I have long felt that one of the elements of great design is restraint. Adding in everything – and a second of each – lacks elegance. A well-designed home may start by asking what all of the desires of an owner are then blending them together with other design objectives like view capture, sunlight harvesting, or sustainability targets. Great design is when all of that complexity gets stripped away. What you are left with is the essence of the design. A home that functions well, meets all the needs of the owner, and sheds excess. The Open floor plan may be the right answer for some – or even many – families, but it should not be a default assumption. Open floor plans have benefits, but keep in mind that the separation of spaces has benefits as well.
The desire for open floor plans may be declining. A 2017 study from the NAHB (1) found that 70% of buyers want an either partially or fully open floor plan. A 2023 study from Rocket Mortgage found that only 51.2% still desire open floor plan concepts (2). It’s worth noting that this shift started before COVID related shutdowns forced us all into our homes for far more hours than we had been used to previously. But as we see in a study from the AIA, they note a similar drop. They asked architects in 2018, then again in 2021 if they saw an increase in the number of requests for open floor plan concepts. In 2018 it was 56%, and in 2021 it had dropped to 33%. That’s a huge drop in just a few years.
Even so, across the Wasatch Back The open floor plan where the kitchen, living room, and dining room all occupy the same large open space has become so ubiquitous that most homeowners do not ask whether or not they should design the same space into their homes and instead the conversation is around how large the spaces should be, adjacencies, or a list of features. However, fundamentally the open floor plan has drawbacks that all owners should be aware of before accepting this basic assumption about floor plan arrangement.
Adaptability for Holiday Entertaining
First, let’s acknowledge some reasons why the open floor plan became such a movement. One great benefit of an open floor plan is the flexibility it can create for entertaining larger groups. Most dining rooms are created for a table that seats 8-12. With a traditionally closed off floor plan, creating an extended table that seats 20 to accommodate extended family can be quite a challenge. If this desire is carefully considered during design then an open floor plan may give greater flexibility to create these large table settings without restrictions. While it is worth noting that a semi-closed layout can offer the same adaptability if it is designed in during schematic design, it is easier to accomplish in an open plan layout.
Open Floor Plans Are Loud
Another perceived benefit is that an open plan should engender togetherness amongst family members where each can be doing something different, but everyone is within sight of each other and can call out for help, with a question, or to annoy their little sister. The drawback is that the open floor plan offers no barriers to sound. I see this as the single largest drawback to their comfort and functionality. When the house is full conflicts arise from incompatible uses: someone can be cooking in the kitchen, while a child does homework at the dining table, and other kids are playing video games in the living room. The noise from each of these activities overlaps with the others and breeds conflict. In larger statement homes some of these activities can be pushed into other areas of a home that are designated for each activity type. In that case the open plan Kitchen-Dining-Living may find itself underused as discomfort from multiple uses pushes family members to avoid the space entirely unless they are coming together for a singular activity. Semi-open plans and strategic use of acoustic materials can mitigate this issue and make an open floor plan more comfortable, but value engineering or later retrofits can cancel out the careful sound mitigation and leave the space uncomfortably loud unless this design objective is kept firmly in mind. Most often this becomes a casualty. Conversely, if the design calls for some level of separation between these spaces then sound will naturally be mitigated when it has to travel through walls or around corners.
Lack of privacy
The open floor plan may look stunning in a staged photograph before move-in day. Your Instagram will most certainly light up with admiration. After life takes over? Dirty dishes on the counter. The tea kettle permanently in place on the stove. A drying rack next to the sink. Keys and a purse on the table. Real life isn’t Instagrammable. It’s messy. If you’re like me then you have some desire to hide all of this mess. To keep at least some spaces pristine. This gives me a psychological benefit. A neat and tidy space helps clear my mind and allows me to rest in my space of refuge. The open floor plan leaves nowhere to hide. Each of these spaces must be kept in ship-shape at all times, whether company is due or not. This may be part of why we are seeing a rise in butler pantries fully outfitted with all the cooking appliances that are on display out front, but these ones actually get used. It’s less of an issue if the tea kettle is always out if it’s around the corner, out of sight. For some families the extra space makes perfect sense. From a designer’s perspective, I urge owners to carefully consider: are you adding the extra kitchen for functionality, or for convenience? Because the costs are real, and they can be large. The Kitchen is typically the most expensive room in the home. Custom cabinetry, countertops, and appliances add up quickly. Especially so when you are buying two of each, just to hide some clutter.
Do you want an open floor plan in your new home? As you move into the design phase of your new home, keep these ideas in mind. An open floor plan may be the right choice for you. Or, you might choose to separate spaces partially, or fully.
1: https://www.nahb.org/-/media/047718B309764755B66D0A12A8B53E8E.ashx
2: https://www.rocketmortgage.com/learn/americans-closing-door-on-open-concept-home-design