Thanks to Frank Lloyd Wright in the late 1800s, open floor concepts are a popular trend in the housing market. Now, almost 84 percent of builders construct houses with open floor plans. Learn the pros and cons of open floor plans and to help decide which concept works best for you and your family.
Pro: Social Convenience
Want to entertain guests or spend time with your family while working in the kitchen? With an open floor plan, family and friends don’t need to gather around the cramped kitchen to hold a conversation with you, and keeping an eye on the kids playing in the living room is easier. Additionally, you don’t have to alternate between the kitchen and living room while cooking to catch up on your favorite TV show.
Con: No privacy
The fewer rooms in your house, the fewer places you can take a break from people. If you prefer private spaces, consider a closed or partially-closed floor plan. These concepts allow you to retreat into the kitchen for a few moments between hosting a party or watching your energetic kids, giving you a desirable social breather. You may also prefer cooking in privacy and kick friendly guests and family members back into the living room!
Pro: A brighter, bigger room
Walls cast shadows and reduce the spread of light from space to space. Open floor plans allow light from windows and lamps to disperse throughout your kitchen and keep living space uninterrupted. Fewer walls and better light also give the impression of a bigger home. Together, these components might mean you’ll feel less cramped in a home with an open floor plan.
Con: Sound and smell travels
Unfortunately, that larger room increases the sounds and smells coming from adjoining spaces. Everyone in the living room can hear what you’re cooking, and everyone in the kitchen can hear loud and clear what’s on the television. This issue can amplify chaos. For example, the sounds of playing kids in the living room, adults having conversation around the kitchen island, and an active cook can mix into one loud cacophony.
Pro: Cohesive interior decoration
No walls can hamper your interior design sensibilities in an open floor plan. The decoration in your kitchen can match the decoration in your living room and dining area. You can also use one design theme in the kitchen and a different yet harmonious design in the living room, which can create its own borders without walls.
Con: Can’t hide the mess
One benefit of a closed concept plan is that if your kitchen is messy, it doesn’t make the entire room look messy. Walled off spaces allow you to clean one room at a time and hide messes where necessary. Having guests over? Only worry about cleaning the living room or maybe the dining room. Meanwhile, the mess in your kitchen—which can easily become a disaster zone after cooking—can remain hidden, leaving the other spaces untouched.
Pro: Flexible arrangements
A bigger room with combined spaces allow you to do almost anything. A larger party can spread into the kitchen with ease, and you can move furniture to extend the dining space into the living room. In addition, you can organize your kitchen and living room into configurations a closed concept wouldn’t allow, like making some spaces larger than others without worrying about how a wall affects the arrangement.
Con: Heat from the kitchen spreads
A closed kitchen means you’ll probably get hot while cooking, but the walls will prevent heat from traveling into the living room. This concept can help you efficiently manage your heating bill and avoid disturbing family and guests in the other rooms once you turn on the oven.
No one can say whether an open floor plan or a closed floor plan is the best choice for any one family. Ultimately, you and your family decide which concept fits your needs. Knowing these pros and cons of open floor plans will help you make that decision.
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