My husband and I are purchasing a new home and one thing we could not decide on is whether to have an open kitchen with a high bar separating it from the dining and living room, or a closed one.

We both love the look and airy feeling of the open kitchen design, and it seems like the trend is everywhere now, but our main concern and experience is that the grease, smoke and smell from cooking invariably creep into the rest of the house, even with an exhaust fan. Granted, the exhaust fans we've had in the past in those kitchens are not of the latest design and technology.

Do you have an open or closed kitchen? In your opinion what are the pros and cons?

We'd especially love to hear your experience if you've had a recent renovation or purchase of an open kitchen.

Thanks!

Its a lifestyle choice- mine is partially closed and I think I prefer it.

With new tech. fans and opening the windows (), I 've found odors never to be a problem (flying grease is something else).

You're sitting there, under a low light, reading a book, enjoying the silence after a long, busy day.

And all you can hear is gurgle... hum... hum... rattle... gurgle... gurgle... hum... hum... hum... rattle... silence............................ rattle... gurgle... hum... hum...

It's annoying enough when the fridge is in another room, but think of the racket when it's just the other side of a low kitchen counter.

So, this is when Uncle Bertrand is visiting and raiding the refrigerator? Couldn't you just ask him to hum something you like better?

I think kitchens should be so big, and so open that the rest of the house, specifically the dining room is in fact in the kitchen.

Picture it, open kitchen with open fireplace, huge rustic wooden table, aga rayburn.

Food brings people together and you always find them in the kitchen at parties.



Nice kitchen, but I would go even more wild.

That's a lovely kitchen, that.

I personally think kitchens ought to be open, too. Even better if you have a little room where you can keep the washing machine and the tumble dryer. Big huge kitchen, lovely chopping and preparation part right in the centre with big 2 door refridgerator put in there too. Mm mmmm.

Having had both I prefer the open kitchen design.

I feel quite lonely and out of things if I am in a kitchen away from the action.

Only problem is that if you have your main dining area in your kitchen and guests around, if you are not a domestic goddess and drop their meal on the floor - you cannot brush it down,give it a wash and then serve it up

I agree. I've had a kitchen like that (no fireplace) but really, an enormous wohnkuche. It was fabulous, and I miss it. If the kitchen is not big, and there is not enough space for a good size table, then you are better off leaving it open. The problem becomes one of storage as generally the builders won't put cabinets on the open side, as they feel it defeats the purpose of having it open, but it is absolutely possible to do, and if you use glass doors it will feel open. My problem with the open kitchen is that you cannot close the door behind the mess, and the noise from the dishwasher unless you have a super quiet one.

Sitting at a bar top is fine if you are alone I think, but if you are two people, I think it is nicer to sit at a table, or design a bar top where you can sit facing each other. If you have small children, they can't sit at a bar top, so that means your dining room table is going to be the table you use everyday.

Open, (we have a closed one) we have alot of friends over for dinner, and when i am in the kitchen sorting the food out, and i can hear all the laughter going on outside of the kitchen it ****es me off that i cannot join in the conversation, so next time we move, or build a house we will have an open kitchen.

P.S. I have a few friends with open kitchens and you never smell the grease, or oil e.t.c. in the rest of there houses

Can't you ask your husband to give you a longer chain?

Open. My dream is to one day have a giant kitchen (like in the picture Gooner posted) with a little bar next to the kitchen counter / stove where my friends can sit while I cook for them.... we can chit chat, drink a glass of wine all the while I cook. Obviously the kitchen needs to be that large as to also fit a giant table in, preferably a 12 seater. Actually I'm that much of a cooking nut that the kitchen basically becomes THE focal point when I buy a house, if the kitchen is sh*t, I'm not interested in the house. I see no advantages of having a closed kitchen.

Watch it you or i might give you a groan

What about the bathrooms, i also like a nice bathroom.

I also love to cook, so i agree drinking wine in the kitchen with friends is brilliant, but of course an open kitchen that is

I don't mind ladies groaning in my presence, but what would your husband say?

Too funny, god you make me pee thanks

I frequently entertain guests in my bathroom, and find it to be one of the most useful rooms in the house for this very reason. Indeed, when I eventually have my own house built, it is my intention to have an open bathroom fitted, in order that I might enjoy a glass of wine in the bath, with a couple of friends, while watching my wife (whomsoever she might be) cooking in the open kitchen nearby, ready to serve us our dinner, before she retires to scrub the coal scuttle, de-scale the lavatory or do whatever else it is that a married lady might do while her husband is entertaining her friends in the bathtub.

For now, however, I must make do with a bottle of cheap prosecco and a rubber duck.

A gentleman can dream, though, no?

I renovated a kitchen 4 years ago, and I made a huge mistake...

Back then my husband was traveling constantly, and was rarely home. So, without really thinking about it, I designed a kitchen for one cook. Now my husband is home more often and he loves to cook as much as I do.

Two cooks in a one-cook kitchen means we are going to need a divorce lawyer. Or maybe a defense attorney - 'cause if I trip over him one more time while carrying a hot sauce pot...

So - open plan or closed, just make sure you think about traffic patterns and the way you really cook.

Next kitchen will have two sinks and two prep areas, separated by an alligator-infested moat.

I have a semi-open kitchen; large archways leading into the kitchen - open enough to allow me to be part of the party, but enough of a wall to hide my creative mess from the guests.

(Come to think of it, that was a bit of a mistake too - the kitchen is now blocked off with baby gates after the arrival of my young hooligan, who is able to leap tall countertops (and snaffle everything contained therein) in a single bound... )

LOL i don`t know if i should groan, or thankyou with that post made me laugh alot, but hey stop saying women should be the ones to do all the work if you are not careful you will not be getting the parcel i was going to send you

Open kitchens are acceptable for people who are confident of their cooking skills and if there is no risk they will ever fill their house with black smoke and the effluvia of their burnt pies. If the cook is a reckless enthusiast or has been grudgingly appointed by the spouse, a closed kitchen is recommended to limit the number of victims and property damage. Surgeons in hospitals operate in a sealed-closed room for the very same reason, to keep witnesses to a minimum ("operating theatre" is a terrible misnomer).

I didn't say women. I said woman. Precisely, my wife.

The women will be quite idle, lying in a bathtub full of soap suds, enjoying my wife's food, their wine and my company.