ᐅ Open Plan Kitchen: Regretted Choice or the Ultimate Solution?

Hello everyone,

Is there anyone who would advise against an open-plan kitchen? Especially homeowners who previously had a closed kitchen and now regret having an open kitchen after building a new house? Or do the positive experiences clearly outweigh the negatives?

Thank you!

BauFamily schrieb:

Hello everyone,

is there anyone who advises against an open kitchen? Especially homeowners who previously had a closed kitchen and now regret having an open kitchen after building a new house? Or do the positive experiences clearly outweigh the negatives?

Yes. Over the past 15 years, I have owned four properties for personal use. One had a closed kitchen, and then only open kitchens after that. I would always choose it that way again. An open kitchen means sociability, coziness, and easy living together.

I don’t see any real drawbacks – some say you have to look at dirty pots and pans or that there would be odors. The first is maybe a matter of how you manage the kitchen after cooking, the second is a matter of design and technology.

Our kitchen experience includes three enclosed kitchens in apartments and two open kitchens in houses. For us, the advantages of an open kitchen clearly outweigh the others—no more closed kitchens.

3 closed kitchens. 1 open kitchen.
Never a closed kitchen again. @Benutzer200 said it all.

3 x closed kitchen, called “semi-open” in new constructions.

The kitchen is technically open but will have a beam installed, so that if we decide later that we don’t like it, we could use a sliding door.

BauFamily schrieb:

Is there anyone who would advise against having an open kitchen? Specifically, homeowners who previously had a closed kitchen and now regret having an open kitchen after building their new home? Or do the positive experiences clearly outweigh the negatives?

Lived with an open kitchen for the first time in the USA and loved it. Planned an open kitchen in a townhouse in 2001, and we loved it. We have taken openness to the extreme in our current home and… we love it.

Of course, this is always a matter of personal preference and approach.
If avoiding drawbacks is especially important to you when making a decision, you will focus on those: smells, a messy environment, noise, people looking over your shoulder...
If the advantages matter more to you, you will evaluate the features differently. You might think of the lifestyle feeling with a kitchen that is the center of social life.

By the way, you can also plan for more than one kitchen – depending on how you design your house concept.