The open-plan interior design option was once the hottest thing since the toaster in your open-plan kitchen, but it seems to be falling out of favour lately. Why is that? We’re taking a look at some of the things you should be aware of before committing to an open-plan home.

Stand-out doors are all the rage

If you’ve been scrolling through DIY TikTok, Instagram or Pinterest lately, you’ll have seen a wide range of trends that, funnily enough, involve your interior doors. A piece of the home that was previously forgotten about, the interior doors are now getting painted as part of the colour blocking trends, are getting disguised as bookshelves like your home is a Victorian mansion, and even exterior doors are getting painted fun colours and have ornate stylish doorknobs attached.

When it comes to the open-plan, the doors are obviously omitted, usually for the sake of natural lighting. Natural lighting is a great addition to the home, so it makes sense, but you don’t need an open-plan to get it. Consider some glass internal doors from doorways.co.uk to let the light in and get a stylish addition to the home.

A chef at the dinner party needs privacy

Do you have that member of the family that loves to cook? You keep offering to help but they insist they don’t need help? (And then make a comment about how no one helps them?) Everyone does. So, you might also be aware that these home-chefs are rarely professional chefs, therefore they have a habit of destroying the kitchen. Pots and pans clutter the countertop, dishes pile up in the sink, everything pulled out the drawer to find that fancy garlic mincer…

The thing with having an at-home chef like this in an open-plan home is that they cannot just emerge from the kitchen to applause with a meal in their hand. This is because everyone can see the travesty that they’ve left behind them.

Yes, even the kitchen needs to be a place of privacy occasionally.

They can be expensive to maintain

The problem with an open-plan is just how… open it all is. “Open” means more space, so that means more space for light to travel, but also sound and smell, and most importantly, heat. It can be hard to keep a home warm that has an open-plan kitchen/dining room or an open-plan kitchen/living room. The heat has more way to go and can get lost. Alternatively, this is the same problem in the opposing climate. If you are in a generally hot area, you’re going to have trouble keeping the whole place cool, especially in a room that involves a lot of steam.

In an economy that has everyone checking down the side of the sofa rather than replacing it, and with energy costs in particular going up, it’s something to consider.

Conclusion

If you have your heart set on an open-plan home, far be it for us to put you off, but there are a few things you should be aware of before you start knocking down foundational walls in your home. If these things aren’t a dealbreaker for you, enjoy your new open-plan home.