Browse Forums General Discussion 1 Feb 01, 2009 4:09 pm I am having an energetic discussion with my partner re the 'best' layout of an open plan kitchen, lounge, dining area.
We have a room 5.8 x 6.9 that will house the kitchen, a dining table, two lounge chairs and the ent. centre. Should the lounge area be set up so the chairs face the kitchen or can it be setup to have your backs to the kitchen while you're in the lounge area?? Argument No. 1: You need to be able to talk to those in the lounge. Argument No. 2: Those in the lounge are watchin' the telly and dont care what you are doing in the kitchen... Argument No. 3: If you want to chat with the cook, go sit in the dining area adjacent to the kitchen. What say you all?? [/quote] Re: Layout of open plan kitchen, lounge and dining... 2Feb 01, 2009 4:16 pm At the moment we have an open plan townhouse and it has turned me off ever having an open plan again.. It is very annoying watching TV whilst the kitchen tap is running!! Re: Layout of open plan kitchen, lounge and dining... 3Feb 01, 2009 4:33 pm if you have a look in home magazine alot of the kitchen these days are straight with the bar bench
my husband is a gyprocker and evertime I go and have a look at the finish home thats all they are and it looks great plain but very attractive Re: Layout of open plan kitchen, lounge and dining... 4Feb 01, 2009 4:37 pm My personal opinion (very much in the minority, I must add ) is that it is good to have a separate lounge with the TV in it and then the kitchen/dining/family without one.
When I am watching TV I do not like other noise and I do not like interuptions or conversation (very anti-social, aren't I? ) and when I am talking to people or cooking or eating, I do not need a TV on. Does your house have only one liveing area? Our house is not big, 23 squares, but it has a separate lounge which can be closed off with bifold doors and then an open space kitchen/dining/family area which is reasonably large - we opted for larger liveing areas and only 3 bedrooms. Re: Layout of open plan kitchen, lounge and dining... 5Feb 01, 2009 5:35 pm I guess I'm joining you in the minority Helyn, we are having an open area kitchen, family, dining, but will also be having a closed off loungeroom.
As much as I like open plan I also like having areas that you can also close off when you want to. Taztek, I think the family area should be set up in a way that feels the most comfortable for that particular area. Even though it is an open area I still consider it as a zoned are, each area having their own purpose. As you said, if you want to talk to the cook go over there or sit at the dining table. Me personally, I hate people being in or near my kitchen whilst I'm cooking, too many people trying to join in and help so I am always happy to have everyone away from me. In saying that, our family area will actually be adjacent to the kitchen and our dining area to the right in it's own area. I hate having people over to dinner and they can watch me in the kitchen. That's just me, I can't help it. Good luck with your decision. Re: Layout of open plan kitchen, lounge and dining... 6Feb 01, 2009 5:50 pm Okay I'm taking sides here!! Chairs facing away from the kitchen and towards the tv. Nothing would be more annoying than sitting down to a good DVD and having to watch someone putter around the kitchen out the corner of your eye. If you want a conversation with the cook sit at the kitchen bench or dining table.
Having the back of the chairs towards the kitchen helps to define the area as well - seperates the family from the kitchen and dining even though it is open plan. Re: Layout of open plan kitchen, lounge and dining... 7Feb 01, 2009 6:49 pm unfortunately when it comes to selling some people want hope plan I had a house that was not hard to sell, all so work in real estate must people want to buy open plan houses these days, it seems to be our lifestyle of enterianing we want open plan.I have a formal lounge/dinning and family/meals/rumpus separte media room finished building 40 square home on 5 acres with perry homes.working on the landscaping just finished pool deck with ://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=2217 Re: Layout of open plan kitchen, lounge and dining... 9Feb 01, 2009 10:33 pm I'm having an open plan kitchen/lounge dining which is 7.9 x 7.9 but we do have a separate media room. I will have a tv in the open lounge but it will be a relatively small one so that it doesn't overtake the room, much to dh's disapproval but he has his projector tv in the media room so he has no reason to winge.
We're having the couch face its back to the kitchen, if someone wants to talk to me then they can turn around but having a husband that works away a lot, it's just my daughter and I at home and she's asleep by 6.30pm every night so it's not a noisy household yet. Re: Layout of open plan kitchen, lounge and dining... 10Feb 01, 2009 10:33 pm I like open plan, but definitely with lounge chairs facing away from the kitchen,
Our kitchen / dining / lounge will be open plan once the reno's are done. But we have 15m from kitchen to lounge. With the kichen / dining being about 3.7 wide and the lounge 5.7 wide Here's our latest floorplan Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Re: Layout of open plan kitchen, lounge and dining... 11Feb 01, 2009 11:20 pm I def agree with Cascre - use rugs and lighting too to help you define areas... you will need that in such a large open space area. A thankful person is a happy person. [/color]My hobby design blog: http://aviewondesign.blogspot.com/ Re: Layout of open plan kitchen, lounge and dining... 12Feb 02, 2009 6:47 am A big thanks to all for sharing your thoughts and opinions.
It is much appreciated. I ended up using MyVirtualHome to mockup the 2 layouts we were disscussing. This made it easy to see that having the lounge face away from the kitchen was the way to go. Not only did it give more sq footage to the lounge, it added versatility to the room and a better 'flow' when moving thru to other areas of the house. Then your comments and suggestions made us even more comfortable with that decision. Thanks again. Tim. Hello! We have a very large open plan living room and wanted to get layout options, and furnishing ideas for this space. Currently there is only a… 0 9301 Can anyone suggest a house layout where the kitchen-dining - living runs the length across the rear of the house left to right where our best view will be we… 0 4344 You never have a fridge against wall as you’ve drawn. The doors can’t open past 90 degrees and it’s difficult and maybe impossible to remove drawers 2 15585 |