Do you think closed kitchens are making a comeback?

7 years ago

For a while now, we've seen a lot of open-plan layouts, often to merge a kitchen with a living room, or dining room. Some people love this knock-through solution, others prefer separate rooms.

I recently read that closed kitchens might make a comeback, but do you think this is true? Does this reflect your own project? Have you opened up your kitchen and regretted it?

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Artichoke

7 years ago

What becomes a real disaster (in our view) is when clients decide to add soft furnishings and a TV into the kitchen, particularly when there is space for them to go elsewhere. Once this happens, principle living rooms become redundant, children ensconce themselves into the kitchen full time, and then there is no escaping. Kitchens are for cooking and eating in. By all means have somewhere to have a glass of wine and a social (such as the soft seating below in Artichoke Project 1463) but we would definitely suggest not merging living rooms and kitchens together unless the architecture offers no alternatives. Those that do live to regret it (particularly if they have children!).

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Comments (33)

Kate Burt
7 years ago
Very true @Artichoke. I often wish there was scope to make our kitchen open-plan and add a sofa and more space, and possibly a TV but my next thought is always 'what would we use the living room for?' The kitchen is a decent size, not big enough to be open-plan, but it has a comfy bench with cushions by the dining table. I used to really appreciate it when I had housemates and we could easily find our own space.
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We have done many a project where the table butts up to the island to create a larger island, but still offer that flexibility when you want to entertain a larger gathering. Thank you for the kind words about our 'Chorleywood' project. This was a particularly large space over 10 metres in width. We had a good 3 metre gap between the island and the dining area. I know the exact extractor your talking about 'Downdraft' that comes up out of the island. These have been around for years now and in all honesty i'm finding more and more people opting for something different. When they are fully up, it creates a barrier between you and your guests and depending on the hob set up, the extractor struggles to pull the front rings steam/grease over the back ring. The downdraft works best with a panoramic hob. The Bora 'Pure' & 'X' on the other hand offers the extractor in the centre of the hob, so you have the same pull of air on all 4 rings. They also do a 'Professional' range for different configurations to suit your exact needs.
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Sam Davis Interiors
7 years ago
It depends on what type of home that you own I've created many open plan kitchens and so far nobody has regretted it. It creates a new feel to the home which is great for gatherings. The only advice I would give is have a separate utility room if possible as the noise from washing machines can be overwhelming in such an open space
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VC Design Architectural Services
7 years ago
I think it depends on whether its a young family or not, as parents like to keep an eye on the children from the kitchen. Over 12 years of experience in doing residential design and refurbs, on the whole if the kitchen is big enough to have a breakfast table / bar or island then the preference is to have a living room where you can at least close off perhaps with sliding doors, ( usually the front room) but yes, if you can at least dine in the kitchen the preference now days is to have closed off kitchen because of cooking smells. In one of my projects , and Asian family, we created a small prep area off the main kitchen for just the smelly cooking and wash-up area which had its own back door, leaving everything else linked to both dining, and then around corner to living room

we tend to forget its not just the smells but also the clanging of loading and unloading dishwashers that is invasive when entertaining, watching telly or just generally hanging out with the kids....
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Studio O+U Architects
7 years ago
Generally no, and there is a requirement to fuse living and dining spaces and associate them with the garden .

This is however tempered by the client based on assumptions related to the nature of the food and a separate kitchen is sometimes thought to be necessary. However , this can be resolved through a robust ventilation system in an open plan space
Susanna N L
7 years ago
I think so - personally I prefer the kitchens which are separate from the dining area so that you don't have to stare at dirty pots and pans when you are eating. Also, very happy to be able to close the door when our nanny is frying smelly food! Semi open plan is my personal preference.
janelawrenson
7 years ago
I also think it depends on the ages of the children, but we are lucky enough to have an open plan kitchen area and separate TV/Living room. The TV room is where we watch TV/films/Xbox or the teenagers gather whilst we stay in the kitchen/family room.
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Diana Bier Interiors, LLC
7 years ago
I think that it makes sense in a small home with a cramped kitchen. Opening up the rooms and sightlines makes the home more livable. However, in a large home with a large kitchen there are problems as described by Artichoke in the first post. Regarding "keeping an eye on the children" if you have a large kitchen, they'll be with you and you don't need to have a living room in your kitchen to do that. Once they get to grade school and especially high school you'll be glad they are in a separate room.
Judi
7 years ago
I wish my kitchen was larger - it drives me nuts that I have part of the staircase in it as well as 3 doors! However, I don't have the funds to replace it, & the only REAL option for opening it up would be the dining room which is also the music room/ sewing room etc. OR as above the living room. My daughter & I have thought about closing off part of the living room to give to the kitchen - but the kitchen is the same side as patio doors from the living room - so we would lose a lot of light - even if I out the patio as a window, moved the back door closer to the living room & out of the kitchen - it would require SO much - from plumbing (radiators in 2 places where space that COULD be useful!). So, I feel I am stuck with the kitchen as a room on it's own. Too big to be one thing & too small to be anything else.
Lila 1410
7 years ago
Depends on size and shape of the floor the kitchen is on. My present kitchen is much too far from other rooms, and the only room it adjoins is the shower room. I have thought and thought about ways of changing things round, but it's no use, I'll just have to put up with it where it is now.
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Sagiper North America
7 years ago
Really just depends on the architecture and the amount of space available for both.
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Nadine Iva
7 years ago
I think not but both options have advantages and it all depends on personal taste. An open plan kitchen gives a more modern look and creates more space within the living room, dining area and kitchen. It enables people keep being social while in the kitchen. There is a third option: a glass wall that separates the kitchen area from the living room but gives visibility. It's a growing trend and is often a favourable choice as it provides balance between having some privacy and ability to interact/have more visibility (children, guests ).
ianthy
7 years ago
I like the open plan kitchen diner with a seating area - sofa and chair, which makes it a great all day zone. I also like a separate sitting room - maybe a little more formal with the TV for evenings. I agree there is a danger that the sitting room becomes redundant with everything crammed into the kitchen diner. I can also understand families, specially if Mum is at home during the day with small kids, wanting as much as possible in the kitchen diner area.
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Bathroom Butler
7 years ago
Commenting in my personal capacity - We have a young family (1x toddler + 1x 9yr old) and our home has a completely open layout for the kitchen, dining and living room area. It was much older home that was in desperate need of remodel and knock a number of walls down to create the space. We love the ability to spend time together no matter who is doing what. Granted it is a smaller home which also suited the open plan layout, and in doing so gave us a much greater feeling of space. I think that the preference to go open-plan is a personal one and also depends on factors such as lifestyle, age of family, and home size etc. But I do believe open-plan is a definitive way of "creating" size in a smaller home. The only thing we would change is to maybe have a separate scullery for washing up - dishwasher will have to do for now as the current hiding place.
Amanda Robinson
7 years ago
I can write from experience of both. Our last home had a kitchen 7m X 6m. It was so big, it made sense to add armchairs and sofa in front of a TV, along with usual kitchen furniture. Big mistake. Just as Artichoke says, we lived in the kitchen and never used our beautiful living room. And when I lived in my kitchen, I couldn't relax until everything had been cleared away after eating. Plus I was constantly snacking, when food is just metres away, I found it impossible not too. Now our kitchen is large enough for the dining table but not much else and no TV. And it works brilliantly.
Sylvia Timoney
7 years ago
we have an open plan with sunrooom off the kitchen it used to to be aliving area and we spent an awful lot of time there until i had my now 3 yearold .we now use the sunroom as a play area and towatch tvwith him durinthe day.we even got rid of the sofa and chairs and have achair footstools andsorge boxes to sit on. but the differnce is now in the eveni gs we go intothe living room.its nice to be able to have a room thats not full of kiddie stuff and you can switch off
Andrew Millar
7 years ago
closed kitchen for me.id rather have a larger living room and a teensy kitchen,its only for cooking in !some of these kitchens look as if they have never been used.
Laura Thomas
7 years ago
We have recently moved, and a main reason for moving was that with two young children a closed off kitchen didn't work. We didn't wish to open it up with the lounge/dinner as then we would have been no separate space.
In our new home we have knocked out the wall between kitchen and dining room, and in addition to the kitchen and dining table have a tv, armchair and will be fitting a window seat in our bay window. We have a large separate sitting room, which is kept free of toys. This works well for us, as I can cook and do laundry in the adjacent utility room and keep an eye on the kids playing during the day, and then in the evening can go in another room and relax. Plus by taking out the wall we have created a large enough space for them to ride scooters indoors when they can't go in the garden!
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Spiral Cellars
7 years ago
An open kitchen can work especially well if you're looking to highlight a unique feature that needs a lot of space to breathe - so I can certainly see why it would be a popular option aesthetically. Practically, though, the closed off kitchen can be great if you want to cook up some magic away from the bustle of the house!
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Sally Dernie Limited
7 years ago
It all depends on how you want to live and sometimes your stage of life - things change. I've lived in an totally open plan space - kitchen, living and dining area all together. The kitchen had to be very carefully designed and planned so it didn't look too "kitcheny", it blended in with the overal scheme and the functional parts of it hidden from view of the seating area. The dining space created a transition from the kitchen to the living area. At the time I didn't cook much so that helped - the kitchen was a bit of a "show pony". Now I have a closed kitchen with a semi formal dining table as part of the kitchen and I much prefer it. I cook a lot more and can shut the door on it!

The "show pony" kitchen :-)
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OnePlan
7 years ago
My own kitchen has a large breakfast table and chairs at one end and just one stool at the prep island,to plonk a stray guest on , should one find them selves in my kitchen when I'm cooking !
It's not a comfy stool - so hopefully they'll take the hint and leave me to drop the roast on the floor on my own !! ( I'm not antisocial - but I'm not the most confident of cooks !! MrOnePlan however, is... and when he's cooking, everyone seems to hover around the prep island for tasters and drinks !)
alant1000
7 years ago
I think separate kitchen is the way forwards. I also like the idea of old school completely separate dining rooms.
Juliet Docherty
7 years ago
I think there may be a bit of a 'backlash' (and no offence intended here) against the 'banker style' kitchen extensions we have seen so often. Lucky are those who can afford an enormous kitchen extension, but it does seem that recently there has been a bit of a revival in more simple and affordable kitchen designs with practical materials. Laminate, wood and plywood are just as relevant as granite and marble - why should materials have a hierarchy? If you're lucky enough to have more than one lounge then an open plan kitchen living area is great, if not it's a bit limiting.
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Cupola Design Ltd
7 years ago
last modified: 7 years ago
My own experience with opening the kitchen to the living space has been very positive, I am not affected by the smell of food, I actually love it. For me, the kitchen is where a lot of the social interaction of the house takes place, the smells quickly go away by opening windows and using an extractor fan connected to the exterior. Some people are more sensitive to smell than other and this subject of opening the kitchen and living room is definitively one of individual preference, same as having a pet. Since I opened my kitchen to the living space, I have allowed light through all the windows and roof lights around and have created a sense of a focal point, where all the social activities are shared and also gain a greater control over what is happening around me. It works fantastically at gatherings. Houses that already have large kitchens can accommodate a dinning room within it, however, in houses converted into flats, where there is no such space, opening the kitchen to the living room makes a lot of sense. Do get the wall checked by a qualified structural engineer before you knock through!
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Foxley Architect
7 years ago
I would say open plan is here to stay as it is so much more suited to the way most people want to live nowadays. It generally works best with a separate utility and another, separate living space, however small that is. A good and close relationship to the garden is the icing on the cake.
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McEvoy & Rowley
7 years ago
We see a lot of open plan kitchens comes through us, however, it depends on the size of the home and the personality of the homeowner, open plan is perfect for those that love to entertain! - we also see plenty of closed kitchens too. Both can look really good when considered properly for the space available.
Daisy England
7 years ago
Open plan for me.

When we moved into our house 25 years ago the wall between the dining room and the kitchen was immediately knocked out. Never regretted it. It makes a lovely large space.

Then around 10 years ago the utility room wall got knocked through into the kitchen too. The utility was used as a dumping room. Anything the family didn't want to use was plonked in there.

I now have a large square kitchen allowing for an island in the middle flowing on to the dining area with patio doors opening onto a covered verandah with outdoor furniture.
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VC Design Architectural Services
7 years ago
you could always have pocket doors like these I have just done in East Sheen
Angie
7 years ago
Not sure whether they are making a comeback, but we have recent experience of both and think it just depends on the house. Our old house was a 1960s build, split level (built into the hill) with a kitchen off the dining room, and the sitting room up three steps from the opposite side of the dining room. From the sitting room one could look down onto the dining room and through to the kitchen. When we refitted the kitchen about fifteen years ago we knocked out the units which divided the kitchen from the dining room and put an island in the space. It worked fantastically well for us; a great place to sit and catch up with the kids when they came in from school, and many times their friends joined us in chat and banter around the island. The house was perfect for entertaining and for our family, even though there was no separate (able to be closed off) sitting room. Although now both adults and left home, our kids were very sad when we moved away and sold the house, as were many of their friends. (Maybe because it was party-central at times...!)
We now have an Edwardian semi with a fairly large kitchen at the back, accessed through the dining room, and we have a kitchen table and chairs plus the computer in there. The dining room is for when we have guests, and Sunday lunch when I do a roast, even if it's just the two of us. The kitchen gets the rising sun and is lovely first thing in the morning. Our sitting room is at the front of the house and is smaller and cosy, ideal for snuggling up in front of the log burner at this time of year. And it gets the setting sun which is nice in the afternoon/evening. We can still seat plenty of people though.
We thought we had to have open plan as that's what we'd had for so long, in fact what we have now is working perfectly for us. We still have plenty of entertaining space and have pre dinner nibbles in the kitchen before eating in the dining room. In the summer we mostly eat outside as we had the garden landscaped this year and we love it out there. A well designed garden with comfortable seating has proved to be the best thing we've done with a house!
Angie
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Ecoflap
7 years ago
I wish they would! Our house has an open-plan kitchen and dining room, with the stairs going off it (we didn't design it, I scramble to add!). The problem we have is that noise goes straight up the stairs which makes entertaining a real pain with young children needing to go to bed. I'd love a kitchen door I could close, or a door at the bottom of the stairs.
Joanna Biddolph
7 years ago
Definitely separate. I moved 18 moths ago deliberately choosing a house with a dining room that is separate from the kitchen and I will not be opening up the two. In fact, I've chosen to use the room in front of the kitchen as my sitting room - it's larger, it's a great shape and it looks over the garden - and the room at the front with a bay window is my dining room. That room was built as the sitting room but I'd rather sit looking at the garden than the road and passing traffic. And I love having a formal dining room. Closing the door on kitchen mess and washing up is great, too.
viv mcc
7 years ago
I prefer a closed of kitchen hate looking at pots and pans after a dinner party.rather relax in a nice separate living room. Ideally I would have a kitchen with space for a table
163 hrd
7 years ago
last modified: 7 years ago
Broken plan is a good compromise. That is what we recently did. The positives are are a brighter space with much better flow and sight lines yet no view of the kitchen from the living space or dining space. The negatives can be the noise and the inability to prevent the cat from bringing prey into any downstairs room. Happily the positive side is experienced daily whereas the negatives occur only occasionally.