Open plan kitchen: Yay or Nay?

There is no right or wrong kitchen style; it is all about your personal preference and lifestyle.

More builders have now incorporated an open concept kitchen plan in the design of newer apartments and houses. Open kitchens are practical as they’re isolated from the rest of the home and stand as an entertaining dining centre. They don’t crowd up the living space and they’re favoured by families and socialites.

They create both an entertaining and productive space where you can cook while engaging in conversation and enjoying yourself. It’s a good place to center family activities, as a mother could watch the meals and still manage to keep an eye on the children. You can even help your children with their homework while performing the culinary chores. It allows multitasking for the modern parent.

Advantages of open kitchen

It is easier to watch young children in an open space because you can see what they are up to. This reduces the chances of accidents occurring and can give parents of young children a peace of mind.

Open kitchens allow for an ideal traffic flow, especially when guests are present. It adds to the space, the relaxing vibe. Guests could seat themselves as they want with all the available spots.

An open layout helps to prevent that feeling of isolation from the family when you are preparing meals. Instead of being in a separate room where other people have to come out of their way to speak to you, you are in an open space and can still be a part of the conversation. This is especially nice when you have dinner guests but don’t want to spend the entire evening away from them to prepare your gourmet meal.

With the open space comes easy and direct access from the kitchen to spaces such as the dining table, making it much easier to serve dinners to your family or serve your guests. This can help to prevent accidents occurring.

Bringing the kitchen, dining area and living space altogether into one big room can make your home feel much bigger, airier and lighter, giving you much more space in the downstairs area of your home.

Disadvantages of open kitchen

Creating an open plan kitchen involves removing walls and dealing with structural work, along with having to move plumbing and electrical wires and sockets. It is a big job that may require builders, electricians and plumbers, potentially taking a long time and costing a significant amount.

When it comes to redecorating, redesigning and remodeling, the kitchen is one of the most expensive rooms in the house. By turning this room into an open space, you are increasing the cost when it comes to redecorating, redesigning and remodelling.

Everything is on show, so for example, if you have a dinner party everyone will be able to see you cooking and preparing the meal and will witness the resulting mess, there is no way of closing the door and hiding the mess from your dinner guests anymore.

Unless you have a plan for airing and ventilation, it will make your kitchen stuffy with smell of food all the time. However, this is something you can take care of during modeling and furnishing stage.

Even with the disadvantages, open kitchen is still a yay.

Author: Gladice wanjugu