Our kitchen is open to our family room with a breakfast nook and table and an eat-at island. It works great under 90% of the circumstances. About the only time it's annoying is when DH is doing dishes and I'm trying to watch tv...it gets a little noisy. Otherwise it's great for entertaining and for being cozy and warm around the wood stove. Great for watching TV while I'm cooking and it is fundamentally where we live 95% of our waking hours. We eat all our meals here, except when we entertain. I'm most pleased with the arrangement.

I second Annie's comment! I love the openness between the rooms but my husband doesn't like it when I'm doing dishes or banging pots and pans when I'm cooking and he is watching TV and vise versa. We have an ultra quiet dishwasher, but sometime during the cycle it makes a particular noise that overshadows the tv volume.

If we did it over again - we'd put a wall between the kitchen area and the family room, but leave the eating area open to the family room.

downsy - that is how our house is setup i.e. a wall between the kitchen and living area but none between the kitchenette eating area to the family room. You cant see the TV much from the kitchen and not at all from the eating area which has been a huge plus for the kids and us to eat properly or at least with one less distraction.

I plan to have the kitchen separate from the TV, but I don't have kids to keep an eye on. Right now, it's adjacent, but not open and it works really well, so we'll do the same thing in the remodel.

And...I am a messy cook! :)

We have a set up similar to Annie's with kitchen/breakfast room but no counter seating - I didn't want to see stools from the great room, etc and we didn't need the seating. We have a decent size walk-in pantry just off the kitchen so plenty of storage there. Plus cabinets in the laundry room that's not four steps from the kitchen for bulk paper towels, pet items, vases, etc. I didn't want appliances out in the kitchen, so the microwave, K cup and toaster are on a table in the pantry. Coffeemaker is on the hutch in the hallway between kitchen and laundry room.

I like being part of what's going on when guests are over. On holidays most of the cooking is finished before guest arrive. I'm a clean as I go cook, so there's not a lot of pots/pans left and prep items have long been washed, dried and stored.

The only thing I don't love is the noise from the double DishDrawers. The top isn't bad once it drains/gets started, but the bottom is loud the entire time. Could be because we have furniture style cabinetry, so there's not much sound proofing.

I was actually going to close off the kitchen, but our architect Jack Arnold put his foot down. I said okay, knowing we could close it off if we didn't like it. Now I can't imagine not having an open kitchen. Our children are all adults now and two of them have children. It's easy to keep an eye on them when they spend the night and I'm preparing their breakfast.

Here is a link that might be useful: my kitchen

This post was edited by allison0704 on Thu, Oct 24, 13 at 14:24

I was debating this very thing too. Our first house was entirely opened so that I'd have to clean the entire 1st floor if someone was even just dropping by. Our second house was completely closed off and I wished it was a little more open. Our compromise was to make our dining room which is at the front of the house big enough that it could be used as a living room instead of a dining room in case we decided we wanted a always clean spot for guests (we've NEVER used a formal dining room anyway). Then our kitchen is open to the family room in the same layout like the Elberton Way, with a spot big enough for a dining room table. We also will have an unfinished room upstairs that we can finish for an entertainment room if we do want a separate tv watching area, plus we will have a full unfinished basement to give us other options too.
Trying to keep our options open so we can change things for the way our lives change.

Jujubean71,

I received your email, but your profile is set so that no one can email you back! Here's you answers:

Hi Julie,

Thank you! There is exactly 46.25" counter to counter. The range sticks out some (ugh!) and it's 40.25" from range (outside edge) handle to the island counter. In a perfect world, the side cabinets would have come out 4"+ inches to cover more of range.

regards, Allison

Our kitchen is open to both our family room and breakfast area. It is divided by a short hall (butler's pantry) to our dining room. Honestly, we renovated our last home to open the kitchen to the family room, and I never even considered closing off the kitchen in our new home. It suits our lifestyle. The dining room is not in eyesight of the kitchen, so if it is messy during a nice dinner, we don't have to see it! Plus, I have a super deep single bowl sink to dump dishes into. :) Also, we have a formal study off the foyer that I could divert unexpected guests to...but really, the family room stays pretty neat. My kids are 11 and 14, and they have Rec areas upstairs to hang out with friends. I don't like being stuck off alone when I am cooking...so this works for us!

Allison: Wow! Thanks for the link to your kitchen. What a beautiful and very unique room.

I really appreciate all the feedback. This forum is amazing.

I designed the family room to accommodate a huge TV. Then I designed the kitchen with direct view lines to that TV.

If clean-up noise is bothering those watching TV - 98% of the time it's my lazy kids so they have to get up and help finish cleaning.

Man-logic, what can I say!

Our computer center is also in family room so we can monitor use.