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Now that the kids bathroom is done, my eyes have turned back to the kitchen. We had planned to wait to do anything until we were ready for a full kitchen remodel, but...that's a lot of money, and a long time to wait for any improvement. So I've been considering the idea of doing a "phase one" remodel to break up the expense and make the kitchen a little better in the meantime. My idea is to take down the half wall between our dining room and kitchen, rearrange our existing cabinets to fit an open layout, and add an island. That way, all our phase one changes will pay it forward to phase two, where we can make it pretty with new countertops, backsplash, and appliances. An open concept great room is what we've talked about doing since we first saw the house. But now, Ben's not so sure. He's worried that with an open kitchen, all our mess and dirty dishes will be visible from the moment you first walk in the door, and that it will look too busy. Styled pictures of open kitchens always look gorgeous, but in real life, where do people put their toasters and blenders and bags of onions and dish drying racks? We can't be the only ones with all that not-so-pretty stuff on our counters, right? Ben also thinks that open kitchens have been popular for so long, that trends are bound to swing back the other direction, and we might not actually add value to our house by knocking down the wall. Then I found this article "The Case for Rooms" and the author did make some good points about the negatives of open concept living. In fact, it said that a new trend among builders is to create a separate "mess kitchen" apart from your open kitchen. Yeah...that seems wasteful and silly.
This photo is from Chris Loves Julia's great room. Their layout is very similar to what I'm thinking, and they also wrote an interesting article with the pros and cons of open concept living, in their experience.
But...I still love open kitchens! I love the look of them, I love the way they allow you to be part of the conversation while you're cooking or doing dishes, I love how they allow light to pass through the house, and I love how easy it is to pass food from the kitchen to the dining room. But that's all in theory. I've never actually had an open kitchen myself.
So I thought I'd ask you guys. Do you have an open kitchen? Especially if it's open to the living room, not just the dining room? If so, do you love it or do you wish you could close off your kitchen mess from guests?
It's worth saying, in the end I think we should do what WE like since it's our home, and not worry to much about what's going to be popular in the future or what future buyers will like. But it's also an expensive decision, so I'm definitely open to hearing opinions!
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We had a fairly open kitchen before our recent remodel. We removed the peninsula and added an island making our kitchen L shaped with an island instead of U shaped. We also removed a half wall between our kitchen and family room and we couldn’t be happier with the change.
I don’t have a problem with appliances on the counter but we have a small kitchen so that is prime real estate. We had a pantry cabinet built and inside is where we keep our toaster and coffeemaker now. We also have an existing closet type pantry and that’s where I store all my onions etc. I always had a dish rack on my counter but my mom told me about these drying mats which I love. It kind of forces me to keep my counter clear. When I put the dishes away when they are dry, the drying mats go under the sink . I love my open kitchen.
Thank you Jo Ann! That's so great to hear. I still very much have my heart set on an open kitchen, so I'm glad you love yours. I need to get a drying mat asap! That sounds like the perfect solution. And YES, a pantry cabinet would be so helpful. I love that idea too. Might be copying you on both!
Oh I have so much to say I've been planning on writing a whole blog post about it! We have a super open kitchen, plus a giant window that looks from the street straight through our living room and kitchen -- so we kind of have the ultimate fishbowl of an open concept. I honestly love it and wouldn't have it any other way in this house. I like that it forces me to keep the kitchen clean when it would be in my nature to let the mess collect. It still gets messy and I try to just not worry too much about everyone seeing it. I personally don't like a lot of things on counters, but we do have the toaster and blender out, along with a fruit bowl and the dish rack that drives me nuts (so many sippy cups!). The microwave we have in a pantry cabinet. The open concept sort of changed the way we live, in that we're more aware of what we're leaving out and better at keeping the clutter away. Good luck with your renovations!
Oh yeah your kitchen is beautiful!! And totally open to your living room! I'm glad to hear you love it. I totally agree on an open kitchen being motivation to clean, and that being a positive thing. I think our kitchen GETS so messy because it's "out of sight, out of mind." I hate our always-full dish rack and I hate having appliances out too. That's another issue I'd like to improve when we remodel--better storage would hopefully make it so we don't leave so much stuff out.