lot of plans where the master suite is behind the kitchen, between the garage, mudroom, laundry, and kitchen....If this is your layout, enlighten me! I'm always ready to change my mind.

I have this in my current floor plan and would do it again. We are in a ranch with a split bedroom layout (master on one side, behind the kitchen and off the garage/mudroom/laundry, and other bedrooms on other side). We don't have kids. Here are the reasons I like it:

-I like having the master close to the laundry. We have pull out hampers in the laundry and take dirty clothes directly to the hampers. Also, it's easy to put clothes away when they come out of the laundry.

-I like having the master close to the garage. I can't tell you the number of times I am halfway out the door and realize I need to grab something from my bedroom.

-It is private from the rest of the house. The master feels like its own wing. While convenient to garage/laundry, not visible from mudroom/laundry.

-There is a nice view from the bedroom/bathroom. In my next house, it will be in similar location relative to the rest of the floor plan, but part of the "T" that sticks out so that both the bedroom and bathroom can have windows on two sides.

As most on these forums know, I'm no fan of "open concept" for innumerable reasons, but for me, this would be a deal breaker.

I can appreciate why people would not want open concept. For myself, I like having kitchen, eating, living rooms in the open concept fashion. We keep our dog out when we are gone, and she is very respectful of the house :).

I think that the master by the kitchen is, in fact, more of a function of a split bedroom plan in an overall rectangle. Instead of being creative with a U or an L shape, it's the "logical" place to put the common areas in the middle and the private areas at each end. Putting the master closer to the kitchen (and then likely the entrance / garage) makes sense, as well, with kids entering / exiting the home...

We don't have a split bedroom plan in the new house (ranch) but we have buffered our bedroom by placing a hall / pool bathroom between us and guest room #1 / office, and a large closet (or 4th bedroom) between us and guest room #2.

The master takes up a whole lot of space, but since it's just the 2 of us, I wanted our bedroom and the common areas to take up the lion's share of space. However, by ensuring that we have to walk past the "other" rooms a few times a day, I am hoping will encourage "full utilization". This is something that we don't do today with 2 bedrooms / 2 bathrooms / bonus and left upstairs. We simply do not use any of those rooms. (blind dogs and stairs don't mix...)

We have always crate trained and no free reign of the house until a year old. I am not sure if it's the breed or what but our dogs (we are on #2 - lost #1 last fall) have never been destroyers. Daily walks were always our routine though - all seasons snow included and I think that helps. Unless it was pouring rain we were walking. We do have a back hall where the crate, food and water are and sometimes if gone for about an hour we will put the gate up (yes it's a baby gate) and give her run of that area and so far no problems. I came home one day when she was about 4 months old and she met me at the door - oh I was sweating it. I thought my son latched the crate and he hadn't - she kenneled because she knows the routine and it wasn't locked but swung shut enough that I thought she was secured. Anyhow - not a thing out of place and she was unattended for 5 hours. Because we have this nice back hall space we probably will not give her full run at a year but keep her 'on the tile' when we are gone.

First one did swallow socks whole and loved to eat kleenex or tp if she could get to it but other than that - nada. My kids were 2 and 4 when we got her so the socks were small. As she grew and they grew she sometimes would steal a sock if we were gone and put it right in the middle of the living room floor to be sure we didn't miss it I guess? But at that point thankfully she stopped eating them!

This little girl is 6 months old and so far no sock or kleenex issues but she did sneak into my sons room and decided to claim this beanie baby stuffed animal. They are so particular. She already has about 4 of her own but nope - she chose this one! She likes to nibble on it's long beak.

I was trying to figure out which was the beanie lol! The beak was the giveaway clue.

She is such a dork. She fell asleep on it and rolled over and there must be a wing in her mouth and it just stayed right with her on top of her snout. My other golden mix also preferred stuffed soft toys to anything hard.

I have never had a house with the master near the kitchen and garage. But I can see the draw. I like having my laundry room near the garage so I can imagine having both the master and the laundry room near the garage to have them in close proximity of each other.

On the other hand I wanted my master separate from that entry area so I had to compromise and do not have laundry near my master. May plumb for a stackable in my closet for when I get "old".

We have a very small (800 sq.ft.) house, a very big Great Pyrenees, and a tiny Maltese. The Great Pyrenees is fine alone in the house unless we leave food on the counter, and our elderly Maltese is great if we don't exceed the limits of her tiny bladder. If we know we'll be gone awhile, we put the Maltese in the bathroom with food, water, and piddle pads.

While I was in college, I had a sweet, hyper poodle/terrier who simply could never be trusted at home alone. I still have books with chewed covers compliments of Peri. Although she was small , she could jump onto the kitchen counters and from there on top of the refrigerator. I found this out when she knocked an empty bottle onto the floor. Another time I had baked brownies and, knowing her propensity for jumping, stashed them on the top shelf of a cupboard. I returned home to find an empty brownie pan on the floor. Fortunately for her, she threw them all up behind the couch. Peri loved to answer the phone and would knock it off the hook and bark at whoever called. She was a true character!

Peri sounds like she was part cat! And a very clever pup!