open plan issues

catoutthebag · 10 February 2015 at 3:34PM

How do people deal with open plan living and kitchen area cooking smell issues. ..Surely extractor and window aren't enough?
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Does cooking smell linger do you find?

Looking at some nice Flats and that seems to be the only issue...don't mind open plan in principle just cooking smell issue?

PinkLady25 · 10 February 2015 at 3:40PM

Does cooking smell linger do you find?

In a word, yes.

We've lived in an open plan flat and now in-laws house which is open plan and in our experience the cooking smells linger and travel through the living room area - even with the window and extractor.

Some people don't care but we really struggle with this, as for example, you can't hang your clean washing to dry in the vicinity of the kitchen or living room or it ends up stinking, and if you don't have anywhere else to put the clothes horses, it becomes a nightmare particularly in winter to dry clothing if you don't have/use a tumble dryer. And that's just washing for 2 of us.

catoutthebag · 10 February 2015 at 3:50PM

Thank you for confirming

PinkLady25 · 10 February 2015 at 3:52PM

catoutthebag wrote: »

Thank you for confirming

No worries. As I say, some people may not be bothered but it's a massive dealbreaker for me and we saw some properties in our search for a house that were nice but open plan kitchen really put us off. Totally down to personal preference really but the smells were an issue for us.

catoutthebag · 10 February 2015 at 3:59PM

Definitely deal breaker not only with the washing but also just wanting a neutral smelling living area

PinkLady25 · 10 February 2015 at 4:33PM

Same here, it's very frustrating at times... Having to remember to move coats, bags etc out of the way...

Don't get me wrong, it's not every food that has such a strong smell, but even things like grilling bacon for a few minutes creates a strong aroma of 'chip fat'... Not good!

lady1964 · 10 February 2015 at 7:01PM

We are completely open plan & yes, smells do linger despite the extractor however this doesn't bother us.

We are fortunate to have a large utility room off the kitchen with a door that keeps the noise of the washing machine out and smells away from drying clothes.

One bugbear with the open plan is the kettle, it's quite noisy and if someone switches it on whilst we're watching TV, it's annoying so sometimes we have to wait for the ad breaks lol!

I'm not sure I'd go for another house with this much open plan to it but the upside is that it makes for a very sociable space.

bouicca21 · 10 February 2015 at 7:06PM

I've always assumed that people who live in open plan places never cook. I'm willing to take a small bet that in the next decade people will be putting all (or at least most) of those walls back.

Mojisola · 10 February 2015 at 7:06PM

Apart from the cooking smells spreading round, it's the noise that puts me off. If I want to watch something on the tv and OH wants to read while listening to music, we can go into separate rooms and not disturb each other. Does everyone have to do the same thing if the living space is all open plan?

rev229 · 10 February 2015 at 7:38PM

We considered removing the wall between our kitchen and the dining room that we used as a playroom when the kids were younger. However we have just spend 3 months using that room as a lounge as we had a flood upstairs through to our normal lounge. The wall will be staying up! It is so noisy ie washing machine, dryer, oven kettle etc. so glad we experimented before we removed the wall!

Pixie5740 · 10 February 2015 at 7:43PM

As I live on my own, I like the idea of open plan living. In reality though, I don't want the washing machine going into full spin, or the dishwasher sloshing away whilst I'm watching television or listening to music.