Open floor plan in house, regrets?

[yaqui]

Braintrust,

We are getting ready to start a home renovation, and we have your typical front living area, galley kitchen, and dining area. We are seriously considering removing walls and we want to open up the area for more space.

Have any of you guys that have done this, had regrets? Seems like things could get a little noisy? Just want some opinions please.

TIA.

[Mayhem]

No regrets here.

Ours is open living room, kitchen and breakfast area.

Kids bedroom on one side, master on the other and love it.


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[texizona]

Open floorplan makes the house seem much larger.

[SaltwaterSlick]

When we left Kingwood for "country living", we bought a custom home on acerage... The floorplan is very open compared to our Kingwood home and we absolutely love it! Had a party with over 40 people in attendance... we were able to seat everyone (with rented extra tables/chairs) in one space! It worked out great. It can get noisy, especially when the grandsons are running their RC cars around, but THAT's OK!!

[stickbowcoop]

We had a really small house back in PA (900 sq ft) and we had an open plan. It made that small house seem bigger but was a bummer when having a gathering and you couldn't hear people talk in the kitchen/dining area from the kids playing video games in the living room lol.

[Pushbutton2]

Open floor plan there's no quiet area

[BrianL]

It can get noisy, but that is a minor issue for all the things that it offers. I like ours...

[Tx.Fisher]

Open floor plan is always nice.

But understand that you can’t just take down walls if they are load bearing walls. You will have to put beams up in the attic to hold the weight that the walls were holding.

[BrianL]

Open floor plan there's no quiet area

Sure there is, in the yard... or shop! Those walls only offer a limited noise reduction.

[dlinzy]

I love ours, just have to brace accordingly.

[solocam_aggie]

No regrets here.

Ours is open living room, kitchen and breakfast area.

Kids bedroom on one side, master on the other and love it.


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Our exact set up, and feelings towards it

[hogslayer78]

Open floor plan there's no quiet area

Yes there is. It's called your bedroom.

[JHT]

Only regret you will have is wishing you would have done it sooner.

[CaptainDave]

Open floor plan is definitely the way to go. Seems that all new houses go this type of format. Even one story homes seem to have a central den/kitchen/breakfast area with only the bedrooms/bathrooms separated from it.

Things I like about open concept -
- Open areas make home feel larger
- Nice to see den from kitchen area; game can be on TV, easy to watch kids while prepping dinner, etc.
- Entertaining is easier as conversations can be had between areas
- Kitchen counters can be used to serve big meals; i.e. buffet style
- Dining rooms and living rooms, although traditional, often were wasted spaces as they were used rarely; maybe for holiday gatherings, etc.

Few negatives -
- Noise, especially from kitchen if someone is trying to watch TV or read in the other room
- Less private areas, such as space for a home office in a smaller house

At least for me, the positives easily outweigh the negatives.

[bloodtrailer28]

Love ours and anybody that comes over always comments on how much they like the open floor plan.