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1. I’m all with the guy who hates open floor plans.

   When we went house hunting a few years ago, it was obvious that the genuinely old houses we looked at had actual doors separating the kitchen from other rooms; in fact, living rooms and dining rooms had doors, too. What a sensible idea. Our previous house wasn’t entirely open floor, but there was a wide doorway between the living room and the kitchen and, darn it!, at every holiday, guests would wander from the living room into the kitchen to talk, even going so far as to stand and chat right in front of my stove. Awfully hard to manage a Thanksgiving turkey with bodies blocking the oven.

   We didn’t buy an old house in the end, but we did choose a house without all this open space nonsense . . . and we’re going to hang a door in the doorway between the living room and kitchen.

2. I had many types of floor plans, sometimes a new one every six months due to my husbands propensity for moving. There best was the last one with doors everywhere. The kitchen had four door–two to laundry room, one to den, and another to the dining room that we used for the baby’s room. From the sink, I could see my children in the den. Plus, I put a table in the large kitchen and they could sit at the table to draw or play or do homework. And, there was enough floor space that did not encroach on the kitchen end so they could play on the floor or roller skate into the kitchen. There was a rule that they stayed out of the kitchen end for safety sake. When we had company, even if I did not close the door to the den, little could be seen. I had open floor plans in homes I lived in that ex chose, and these were disasters.

3. You guys should have the kitchens you want and I can see the advantage on being able to close the door on a sink full of dirty dishes. But taking a wall out of our 50s California ranch closed-off kitchen is the best thing we ever did.

   We kept the wonderfully efficient galley layout but, minus a wall, it no longer feels cramped and claustrophobic. If someone wants to wander in and visit while I’m cooking I’ll cope. …but I did put in a very big, very deep farmhouse sink so those dirty dishes can still hide there in the bowels.

4. On the British house and home programmes I have noticed that the families building open plan living/kitchen areas have young children who are probably in bed when adult friends come round.
   I have an open kitchen/dining room but a separate living room which is great for letting the children play/watch TV when we have our friends round without us disturbing them or having them joining in with every adult conversation.
   It also allows my husband to sit in peace when my friends are round- we have lots of mutual friends but like most couples, not all of our entertaining or socialising is done together. (He tends to go out to meet his friends whereas I have a group of friends who take it in turns to host a monthly gathering where we cook and drink Prosecco!)

   On a separate note, anyone interested in no-dig/no-till gardening should look up Charles Dowding on You tube. His videos are fascinating and his garden is amazing- he’s an English organic gardener who has been running comparison trials between dig/no-dig gardening for a few years now and his results are very interesting.

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