Just a thought- you could think about glass peninsula cabinets. They give an open feel, yet define space.

homey_bird - as I cook a lot of Asian food myself, I definitely agree!

Make the space that works for you. Open is the current trend but I just don't buy the idea that it is required for resale. I think a functional beautiful space speaks for its self regardless of the current trend. I went with a closed kitchen and love it. It has good flow into the surrounding living areas and plenty of room within for visitors to gather. But I love to be able to close it off when I want. Open just doesn't feel right to me. I think it looks good and if it fits your personality then go for it. I just wouldn't like it on a day to day basis. And that's what really matters.

Closed kitchen, if you have a place for a table and maybe a comfy chair and ottoman in one corner....with a view! :)

What I haven't quite figured out is the argument that you are part of the action when you are in the kitchen in an open plan. Well what if I just want to be doing my thing without worrying about the pots and pans being too loud for the TV as the volume gets turned up and down when the water or mixer or disposal go on and off or the vent fan that is really good at doing it's job but only when it's turned on. Or too loud for the company that has come for dinner that are chatting in the 'great room' but I am still finishing up prep or getting dishes around to set the table? Or if dh and his dad are chatting in the living room and his mom and I are chatting in the kitchen and it's all open so it's kinda loud.

And what exactly constitutes interaction if you are in the kitchen but your family is in the same room per se but they are facing the opposite direction watching TV - and we don't even watch much tv at all it's just something I find interesting. I have never really watched TV while cooking and I don't really need to, I never felt deprived of it. I didn't do it then and I don't do it now. And if dh is hanging around to talk to me then why would the kitchen being open even matter?

I think I'd prefer a kitchen that is adjacent to the living room, but not so open that it is IN IT (which is how I feel ours is now). I don't necessarily mean build up the walls and enclose it like 3's company but it can be open yet tucked away in it's own spot so it's not 100% visible from the family room. DH loves it open as is, I do not. I'd not repeat it. I am getting used to it but I'd never say I love it. I do like some privacy even if it's just me in the kitchen baking or whatever. I like to zone out in there sometimes.

Do what is important to you and works for how you live! I'd not worry about resale even though I heard plenty of "every parade house was laid out this way". Ugh, who cares, wish we'd never have went because now I live in everyone elses house that are builders designs for whoever.

Note I use great room, living room and family room interchangeably. We have one living space.

" I don't necessarily mean build up the walls and enclose it like 3's company but it can be open yet tucked away in it's own spot so it's not 100% visible from the family room. "

That is exactly what I have in my condo now and will be doing something similar in my new build. I consider it the best of both worlds. Open enough to the living room (or great room if you'd prefer since I too only have one space), but with a physical separation of bookcases with pillars.

We have a closed, eat-in kitchen that is also the primary entrance to our home. It is a very old house but designed with good flow - a door from kitchen to dining room and one to den and they are open with arch to each other and living room. Even before our recent renovation though, I can't get people to leave the kitchen! I will purposely put out all food in other rooms but end up with 20 people blocking the fridge - makes me crazy but I should be flattered they want to hang with me. We haven't had a party yet in our new space but there is more room for people without blocking the essentials. I prefer it to friend's houses that are open though. Especially when not entertaining. I get me time with the tv on while my husband does his thing in the other room.

Unless you are planning to sell soon, to each his own... :) I am not spending all my money for the next owner's comfort... and who knows what that might be anyway?!?

Open vs closed kitchen boils down to two key things; how well your cooking/baking practices merge with the rest of the house and resell impact.

Since cooking, baking. washing, chopping, etc. can get messy, smelly and noisy, you may want to consider if that is a good mix with whatever may be going on in the living/dining area.

But I like to think that there is a way to have a decent configuration where you could have enough of an open area when you want or a closed area when you want. Something wild like pocket doors and a large rolling island. When you want an open kitchen, you could open the doors, pull out the island, set out stools so guests could sit, chat and snack. (just thinking off the top of my head).

Re resell impact -- from the standpoint of myself, there is no way I'd ever pay to buy a truly open kitchen floor plan. The milage of others will vary. So don't build based on potential and unknown resale in this regard! Do what works for you!

The kit floor plans I modified my home from had a totally open (and in my mind, dysfunctional) kitchen. I quickly got rid of that!

I would prefer a closed eat-in kitchen with adjacent dining area open to living room. Add a pass through that can be opened or closed and I'd be happy. If you remember the TV show Bewitched, that's the house plan I'd love to have.

But that's not what I have. My house now it's on the open side, and I like it, too. There's a house for everyone. How boring it would be if we all had the same thing.

One of my favorite remodeling shows is Fixer Upper. The end result is usually beautiful, and a lot of the homes have finishes that I love. But some of those homes are so "open concept" that the entire first floor is almost one giant room. No, no, no. Not for me.

Our newly remodeled kitchen has a keeping room. The kitchen is now larger than it was before, and more open feeling because of the new configuration, but we still have a separate dining room and living room, adjacent to the kitchen and keeping room and that's the way I like it.

Kitchens should please the people who live there and be functional and efficient work spaces. Trends and what's considered cool shouldn't be a consideration at all, imho.

I'm not fond of the totally open concept where the kitchen is pretty much right in the middle of the other living spaces. But I would only want a closed off kitchen if it was spacious enough for a decent sized eat-in area that was separated from the work zones. Funny that the smallest house we owned was the only kitchen we ever had that was like that. However, that home also didn't have a separate dining room or space for one in the living room.

My current space is semi-open concept. Open to the dining room but separated from the living room by a large entry and two partial walls that delineate the entry area. The entry is quite large, actually more square footage than my kitchen, so this puts the living room a fair distance from the kitchen/dining rooms. Between the distance and the partial walls, it's a nice buffer so one can make noise in the kitchen and not bother someone watching TV in the living room or vice-versa. And conversations can occur in each without hearing what the others are saying....unless someone is yelling or wants to eavesdrop, lol.

I'm happy with the semi-open and would be happy with closed if the kitchen was roomy enough. I'd probably be happy with a more open concept as well if it was designed so it could be closed off with pocket or barn doors.

Regarding smells. We do stir-fry dinners several times weekly. We also often use curry and other stronger spices. With the fan on, the smells are sucked out just fine. In fact, I just went into my living room and smelled the sofa and into my dining room to smell the chair pads. Unless my smeller is seriously broken, I can't smell a thing. I use my hood a lot. Even though I still had my awful OTR micro-hood which will someday be realized (she said while looking with yearning at the box with the new hood inside). My husband is super-sensitive to smells and he doesn't notice any lingering odors either. Back before I learned that I should turn the exhaust on before cooking to get the air flowing and keep it on for awhile after cooking to let all the air get drawn out before shutting off, he used to complain about those lingering odors. Now that we use it correctly, he doesn't complain anymore. I expect my new hood will handle things quicker and I know it will be quieter.

OK, I've blabbered enough. :)

We renovated our kitchen, etc 5 years ago. Our kitchen area already and still does include an eating area and a very small sitting area. We talked about redesigning the space to open-concept and so make it open to dining room and living room. That discussion lasted about 5 minutes. I firmly believe that separate dining rooms will make a come back, I like the coziness of a smaller area for baking and cooking, I like having everyone crowd into my kitchen when I`m in it cooking (I`m not a ``everyone out of my kitchen` when I`m cooking person). There`s just an old-fashioned comfort feeling in that which I like..

Yes, you need to do what is right for you!! Our first home had the family room separate from the kitchen...I hated it! We renovated and tore that wall down....it was an "ahhh" feeling. However...these rooms were on the back on the house. I would NOT have wanted my kitchen open to the foyer, formal rooms, etc. While we were building our current home we rented an older home. I.was.miserable. in that closed off kitchen. So I think everyone is different and every family has different needs. I do think, though, in regards to cooking odors that if you are cooking a lot of smelly things...it will go throughout your home regardless of how closed your kitchen is!

funkycamper is correct about proper sizing of the vent and use of the vent. We remodeled 8 years ago and put in a 1400 cfm top of the line vent over our 36 " gas cooktop and Miele built in deep fat fryer. DH has been doing his Chinese stir fries with hot chilies and we have had many a deep fry session with chips/fish/chicken/samosas...you name it we have cooked it. I don't even have to wipe down the wood trim on the framework of the hood area let alone worry about ANY odor. There is none...nothing. Turn it on 5-10 min prior to cooking and let it run the same after...clean the vents weekly. Never use on high...it creates a circular return of air and actually brings odors back into your living space. This is why you must oversize your hood so that you can use it on less than you need. If you get a very good brand then sound is not an issue. I used to post ALL the time about this issue but stopped some time back as most folks don't understand the physics of venting . Hope this helps a few others in their search for the odor free home. BTW we have a separate non-eat in kitchen in an 1890 home that we re-modeled . c

Maybe someone already mentioned this....but on other forums, this question usually comes down to whether there are young kids at home.

Those with young kids, usually want open spaces. Those without kids (or older kids with noisy X-boxes LOL) want closed kitchens. Not always, but usually :)

Since you are on the fence, you might try playing around with the layout to see if you can come up with a semi open layout that will give you the best of both worlds.

We had a house with a closed off kitchen, even though it was in the middle of the house. I loved it. It was a large room, with a breakfast area large enough for a four person table. There were doorways from the foyer and the family room, but it was definitely a closed room. In fact, when we move in, there was a passthrough to the family room that we closed up.

The house we now live in was built in 1972, and the kitchen is open to the family room. It was designed that way. We just took it down to studs, but the new plans still have it as open. The house is too small to have any other way. The PS4 noise may bug me a bit, but as friends with older kids have said, I will want to be in the same room as the teenagers when they have friends over. We lived there for ten months before starting reno, so I know it will work for us.

Given my druthers I would like a closed kitchen, and hopefully we won't be moving for decades and decades, but I would like to think that our design is cool enough that we will still be able to get a good price for our house.

Moms old house has a kitchen that was moved from the back to the side and added on. They left the exterior window so you could see in to the dining room/living room (they are high windows) When they did the reno they left that feature and just changed the window.

Mom loves that it is closed off (no vent)

I HATE cooking in that kitchen. I feel like I am the hired help. I intend to remove that window, make it a nice sized pass through (lower the sill about 6") and add a good hood. I don't deep fry or stir fry (neither does she) It is California, if I want a fried meat I have a wonderful bbq outside, but I don't eat a lot of meat. I don't need the kitchen totally open, but I sure hate feeling like I am the help

For me and my family - open kitchen is the only way for us. The day we go back to a closed kitchen is the day I hire a cook who also cleans.

Also, for us, treating guests to an evening of food and fun is an interactive experience. Everyone who enters is expected to be a part of the fun. Stirring something, prepping, making drinks, you name it and I have a job for you. The kitchen is where the action is and when we finally getting around to eating something, everyone can celebrate that they were a part of the creation.

Do you have someone who likes a lot of television in the house? Perhaps a lot of sports? Do you too? The only problem with the great room concept is that everybody has to do the same watching or listening .... If you are a neat and tidy cook the fact that the kitchen is on display at all times will not matter.

I appreciate trailrunnerbiker's post about proper venting. I have a question to those who say they prefer closed off kitchens to eliminate spread of odors throughout the house. Do all of those kitchens have rather tight doors with thresholds that provide a seal? If not, the air is circulating throughout the home. If there are smells not captured by a good exhaust, they will still circulate and land on furnishings. I agree that a closed door, even if not sealed, will lessen the amount of smells...until the door is open. Unless, of course, the exhaust was well used to eliminate odors before the door was open. If there is no door sealing off the kitchen, the smells still circulate.

Open windows will usually lessen the smell in the kitchen and, thus, would keep some of the smelly air from circulating through the house. That is, if there are two windows open, or one window and a door directly to outside, and they are positioned to provide cross-ventilation. If there is only one window open, while some smelly air will escape, there is no cross-ventilation and the rest of the smelly air will actually be blown farther into the house.

If there is another door or window open elsewhere in the house, the cross-ventilation will carry some of that smelly air through the house and outside. However, not all of it will travel a far enough distance to get outside and, thus, will land on surfaces.

I'm not trying to be argumentative but my rather rudimentary understanding of airflow, ventilation, and cross-ventilation tells me that the argument about keeping smells in the kitchen and out of the rest of the house is a flawed argument.

If I'm wrong, and that's quite possible, could someone explain it to me?

ETA: If I am, for example, stir-frying with odorous sauces and/or seasonings, if I use my fan correctly, those smells don't travel far from my kitchen even though it's open to the rest of the house. And my fan is only a 250cfm micro-hood. Still lusting after the more powerful one in the box. It does have a short, straight path directly outside (hung on an outer wall) so I'm sure it functions at optimal performance for the type of fan it is.

I think niteowl pointed out something that does seem common in most of the house dinner parties I've ever been to. The kitchen often becomes the area where everyone likes to settle, if there's room. Of course that could be because the hostess/host sets up things that way. They set the tone and the environment.

Fwiw, I don't prefer a closed kitchen for odor containment really.

I prefer a closed kitchen because I don't want people in my space when I'm trying to get stuff done. I do not want the hassle of them standing in my way or of trying to find make-work for them to do. I plan menus that have nearly everything done before a guest ever walks in the door and have me barely in the kitchen myself.

I also feel so much more relaxed and civilized eating at a dining room table where I can't see the dirty dishes and the cooktop that needs to be cleaned and the counters that need to be wiped down.

And I very much appreciate the noise containment. With my kids there tends to be a lot of noise in the house. The more solid wood doors I can close the less noise reverbs through the space.

Also, this house was built in 1926. It had a closed kitchen. I'm not interested in tearing down walls to open it up and change the fundamental character of the house.

We hosted our first Thanksgiving in this house last year. While I like to have everything set before guests come sometimes with larger meals it's just not possible to have it all done. So while the potatoes are being whipped, the gravy made, the turkey cut it felt like I was a spectacle on display. I hated it. Is it family that I am comfortable with of course - YES but I still don't like having everyone watching you move about because we are all in the same room. It caused me some extra stress. I did not enjoy that whatsoever. DH thinks I am weird and need to just reeelaxxxx but he isn't the one cooking so there mister man! Sigh - and this is supposedly the forever house, lol.

When we first moved in I had to get out of the habit of saying to the boys - go in the other room with that whatever noise maker thingy because they WERE in the other room. Grrrrr.

I liken the setup to the waffle house. Almost everyone has been there at one point in time, lol.

I really think it is noisy. It's hard to have a couple conversations going on at once. Or again like practigal noted, if the TV is on I hope everyone wants to watch it. Sometimes I just like quiet. Or if you want the radio on while you cook but the TV is on - yeah forget it. It's all for 1 and 1 for all!

While people can tend to settle there usually it's a conscious choice to sit at the island and normally it's the ladies. With a completely open plan it feels like everyone is in there even if they are technically in the family room or the dining room.

I hear you on feeling like you're on display.

I don't mind too much, unless people are getting underfoot or watching me like I'm Mario Batalli, and basically wanting me to teach them as I go.

Can you do something to just try it out first?

When working on my plans to redo, I was trying to decide if I wanted to keep the peninsula or remove it completely. I removed the peninsula at that point to live with it out for a while and see how I liked it... was lucky to be able to give it a try first. I have decided I prefer it much better w/o that divider. Though in my home, it only divided the kitchen from the breakfast area. All else is on the other side of the stairway, fireplace etc. even my dining area. So I feel I kinda have the best of both... open n closed to some extent. :)

Also, I found it very helpful to really imagine how each scenario would play out... all by myself with serious thinking and as the real life swirls about.

It sounds like you would rather have it closed. IMHO I don't think guests dislike the smells and hub bub of a real kitchen... the smells just make us hungrier!

Funky camper open the correct windows and doors and my kitchen gets a door slamming cross draft so in that sense it is well ventilated...but cooking odors will linger if I don't use the hood.

Everyone at a party wants to mingle (usually) no better way to do that then to have to cross in front of someone within a confined space. "Oh, hello, excuse me," smile....So kitchens and narrow bars are great meeting places. Once you are aware of this, you can usually arrange somewhere else in your house to have kind of a narrow area, not quite a bottleneck, and then everyone won't stick to the kitchen.

Our kitchen and family room are open and it was great when we had young children as we could confine them to that area and keep an eye on them while we were in the kitchen. I suppose that is part of the appeal to the open concept it seems everyone wants on those rehab shows.

I don't believe a closed kitchen keeps cooking smells from wafting through a house. I like separate kitchens, though, for a lot of reasons. When entertaining, or watching a TV program or reading, playing game...who wants the sound of running water, banging pots and pans, cabinet opening and closing, etc. Kitchen work is messy and noisy. I also don't want the pressure of having to have my kitchen spotless at all times because it's right "out there", including if/when I'm entertaining. If I clear a table and I have guests, I want to be able to put the dirty dishes on the counters and in the sink and deal with them later and get back to my friends, but I don't want to sit and visit in an environment that includes piles of dirty dishes. As well, what crl said, I like not having anyone under foot when I'm cooking or doing dishes. My kitchen is a very small galley kitchen which runs between my living room and my dining room, kind of stuck in there behind the fireplace of the LR and the wall of the LR, and i love it.

Thanks, everyone. I agree that odors and smells do not get trapped by a closed kitchen, and that a good hood will solve that problem to a large extent - though I find it hard to believe that it will be solved 100%, but we shall see. A good hood is definitely on my shopping list, but that comes later. (I will be getting in touch with trailrunner when I am at appliance selection phase!).

Definitely visual separation is the only thing guaranteed by a closed kitchen (coz even sound travels through).

Ok, I guess I am coming to a conclusion now. I think personally for me, keeping a spotless kitchen 100% time is not worth it. Better to make it my territory. Sure, there will be complete disconnect from the family, but if I have a couple of bar seating type spaces, then I can have a few friends come in and give me company when I am entertaining! I think that would be best of both worlds.

How about a cut out/pass through to the other rooms? There are two in Jessica Fletcher's kitchen :)

My grandmother was a HUGE Murder She Wrote fan, but I did always think it was a neat part of her house, on the show....

There's the one from the first picture...and a second one to the left.

homey here is ALL I have said on the subject in the past ;) Hope this helps with your project. It truly does eliminate every single drop of grease and odor particles...really...after 8 years my kitchen and the rest of the house are odor free and nothing has ever had grease buildup except the baffles themselves. We clean them every single week and they are pretty gross...which is a GOOD thing !

GOOD LUCK !! post from Garden Web 2012 ___________

trailrunner

Baffles are much quieter than the mesh. Also they are efficient in capturing the grease...which is the whole point of the system, You need the HOGS to be removed in a very efficient manner. Also for ease of cleaning you can't beat baffles. I detailed the way I do mine in another post. It takes about 5-10 min. every week.

You should plan on running the unit at least 5 min before you begin cooking to allow the airflow to begin. Then make sure and cont. running for 10 min after to remove all HOGS.( HEAT ODOR GREASE STEAM) You don't want anything in the actual duct work.

You should also plan on using the unit on med most of the time. If you run it on the highest setting, there is some chance of creating too much turbulence in the duct work from the increased airflow and the HOGS come back in. We have experienced this with our 1400 cfm remote. This is why you get more cfm than you need. You have some in reserve if you must use it for brief periods and the med. and low are plenty.
: Be sure they use neoprene rings on all connections of the duct and the silencer in the duct as well. It does make a difference. All of this info is available in the detailed install inst. of Tradewind's website. They have great drawings that show all the parts and what they are. Umiphx.com. BTW we have the remote blower mounted on the roof which also greatly decreases the noise level.

Good Luck ! c

I love closed kitchens, but mine now is the complete opposite. It flows directly into my great room. I have two little kids, though, so right now it really works well even if I wouldn't necessarily have chosen it myself. The kids' playroom is in a loft that overlooks the great room so I can be cooking and still see them when they are playing upstairs. If I had designed my house myself I wouldn't have dreamed up this layout in a billion years, but it's actually pretty perfect for my family right now. I don't know if my comment will really help you but just wanted to add my thoughts to the conversation. :)

I don't really have much to add but I will anyway. My current house of 23 years (built 1942) is closed, with a door to the dining room. What I like about this is that it is my private workspace; when I have a gathering, I like to be able to go "behind the scenes" to get the next stage, refills, or whatever. I am not an accomplished cook, nor am I a terribly outgoing person, and I am not appearing in my fantasy TV show! I like being able to go offstage --

But, the previous house had a nice layout for a family with small children. sort of the best of both worlds. The living room (and hall to the bedrooms) was on one side of the house -- on the other side of the interior LR wall, accessed by a single door, was the kitchen/family room - one long room with the kitchen at one end (cooktop on the peninsula separating that space) and fireplace at the other. Dining table was closer to the peninsula, and a comfy chair was down by the fireplace. It worked well while the kidlet was small and I could see her playing while I cooked and cleaned.

I hesitate to share my Funky's DW Manifesto, lol. But I will. I have hosted complete holiday dinners for 16 and sat down to eat without any dirty items piled on my counters. Maybe a few items in the sink but not to over-flowing.

Pre-prepping as much as possible and then immediately plopping dirty items in the DW while cooking, ensuring the DW is run ASAP when full and emptied ASAP when empty, especially ensuring the DW is empty prior to the last minute items to be made/heated prior to sitting down to dinner so you can plop them into the DW when done with them during the last-minute rush, means you sit down to eat with a clean kitchen.

After dinner, neatly stack the dishes and serving items on the counter and enjoy the rest of your evening with your friends and family. Run them through the DW that night. Run the rest through the next morning. Done! Easy-peasy! I'd do this whether I had a totally closed, semi-open or fully open kitchen.

funky oh I always always make sure the DW is empty and ready to fill if we are having company for dinner. A full dinner with a full dirty or clean DW is a no go for me! I'd have dishes piled everywhere for all to see. But even in our old kitchen I was like that.

Love the "Funky's DW Manifesto"! I'm afraid I have not reached that level of accomplishment, but I can dream about it.

My kitchen is separated from the dining and living room by a doorway, so I guess you could say it's somewhat closed. I like that you don't see what's going on in the kitchen while we are all seated down and enjoying the meal.

But my kitchen is open to an adjacent family room/breakfast room. It used to be a sort of TV room, but I'm (slowly) converting it to more of a breakfast room. I think it helps to have a room or space open to your kitchen for people to hang out while you cook. Everyone always wants to be in the kitchen during a party or even just while I'm prepping for dinner. I plan to have a bar where people can perch with their glass of wine and also a round breakfast table and a few chairs for some casual dining.

I do see the pros and cons of completely open and completely closed kitchens, but I'd rather have a hybrid between the two.

Funky, not only are you the DW placement nazi, you have a manifesto as well?! Watch out gardenweb! :))

Homey_bird said "Sure, there will be complete disconnect from the family". Totally disagree Honey_bird! :)

I find that with a closed kitchen, I am more connected with my family. That's because we can have a conversation in the kitchen without everyone staring at the TV, or being distracted by video games etc. which is what they would be if the kitchen were part of a Great Room. Even helping clean up after the meal - much more conducive to quiet talk and connecting than if the distractions of the living room were right there.

And during friends/family get-togethers, those who want to talk and have a glass of wine will hang out with me in the kitchen, while those who want to watch the game on TV will hang out with each other in the living room. So, I think a closed kitchen enables more connecting.

Do whatever makes you happy. No matter how great your ventilation is, you are still going to have smells coming from the kitchen. Anyone that it bothers needs to go away & get drive through food!! I would be happy to smells the wonderful aromas of home cooking!!

Our kitchen is open to the rest of the house, and I agree that a good hood makes all the difference with lingering odors. Also, my oldest was three when we remodeled to open it up as much as we did. Seven years later, we have two kids and it's been nice to be able to be in the kitchen and still keep an eye on them. Another benefit is people can easily hang out in the kitchen to visit or help out, but not be in the way. Another thing that has made a huge difference is our near-silent dishwasher. Even when the space was more enclosed (it was never it's own room) the dishwasher sounded like aircraft taking off. Now you don't even realize it's running so improvements in technology have paved the way for open-ness.

As far as what is popular vs. preference, go with preference unless you're moving out soon after the remodel. After living with the open kitchen, I find that it's just not a good fit for my personality despite the benefits of watching my kids and not feeling closed off etc. Everyone can see our kitchen almost as soon as they walk into the house, and I am not good at keeping the counters clear so it looks like a clutter mess. I feel embarrassed and don't like unexpected drop-ins from people. Also we have the "kitchen noise vs tv noise" issue, which probably bothers me more than the people who are using the tv (they just turn it up LOL). We do receive a lot of compliments, and people think it must be so nice to have an open kitchen like ours, so I hope it will be a selling point when we sell.

Ideally I think a kitchen should be open to the family room but NOT visible from the front door. I feel like it shouldn't be on public view, yet in our house it practically is. When we move, I will not consider a home w/an open kitchen unless there is a chance we could remodel it to have more privacy. As it is, we did add a little extra wall to close it off a bit from the front door, but I wish we had added even more walls ;-)

friedajune, I think you have a point if the kitchen is big enough. Before starting our remodel, our kitchen wasn't even big enough for two people to work at the same time much less have space for a visitor. Oh, if they stood in a corner kinda like being in time-out, they would be fine but they would have to time their move from there to a safe time, like if I was stirring at the stove, or give me warning or risk collision. And I hated being in there because I felt like I was in a cave even though I had two 60" wide windows.

So, back to my original point, it all depends.

I think eat-in kitchens are the best type of kitchen, if you have the room. I have an open concept house, and I hear a lot of annoying TV. The solution, of course, is to finish the basement and put the TV down there. That's what everybody does around here. I haven't got to the 'finishing the basement' part yet.

littleprince2, that cracks me up. Build an open kitchen so the cook isn't separated from everyone. Then finish the basement and banish everyone to the basement. Well, I guess the cook gets extra solitary space that way.

Or tell them to go downstairs while he/she makes "home-made" pizza. Pop in a Digiorno and then stretch out on the couch and read a good book in the peace and quiet. ;)

Reading these last two comments I just lol. We are in most of a whole home Reno including the kitchen before the remodel the kitchen wasn't open concept but was open to the dining room which was in the front of the house meaning when u walk in u saw straight through to the kitchen. We actually closed up that wall and made a bump out so that our fridge can be recessed into that wall. We also moved the dining room to the other side of the house. I host LARGE dinner parties sometimes weekly we are talking 20-30 people and I don't want them anywhere near my kitchen I hate people asking me if they can help and I don't want to worry if the kitchen is a little messy. I also took out the eating area out of my kitchen and opted for more counter space because In the house we are in now we have an eat in kitchen and in 10 years we have never actually sat down to eat at that table we eat meals in the dining room. So to each there own most people would most probably tell me I'm nuts to take out the eat in are of the kitchen but for me this works better