I’m east coast, no one does either, always smooth. Regional differences are so interesting.

It’s your house so you can do whatever you like but smooth/flat is the only good option in bay area for resale… maybe i’m scarred by having old cracking plaster walls but i really like being able to easily patch things.

No texture at all. None!

No texture in my area either, only smooth.

Thanks everyone for the helpful replies.

Although I personally prefer knockdown to orange peel if you like the orange peel go for it! Smooth walls show everything so they are usually much more expensive look done right.

Texas here, orange peel is very common and I like it. I like textured things, but tbh don’t really notice it a lot. It’s just background, not a big statement like troweled walls.

I like smooth, too.

It’s really just personal preference — do what you want, but if resale is important, consider that, too.

Met with a designer yesterday. And they mentioned that flat/smooth finish will show wall imperfections and recommended to go with knockout.
For the context our home is a 1970s built home. What do you all suggest?

I dont think the regional differences are as significant as what exactly the house is. A vintage house with intact plaster walls is never going to have perfectly flat non-textured walls and even if you were to be replacing all the plaster with drywall youd still want some texture to maintain visual harmony between walls and your aged 100+ year old wood. Also agree with the sentiment that it's YOUR house, make it what YOU want, not what some hypothetical person a decade or more into the future MIGHT want, Or might not, fads/fashion always swing back and forth over time. Orange peel is pretty subtle, does not preclude someone mudding over to get a flat surface if they want to. Its not remotely like having to remove those horrendous sharp rough textures from the 1990s.

Presumably you are putting up new drywall so i’m not sure why the concern about wall imperfections? if they are concerned about this they probably need better subs! we’ve redone kitchen and bath and despite old not square anything walls are perfectly smooth.

By my reading, OP was not concerned about wall imperfections, just what some hypothetical other people might think about them and their walls if they went ahead and did - gasp, horror - orange peel textured walls. OP, what do YOU want? Me, I would not want knockdown - reminds me too much of my Mom's assisted living apartment - would prefer smooth or an orange peel .... which btw can be more subtle or finer textured, doesnt have to be real pebbly looking.

I have the orange peel texture on my walls and wish I didn’t. When changes are made by removing something attached to the drywall, or it otherwise gets damaged, the texture is very, very difficult to match when repairing the damage.