Open Plan Living - the only option?

AFF8879

Definitely not a fan of open plan, and like you I was looking in London where almost 90% of flats / houses are! Luckily I managed to get an older (1995-ish) flat which has lovely proportions and separate kitchen (complete with door that can be shut!)

No idea why people like the idea of staring at their dirty pots and pans whilst relaxing or trying to watch TV over the noise of the washing machine. People call it "entertaining", but I can think of better way to keep guests happy than by boring them watching me cook!

ANGLICANPAT

StumpyPumpy wrote: »

I want to know how anyone cooks things like fish or curries etc. in these open plan kitchen/dining/living rooms. Are the extractor fans really that good these days? Some years ago I was on holiday in a villa laid out like that; a walk down to the harbour on the first day got us some nice, fresh mackerel which we cooked that night - delicious and a meal that stayed with us for the rest of the week! (Yes we had put the extractor on btw)

SP

Not just the smell either , is it - I find in my kitchen a sort of 'cooking mist' lies around the surface areas, which has to be kept in check - which is ok as the surfaces are hard and therefore easyclean . Lord help a fabric three piece suite and curtains in an open plan area anywhere near my kitchen.Thank God for walls and extractors!

seven-day-weekend

I hate open plan, for reasons the OP has described, and others, other than a kitchen diner. I'm glad to say my kitchen diner is at the opposite end of my bungalow tothe sitting room, with hall, bedrooms and bathroom in between.

However I agree it's to utilise space, to make a pokey place bigger..

I can't answer the OP's question about where the sewing machine and lego goes, if you don't have a study, because I don't know the answer. My husband has a shed for his hobbies, and I use a bedroom.

We have two TVs, one in the sitting room and one in a bedroom, so we can watch different stuff.

getmore4less

zagubov wrote: »

I suppose kitchens are small because people didn't see us having more white goods and machines for laundry all fighting for space. Merging them with dining rooms makes the best of a bad job.

But merging them with a living room is bonkers. You can stand things against and hang things on a wall, and they make places much more practical, as anybody with kids will tell you.

UK modern living where we pack the kitchen with everything is bonkers.

Start with getting laundry out of there, either in it's own space with extra sink and a bit of storage.
If you still want/need compact you only need 600mm sq somewhere else, slightly bigger if you want to stack a tumble dryer and still have room for powder etc. 1200mm for side by side storage above or plinth and have some below less bending.

for people that never hang stuff out laundry near the clothes storage would be much more sensible than in a kitchen.
With a decent heatpump condenser all you need is water and a drain no air vent.

Next bring back larders.

seven-day-weekend

getmore4less wrote: »

UK modern living where we pack the kitchen with everything is bonkers.

Start with getting laundry out of there, either in it's own space with extra sink and a bit of storage.
If you still want/need compact you only need 600mm sq somewhere else, slightly bigger if you want to stack a tumble dryer and still have room for powder etc. 1200mm for side by side storage above or plinth and have some below less bending.

for people that never hang stuff out laundry near the clothes storage would be much more sensible than in a kitchen.
With a decent heatpump condenser all you need is water and a drain no air vent.

Next bring back larders.

I agree with this. In my last house I had a utility room extension. We have now downsized and don't have one, BUT we have an alcove off the kitchen, with the boiler in it - the washer-dryer will fit underneath it with a bit of space at the sides, and also a small wall cupboard next to the boiler to store laundry stuff and iron. The alcove was being used as an airing cupboard when we bought the bungalow - just a bit of lateral thinking required to get a utility area The alcove has a window in it too, so we can ventilate it.

When we lived in Spain, we had a washing machine in the downstairs loo - Spaniards wouldn't dream of having laundry in the kitchen! We also had a larder in this house and a large store room. Bliss!!

Nebulous2

You decide what is most important to you and you compromise on the rest. Big decisions like house buying involve a whole series of compromises. Builders are good at offering something extra for what seems tantalisingly close budget-wise. For £X I can have a study, for £Y I can have a double-garage and for £Z I can have a fourth bedroom. Then you add X+Y+Z and realise your budget doesn't come close.

There are ways to mitigate the impact on your life however. We had a spare room but it doubled (or tripled!) as a guest-room and storage as well as a hobby space. My girls became seriously interested in model railways, particularly building intricate scenery.

We got a large sheet of ply, framed it underneath for stability and they built a very impressive train layout. Thule - the roofbox and bikerack company do a nifty pulley mechanism for storing your roofbox in the roof of your garage. We attached it to the roof of our spare room and cranked the whole train set / scenery / track up out of the way when they weren't using it. It wasn't the prettiest thing in the world, looking at the bottom of this wooden board on the roof, but it was an effective solution for sharing space.

artyclarty

beedeedee wrote: »

Changing the subject slightly...I like the pelmet in pic 7. Does anyone know where I could get one? It doesn't look like a box pelmet (which most pelmets are)......

From the looks of it beedeedee its just a bit of mdf with padding and the fabric stapled into place (perhaps a small wooden spacer to get it a bit away from the wall). Easy to make yourself for a couple of £, very moneysavingexperty!

rosyw

getmore4less wrote: »

UK modern living where we pack the kitchen with everything is bonkers.

Start with getting laundry out of there, either in it's own space with extra sink and a bit of storage.

I couldn't agree more with this! I hate the idea of having to do washing in the kitchen, even though my place is open plan I do have a separate utility room which houses washer, dryer, boiler etc. TBH I wouldn't even consider buying somewhere that didn't have this!

I'll also second the idea of bringing backer larders so useful! My last place had one, the buyers have foolishly ripped it out leaving a useless space in the corner of the kitchen, the only useful purpose for this space would be to build in - a larder!:rotfl:

[Deleted User]

Nebulous2 wrote: »

...We got a large sheet of ply, framed it underneath for stability and they built a very impressive train layout. Thule - the roofbox and bikerack company do a nifty pulley mechanism for storing your roofbox in the roof of your garage. We attached it to the roof of our spare room and cranked the whole train set / scenery / track up out of the way when they weren't using it. It wasn't the prettiest thing in the world, looking at the bottom of this wooden board on the roof, but it was an effective solution for sharing space.

This is the sort of thing we do in our small bungalow to make better use of the space. To fit everyone and their hobbies into a small space you need to use each area of the house for more than one task. First declutter and get rid of everything that is not needed. Then look at different ways of using each space.

We have a small table and two chairs in our bedroom that we can use for hobbies, sewing, playing board games, or if I am stuck in bed (I have mobility problems) I have to eat in bed and my husband can eat with me at the table. As long as we don't eat anything smelly and open the windows this works fine.

I run my own business from home. My office is in the hallway. We have a wide hallway and so created an alcove with cupboards at each end. In between the cupboards we have shelving for files and folders, my screen is on the wall and my laptop on a shelf underneath. The cupboards store dvds, board games, knitting and art supplies etc. To make it look smart I bought a set of matching files and boxes from IKEA and use wicker baskets to hold other items on display. As I have a laptop I can always work in the bedroom, kitchen, living room or garden too.

The spare room is full of husband's music kit and games playing kit. We also use this room to watch dvds on one of the large monitors. As the space is small we have a small two seater recliner sofa. However, we have put this on a base with locking castors so that we can move the settee out of the way to use the space for exercising, playing guitar etc.

For your family the obvious thing is to have a bed which lifts up into the wall and then underneath have the model railway set. Then put in tall wardrobes which can have double rails in them for the clothing collection.

For sewing buy an old sewing table where the sewing machine folds down into the unit. Replace the old machine with the new modern one. Then when not sewing use the top of the sewing table for an office / homework.

For lego models buy some of the big, plastic locking lid boxes which can be stacked and stored when not in use. Settees can have storage underneath them. Buy cupboards to use as room dividers and storage.

Go online and look for storage options and for images of small living there are some clever ideas out there.

MERFE

I hate open plan, the noise and smell from the kitchen should not be in the lounge. I also really dislike lounge diners as someone with children, it is just much easier to sweep the kitchen diner in one go of an evening. When we start looking next year ideally it will be a kitchen/diner with a separate utility area but OH insists on a garage and gets very cross when these have been converted into extra space. He builds lego, tends to do it at the dining room table. I sew, I also do it on the dining table and pack away after. I do have a desk in the bedroom for smaller crafts but find it easier to sew at the dining table as its bigger to get all the fabric out on. You can buy decent shelves and cupboards for storage. You make the best of what space you have. Yes the children do have to retire to their rooms of they want to listen to music whilst someone else is watching tv (although because we have a separate kitchen and lounge at the moment the one that likes music tends to go in the kitchen).