I prefer closed off kitchens. Our current home is open floor plan and it drives me up the wall that my husband and kids persist in trying to talk to me from other “rooms” while I am working in the kitchen. Yes, you can see me. No, I cannot hear you over the fan and the running water. I also hate that I get to stare at any unwashed dishes while eating dinner. I knew this was not my favorite floor plan when we bought but availability (housing shortage here) and location trumped that disadvantage.

Some discussion here.

https://www.gardenweb.com/discussions/5432405/open-concept-versus-rooms#n=20

Lars (hi!), I'd have said I fully agree, but we (I should say two lovely people here on GW Kitchens) redesigned our kitchen layout, turning our almost separate kitchen into an open concept (something I was adamant against). Because the new layout was far more functional to our needs, we are going with open concept. Also, it will allow quite a bit more natural light in, which is important to me. You can't see the kitchen when you enter the house (because we've a foyer) but it's open to the great room, which is just off the foyer. However, I do love enclosed kitchens still, and always will, for a variety of reasons (also functional as well as personal tastes). The great room is larger, so the kitchen is offset, and I hope that helps with a bit of the separation 'feeling'. I must say, despite that I preferred not having 'open concept', now that we've torn everything out, all the natural light is a wonderful trade-off. We have further added transoms and glass doors since our first design to take even more advantage of the natural lighting. As for dirty dishes, that's part of cooking for me.

We don't entertain much at all, and I also don't care for guests wandering about my working space! We are altering our back yard for entertaining, although I don't see us doing much of that either, sadly. But one never knows...

I also like a separate foyer, but that isn't always possible.

The one thing I've never cared for is an open bath to the master bedroom. I've seen this in a number of houses, but for lack of privacy (and it also seems unsanitary somehow), I could never live like that.

I saw a thread referring to the same article, very recently. I read it with interest.

Obviously totally open plan with no rooms at all is the most ancient one known to humanity))

I think -many plans can work-will depend on a house itself, and needs of a family.

I grew up with separate rooms. Kitchens were all eat ins, with dining table often in the living room, used for gatherings and occasions.

Then it was different variants on different plans-say closed off kitchen, but open greater room (in my childhood homes, all rooms had doors. not necessarily closed unless nighttime, but they all had doors). Or-totally open plan. Or-plan that's partially open. Say the kitchen is not eat in anymore but you can't see it from entrance or living. But say it is connected to the dining or/and the family

I myself prefer semi-open plans..and more intimate spaces, along more gathering ones, with possibility of versatile use. I don't like seeing a kitchen from an entrance, and highly prefer not to see it from the living. And I prefer to have a TV somewhere when I/others can watch it in peace, without someone using a blender right next to it, or preparing for SATs or GREs or whatever, and needing his own piece and quiet. So i like separation between living/dining-and, say, family room/library. Makes difference, even without doors-having different spaces carved, relationship between them, some sense of travel too..every destination is a bit different.

But of course now I'm more in a position to choose, which I didn't have when younger. I was always sensitive to good, making sense layout vs bad one, but also making the best of what we had. Now I'm much more discerning because I can be. I won't pay whatever they ask here to pay for totally open concept poorly considered and done (most new builds). No, I'd look for something that works for our family in this stage of our lives(which I was lucky to do past couple times..last time had to enclose the kitchen a bit-I think they opened it up for resale-very wrong move, in our house).

I like rooms, walls, and doors. The house I grew up in was built in the 60s, and while the kitchen was partially open to the family room, it was separate from the dining room and couldn't be seen from the living room. There were pocket doors all over the place, and we sure used them. I remember seeing open concept houses for the first time, and they threw me off. At first I thought it was just because they were new to me, but no, it's years later, and I still prefer rooms. Very open houses, especially those with 2-story living or family rooms, don't even feel like homes to me.

Many, MANY people assumed we would take down the wall between our kitchen and our dining room with this remodel, and we did consider it, but we decided against it. Our house is 100 years old (4-square with Craftsman accents in the heart of FLW country) and we felt that it wouldn't work to do that. We also often close off the kitchen from the foyer and dining room when kids are doing homework, and we used to separate our fighting cats that way. It's actually *more* functional for us to have the kitchen separate from the other rooms. I have been a little annoyed by the number of people who have said "so you're taking this wall down, right?" like it's the only option. Just because open concept is popular does not mean that you are required to do it, right? :)