What does the plan look like?

I have a dining area in my kitchen with no dining room. It suits us but the only time we entertain formally is at Thanksgiving. Your needs may differ

Old craftsman bungalows always had a separate dining room and many times the dining room was larger than the kitchen or living room.

I personally don't like open plan but that's me. I like each function to have it's own space. If you're always in the same huge room, it's hard to feel like you're doing something separate in each space. You may tire easily of seeing the same space all the time. I'm sorry, I can't think of a positive for open plan. I'm sure someone else will be able to give us that information.

I also don't like open plans--no place to get away and all the noise bouncing off the walls...

I live in a small ranch home and our DR is right off our kitchen, no walls separate it but the kitchen is separated from the LR. We use the DR for all 3 meals and have a peninsula on the kitchen for when someone is eating alone or doing some work.

If you could provide the plans to get more specific input.

If it helps, we downsized from a 3800 sq ft home to 1800. It took about a year, as we got very discouraged trying to imagine living in a smaller space. I had only walked into the front hall of this house when I told the agent this was the house (my husband was away and I made the offer anyway). It had an open concept living, dining and kitchen and it was the best decision ever. Highly recommend if downsizing and when decorating, just define the spaces to make them feel cozy.

My current home has the kitchen, dining, and family room as part of one 19’ x 50’ space. It’s great for us. In a previous historic home the dining room was open to the living room but the space overall was L shaped so the dining room was defined but still open.

I still have a school age family but would hate having my main floor open. The noise and mess would drive me insane especially now when we are all often working from home. I like double French doors ( Pocket is best in smaller floor plans) between my rooms so when entertaining I can open each room up for flow but in everyday living we can each retreat to our own space without having to go to our bed rooms.

What about a cased opening instead of a fully open floor plan. It is period correct to the style of the home you are building as well. Something similar to this:

Hi, thank you all. Maureen, I understand your pain as it is exactly what I am feeling now. My concern If I will feel like living in a big box... We currently don't have a plan as we can't decide and the architect doesn't want to decide for us.( understandable). I can share idea of the open concept and one with the separate dining room ( it has some of my comments on it sorry),

We downsized to an open concept condo and I feel like I can’t get away and we are always in the same room! I miss my rooms. I don’t need a separate formal living room, but I do like a dining room.

I think you could reach a happy medium by having one of the spaces through a cased opening (cpartist did a nice division to her living room) or around a corner or off to the side, like an L, or both!

What we did is make a cased opening with bookcases between the living room and the kitchen/dining room to help define the different spaces. In the dining area, we recessed our 80" long buffet to help define it from the kitchen space.

As for the rest of the house, it's a U shaped house so they are separated and not open to the public spaces which works perfectly for our downsized living. We as retirees love the more open concept because in better times we love to entertain informally indoors/outdoors. (We're in Fl). So having that large space means our kitchen island can serve as a buffet and our dining table can hold drinks, etc.

Dining area: Table expands to seat 10 comfortably with plenty of room.

Kitchen area: You can see how the dining and kitchen area are the same space but defined by the buffet in the dining space.

Another thought is to divide the spaces with something like french doors.

The separate dining room is not going to give you a place to get away in general, except for meals. If you like a separate space for eating (and based on size of table) try to incorporate some comfy seating, even a chair by the window where you would be drawn to read. Consider your new lifestyle and how you see yourselves using the whole space in general. There are ways to make open area feel more separated

Yes overall first decide how you intend to live now that you're downsizing. Your life now will be different than when you were raising kids, etc. If you haven't already read The Not So Big House by Sarah Susanka I highly recommend it.

This sounds like a job for some IRL house touring. You're torn about what you'd really like; maybe tour model homes or parade of homes and see how they actually feel to you, thinking about how you really use your space. Also, in your current space, what do you like or dislike? In my house, I'm in love with our TV room that's completely enclosed with french doors. But I'm super annoyed that our dining area and kitchen are separated from the living room by a single 5 foot laundry room.. it's so unnecessarily in the way, and every day I wish I could open that up. So maybe you could ask your architect for both - an open area and some closed ones.

We currently don't have a plan as we can't decide and the architect doesn't want to decide for us.(

This makes no sense. An architect will work with you and help you come up with a plan that will work for you and your family. Or is it because you can't decide between open or closed concept and he/she doesn't want to start until you decide that?

Agree with Emily look at model homes if you can. I originally thought I liked open floor plan too but when I actually saw it IRL I completely changed my mind. Even though we only formally dine with a large gathering 2-3 times a year it is worth it to have a nice space to do it in. Ours isn’t closed in with 4 walls (only 2 walls) but it’s in it’s own defined area. I dislike having a dining table right in the middle of the room.

AGREE with Mark Bishak.

My BIL had the stupid TV on so freakin' loud last Christmas in an open concept that we couldn't even visit or enjoy.

Couldn't play holiday music, nothing. Bloodcurdling horrifying screams of animals being chewed into bloody pieces as he had "The Animal Planet" channel blasting.

Echo chamber.

Honestly, it pretty much ruined what was supposed to be a lovely holiday dinner that my elderly MIL prepared.

It wasn't my house to make a stink but I did tell my husband no more, no thank you, never again.

Janie, I agree. I have to have a separate area/room designated as the TV room because DH leaves the TV on all day. I don't want to be in the kitchen and listen to it all day!

I agree with Maureen, not sure how a separate dining-room will allow you some quietness. It is important to have a place where to be away. I am in a small condo, but we use a guest bedroom as an office and a place to get away as the living room is off the kitchen/dining room. If you want an open space living area, plan for a room that can be closed somewhere, whether it is a TV room or a room for people to get some quietness or a larger bedroom where you can have a real sitting area.

This said, your dining room can be open or closed depending how you live. If you cook while other people eat, is it more important for you to be with others or that they do not see how the meal is done (and dirty dishes)? But gven the layout you show, I am not sure it makes a difference, because except if people sit at the table when they arrive, they will see the rest of the house. The main advantage I see for a separate dining room is that, if you have many people, they can split into different groups and still be able to speak. We dont entertain a lot, but if you do, this may be important.

But that is just my opinion.

Nothing says it has to be all or nothing. Our custom design had double pocket doors separating all of the spaces, so they would look like cased openings when the pocket doors were open, but we could close off spaces as we desired. We live in open now and I wouldn't do it again. I like not having to go to a different level just to have quiet space, listen to different music, or not have the TV on. Now - only one of those things can happen in our living space at a time.

Having a separate dining room in the plan you show is kind of "meh" to me. You're only in that room for what, 30-60 minutes a day? It's the rest of the time that gets long when there's nowhere else to go.

Hi, sorry for replying so late ( this is my 2nd attempt as it seems I messed up my first lol). Thank you all. I would like to reply each one separataly. Wonderful ideas ( partial walls, cabinetary etc) beautiful pictures to give me some guidance and statements that echo my own. If everything is open why having a separate dining room. I was already thinking of some type separation ( glass doors) for the kitchen.. I visited so many open homes and nothing hits my heart. The architet is just waiting as I keep bouncing and can't make my mind which direction to go. I wish I would just fall in love for a floorplan as I've for my current home and Maureen on hers. I will definitally read the book sugested by cpartist, it might be I am not just quite ready to live my home/memories behind. Thank you all.

Downsizing is not easy. As mentioned earlier, it took us a year to find the right home, but it was the best decision. I can’t envision my husband and I still living in our previous, big house.

Leaving behind so many memories is hard and it’s also difficult choosing what to get rid of. Lots of emotions involved, but once you settle in, I’m sure you will be happy!

To decide on the dining space, consider:

- how large a table/seating do you need (including for entertaining) and which provides the better space

- would you rather family and guests be separated when you are cooking and they are in living /dining area, or prefer being part of the conversations

- seems you have island seating; would you end up eating there more often on a daily basis than going to a separate room

- the separation it seems would be between living room and kitchen and could be a solid wall/doorway and extra storage perhaps, or more open with sliding doors. Either way, you won’t feel boxed in with the length still open but won‘t be as visual to further back in room

@mqcola if you want to turn on messaging, I can send you an example.

Hi,

Reflecting on Mark Bischak’s comment, visual is the major impact for me as olfactory I could definitely use technology to mitigate

We never used the kitchen (dinette) to eat our meals;

I like setting the table and having our meals. Our table is a mid to large size (accommodates 8 comfortable) and I have beautiful (and some large) oil painting that I can’t figure it out where to place without a dining room or walls

I like some interactions with my family while cooking but don’t like to see the mess or the TV when we are ready for eating. I can’t picture myself eating supper at a nice table setting and having the pots and pans around.

So, after this evaluation, the kitchen is the problem.. LOL

I wanted to share some of the oil painting I have; I know some will say they don’t match at all.

Thanks to all, you gave me a lot of information. I will give these findings to the architect and see what he can do for us.

THANK YOU!!

Hi Everyone,

Happy Friday! . Not sure if I should be keeping the same thread but since your suggestions gave a North, I decided to keep it here so you could see the progress or maybe more dilemma. Let me know if it will be better to start a new topic..

After gathering all wonderful suggestions recommended here, my husband and I discussed and decided to go with a open concept and after 1 year or so ( test run LOL) decide if we need to close the Kitchen, this way we could add some cabinetry ( as suggested here) to close up the Kitchen a little bit.

So, now my dilemma... Where should the kitchen be located. I would like to ask for your help as I can't visualize it properly and I need to have it defined before submitting the plans for the building permit. ( I wish I could just have it as TBD and decide after framing is done. LOL)

I am attaching the two option, one is the most current ( kitchen beside the bathroom, middle of the house) and the other option is Kitchen facing the rear of the house. I understand the most common layout is the Kitchen where is currently located. Everything will stay the same and the only change would be the Kitchen

I really appreciate you taking the time to share your experience and helping us to decide.

Not sure why the X is on the first drawing but if the bathroom opens into the kitchen, don't do it. A friend has that set up and it's creepy and gross .

Hi JT7abcz, The "X" is a wall ( pantry) the designer originally suggested and we decided not having it. The bathroom doesn't open to the kitchen, It opens to the hallway.

I like the kitchen in the second one. I think I would enlarge the island to a more square shape to fit the space.

Hey, I can't help but notice... Your foyer is fairly narrow at less than 8 feet, but there's nothing in it, no stairs or anything else, but it's 26 feet long and has the tallest ceilings in the house? I'm trying to picture a 12 foot tall space that's only 7 feet wide... Maybe with a grand staircase in a period type home that would look gorgeous.. just curious if you have a plan for that space, like lots of beautiful furniture and art in a sort of gallery. 12 feet is tall.

Hi Emily,

I am, yes I agree that the foyer is very long and narrow. I really don't like it but it seems to be the only option we had as the lot is very narrow. I am planning on having a 11 ft high ceiling to avoid ( hope) this high ceiling feelling. Actually I was even thinking of 10 ft high but as DH would like a solid double door, i am thinking of 11 ft to give us some light above the door.

I understand you prefer what the architect suggested, correct? the kitchen in the "Middle of the house"

I am going to create another post just to talk about the the kitchen position.

Thanks so much for your input..

I prefer the kitchen at the corner of the house because of the nice light you would get while cooking. In addition, in this plan, the guts of the kitchen is not so visible in the living room.