91–100 of 165 posts
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Ymmv. mine are 5 & 7 and in the last 5 years I have had zero of those problems.
Yep. Different kids are different. As are parents. Some of this might be introversion versus extraversion.
IMHO having a cavalier attitude because nothing bad happened to you is not productive.
The open (Kitchen) floor plan to me represents the idea that cooking isn’t a chore separate from eating and socializing. I want to cook for an hour without being alone. Privacy in the kitchen would never be desireable. “Entertaining” doesn’t require guests. There is also a matter of space. A shared living/dining/cooking space can use a lot less space than three separate rooms. I couldn’t afford the separate solution…
> I want to cook for an hour without being alone. Privacy in the kitchen would never be desireable. When you have small kids: - You want them away from boiling water, dropped knives, and dangerously hot ovens. - You want them to keep sleeping even though you're vacuuming - You might want to let them watch Baby Shark for the 1000th blasted time while leaving you out of it - You might want to read a novel while they ho…
This sort of stuff is exactly why the separate kitchen doesn't work at our house. The kids want to be where they can see us, and, with the way our kitchen is set up, there's no way for them to do that without being underfoot. At the same time, we want to be able to keep at least a vague eye on them, and that's not not really possible if they're in a completely separate room.
Versus, when I was little, our house had a kitchen that was separated from the living room by a counter. Which things much easier: We could hang out in sight of Mom, Mom could keep an eyey on us, and we weren't creating a safety hazard (or hassle) just so long as we stayed on one side of the counter.
It's also a total PITA at dinner parties. These aren't the old days, where it was OK for one person (always the same person) to stay isolated in the kitchen for half the evening, and it was understood that it's a private space where guests aren't allowed. Instead we end up with more and more people congregating in the kitchen, socializing with the cook and then with each other, until eventually literally every guest is there, getting in the way of the cooking, and they all have to get kicked out so that we can open the oven safely. Then you're isolated for a little bit, until someone needs to get another beer from the fridge, and ends up staying in the kitchen to chat, and then another, and it slowly ramps up until a mildly dangerous cacophany again. Rinse and repeat until dinner is served.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> I want to cook for an hour without being alone. Exactly my thoughts reading this. I would guess this author does not cook. Or has not done so in a closed isolating kitchen while family or friends chat happily just around a wall out of earshot.
> I would guess this author does not cook Exactly the opposite. People with open floor plans don't cook every day, otherwise their home will smell like a cheap restaurant, unless they got used to it. My parents have an open plan, i don't. My home smells fresh every day (except kitchen) despite cooking every day, their house, smells like food in every corner because the smell impregnates in every material(especially i…
It has to be a mix. Fully open isn’t great because you can’t make your space your own. You have to consider the entire rest of the floor or building. Give everyone private rooms and everyone works in isolation. This might look productive but I would argue it’s not: everyone has a physical barrier around themselves, they don’t even need to set boundaries any more. But if you can give your teams a group space to themse…
What teams? The article is about homes.
In the future we won't think of families as families, but as teams, all highly engaged and aligned on a single strategic goal.
Furthermore designing for it is wasteful? Why must it be?
It’s an acoustic nightmare to have one big room that everyone can talk to in?
Open floor plan housing makes smaller spaces feel larger by allowing all the rooms to be the living room or dining room as need be. It allows me to afford a place that feels larger but is smaller. And that alone is a killer feature in a City.
The open (Kitchen) floor plan to me represents the idea that cooking isn’t a chore separate from eating and socializing. I want to cook for an hour without being alone. Privacy in the kitchen would never be desireable. “Entertaining” doesn’t require guests. There is also a matter of space. A shared living/dining/cooking space can use a lot less space than three separate rooms. I couldn’t afford the separate solution…
I once lived in a Tri-level with a very large and open kitchen. I also lived in a house with very big main rooms but a tiny kitchen. The trouble is everyone congergrates in the kitchen! That's fine if it's nice and wide and has plenty of counter space, but awful if it's really tiny and the only means between the living room and the patio where your other friend is grilling. I agree with other comments on how a dining…
I'd really like to have a separate dining room in my house - in fact I've recently hired an architect to plan an extension off the back of the house that would add one!
And here I thought it was going to be about office space :-) More seriously though, the original open floor plan was the tipi or the igloo. Separate rooms for everything was explicitly a way to show off wealth by having portions of your living space dedicated to non-essential activities. When people put aside the bragging aspects having multiple rooms, it is more functionally useful to have a larger open space which…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> I want to cook for an hour without being alone. Privacy in the kitchen would never be desireable. When you have small kids: - You want them away from boiling water, dropped knives, and dangerously hot ovens. - You want them to keep sleeping even though you're vacuuming - You might want to let them watch Baby Shark for the 1000th blasted time while leaving you out of it - You might want to read a novel while they ho…
> You want them away from boiling water, dropped knives, and dangerously hot ovens. This sort of stuff is exactly why the separate kitchen doesn't work at our house. The kids want to be where they can see us, and, with the way our kitchen is set up, there's no way for them to do that without being underfoot. At the same time, we want to be able to keep at least a vague eye on them, and that's not not really possible…
Unless something absolutely amazing is happening in the living room, the smokers will be out back, a pair of introverts will be in the hallway, and everyone else will slowly gravitate towards the kitchen until everyone is in the way.
The historical context portion of the article is interesting and well written, but the critique of the open-concept layout at the end seemed rushed and unconvincing. Anyone here who lives in a modern open-concept house care to comment? I currently live with my wife, 3 children and 2 dogs in a 1200 square foot split level and we all dream of a big open-concept house some day... but apparently some people are getting t…
There are two factors:
- Area / Perimeter ratio. If a room is too large, it's tough to use space efficiently. In open-concept rooms, there is limited space on the walls for traditional bookcases, art, buffet tables, etc. Of course you can still use the space, but you can usually fit more furniture when you have more walls (up to a point, then the inefficiency swings the other way).
- Privacy. Depending on how many people live in your house, a single large room may not offer enough privacy and noise exclusion as a day to day living space. Therefore, even if you have an open layout, you usually also want other more private and cozy rooms (e.g. a separate family room or den).
My conclusion is that an open layout is fine, but shouldn't be the be-all and end-all public living space in your home. If you have a 2k+ square foot house with an open layout and another separate living space, I think most people will be happy with that. For a single person/couple, having the extra living space might not be needed.
The historical context portion of the article is interesting and well written, but the critique of the open-concept layout at the end seemed rushed and unconvincing. Anyone here who lives in a modern open-concept house care to comment? I currently live with my wife, 3 children and 2 dogs in a 1200 square foot split level and we all dream of a big open-concept house some day... but apparently some people are getting t…
Actually now I've written that, I guess it's really not that dissimilar to the open office plan arguments.