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

Benutzer200 schrieb:

But if you’re honest with yourself, even with a closed kitchen, odors will still spread throughout the home. At some point, you’ll have to open the door between the kitchen and the living area. And a house or apartment with doors constantly closed always feels like a prison and is uncomfortable.

The kitchen door is closed, the exhaust fan is running, and the window is open. Of course, some odors may escape into the hallway when the kitchen door is opened briefly. However, the living room remains free of cooking smells, and opening the front door for a moment clears any odors from the hallway as well.

Simon-189 schrieb:

In our first apartment, we had a closed kitchen and an overall more traditional room layout.
In our current place, we have an open kitchen that flows seamlessly into the living and dining areas. That was great until the family grew and our needs changed. We really miss having a closed kitchen, so the new house will have one again.

That’s also where I have the most concerns—with kids, what I find great today might turn out to be really inconvenient. For two people, an open kitchen is definitely right for us, and we also have another private room (basically the gaming room 😉). Without that, I think the open kitchen would be difficult, but as it is, it works really well for us.

Georgian2019 schrieb:

And just briefly opening the front door clears any smells from the hallway.

If necessary, this also works for all other rooms connected to an open-plan kitchen. That argument may not hold much weight.

What I find strange is comments like “smelling like a fast-food outlet.” What actually smells at those places is used cooking oil. You don’t use that at home. I enjoy the smells of what I cook and fry. If I didn’t want to smell something, I wouldn’t want to eat it either.

For us, the open kitchen is all about socializing. It turns the cooking and dining area into THE room where everything happens when guests are over. If there’s enough space, I might separate a very large kitchen/dining area from a small living room.

I couldn’t live with a separate kitchen—being excluded from the rest of the home every time I prepare food? No way!

But obviously, opinions on this differ a lot.

After 8 years of living with an open kitchen, I’ve never had to clean grease spots off living room cabinets. And that’s with heavy use. It just doesn’t happen.

We currently live in an apartment with a closed kitchen. The issue of odors is irrelevant for us because no matter what we cook or fry, and even if we close the door, the smell still spreads into the living room. Therefore, we have to ventilate every time. If we want to do any frying, we plan to do it later in the outdoor kitchen, which is also planned.

We are leaning toward an open kitchen, but our concerns are more about noise and the visibility of mess.

In the closed kitchen in the old apartment, there was a much stronger smell of food compared to the new one.
By the way, my food smells but does not stink.
Good extractor hood and ventilation system, and nothing happens.

I found the closed kitchen somewhat acceptable when there were two of us. With a child, I found it unbearable.

What noise?
What mess?

Many appliances are very quiet. Food processors and hand blenders are noisy, but how often and in what situations are they used?
Mess. With an empty dishwasher before cooking, it is usually tidy. I say usually, my husband leaves a battlefield. It doesn’t bother me, he has to clean it up after eating.