Should they be on the same floor? Is it that different from having a closed up kitchen? what do you think?
Personally, I love having kitchen very near living room so the people doing food prep, cooking & clean up are near and within earshot of everyone.
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My opinion is that kitchen and living room (or great room) should be on the same floor.
You can have a closed kitchen either the kitchen on the same floor as other living spaces.
Personally, I prefer the living room near the kitchen but not open concept. But our house is small compared to many. I want the wall so that if, say, people are watching a game in the living room, the people in the kitchen can still talk and be heard. There’s a house like mine that’s been beautifully renovated. They took down the wall between the kitchen and living room, but it works, IMO, because they added another room off the dining room that acts as the TV room. The TV can blare, but the separation means everyone can be heard.
ETA: I prefer and have only lived in one-story houses. I can see the appeal of a rumpus room/man cave/whatever downstairs.
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Strong yes to having the living room (or family room) on the same floor as a kitchen. I saw a townhouse once that had just the kitchen and a small dining room on one floor and the living room on another. It was an immediate “no” for me. I don’t know how I’d ever entertain the way we like with that floor plan.
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Same floor. Carrying food/drink between floors would be a constant irritant, so you would probably want a separate kitchenette if on different floors.
Our house works well (1950’s): Large living room is adjacent to a small dining area (L-shaped). Dining table can be extended into the living area if a very large gathering needs to be seated. Dining area is open to the kitchen with double doors. Kitchen is not visible from the living area, but the flow works well when open.
I can’t picture any house I’ve been in that didn’t have the kitchen and either living room or family room on the same floor. That would be especially hard for me if it was a small kitchen. I find that if we’re entertaining 8 or so people, we all wind up in the kitchen until people are kicked out to get ready to eat.
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I’m kind of messy so prefer to have pocket doors that can close to hide my kitchen mess but open when we prefer open.
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I can’t think of many layouts that have them on completely different floors, but I have been looking at a lot of homes lately, and some of the more modern styles do have a “sunken” kitchen, where you’d have to descend maybe 4-5 steps from the living area. I think it’s a cool look but acknowledge that it could get old after a while, going up and down.
Along those lines, sometimes beach homes with the inverted living layouts can have them on alternate floors (some have 2 kitchens).
I am married to a custom home builder who also designs and draws his own plans. We have many discussions about “open concept”. I am over it. I don’t like how voices carry from the kitchen into the living room. I don’t like to be “shushed” when talking in the kitchen so someone can hear the TV. While I wouldn’t want all my rooms to be completely closed off, I would love some separation of rooms. In looking at homes located elsewhere for a potential 2nd residence, much of what I’m looking at was built in the 60’s & 70’s (with modern renovations). Some have taken down walls for an open concept look, but I really appreciate those that have kept the walls up for separation.
I also don’t like when I am cooking something like fish or broccoli, my whole house gets the smells (yes, I use the exhaust fan).
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I’ve only seen one situation where the “living room” was on a different floor. It was a Beacon Hill townhouse. The LR was on the main level when you entered, and the kitchen was on the ground floor below. It was a country kitchen with some seating.
The family had a dumb waiter that went from the kitchen to the main level where the living room and formal dining room were located.
Every home they had after that has the kitchen on the same floor as the living room and dining room.
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City townhouses where plots are small but there aren’t height restrictions sometimes have this weird floor plan. The one I saw was 5 stories - garage/entry on the ground level, 1st floor family/living room, 2nd floor kitchen/dining, 3rd floor primary suite and laundry, 4th floor 2 additional bedrooms and bath, 5th floor roof deck. They also had a dumb waiter. Finishes were gorgeous, views amazing, but I couldn’t imagine making that work for our family and how we gather. Overall I’m not a fan.
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Same floor. Can’t think of scenario where separating them would work well.
I still prefer open concept, but we don’t watch TV during the day, only together at night, and DH has his separate office/library/bar room to hibernate in, so noise is not a factor for us. Our current house is not as open as I’d like. It has archways between areas that mostly function as separators for furnishings, but our kitchen and family room bleed together as one large space, and I would always require that layout as our kitchen is also our main entertaining area.
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We have open “great room” for dining and living room & study and pocket doors connecting to kitchen. It works pretty well but if someone has covid, it’s hard to isolate and yes, I managed to get everyone else in our house sick.
One of my kids lives in a townhouse in a major city.
Multiple floors, the kitchen, dining area and living are one floor. It’s not big but I can’t imagine not having all on one floor
I have friends who live in a lovely townhouse with an amazing country kitchen with island and breakfast nook on the ground floor (opening to a lovely back yard). At the other end of that floor is a family room. On the parlor floor (at the top of the stoop) are dining room with a little serving space with sink and a deck overlooking the back yard and living room in front. Upstairs are two floors of bedrooms. Almost every time I am there has been for a party (best NYC Marathon party EVER!) and it works perfectly for that.
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