The open concept home has been with us for nearly fifty years now. People really like the idea of living in a great room, with no walls separating the kitchen from the living room. But the idea of living in an open concept home versus the reality of living in an open concept home has led some people to think about bringing walls back.
We Could All Use a Little Less Togetherness: The Value of Partitions
One of the biggest critiques of the open concept kitchen is how difficult they are to organize. Human beings crave structure, especially early in the morning before they’ve had any coffee. When you’re already stressed out after a long day at work and just need to get dinner on the table, there’s nothing more frustrating than having to search for ingredients, appliances, and cookware.
Kitchen design experts recommend creating organization in the kitchen based on functional areas or zones. Within the prep area, for example, you’ll find the cutting boards, knives, and easy access to fresh ingredients. Some zones – prep and cooking, for example – may be adjacent to each other, while other zones, such as dining and cleaning – may work best when they’re partitioned off from other areas of the kitchen.
Partitions can be take a familiar form, such as walls, but working with a great kitchen designer you can explore other options such as movable glass dividers or ornamental screening that’s easy to put in place when privacy and quiet are desirable.
Understanding the Appeal of the Open Concept Kitchen
It’s interesting to note that the open concept home started becoming popular at the same time more and more people needed to be in the workforce. This awareness of how little time families actually got to spend together made remaining visually connected during the times everyone was home even more pleasant. Now, of course, we’re two years into a global pandemic, with many families working, schooling, and living all within the same space. Visual separation makes it easier for everyone to focus on the things they have to do.
