Our kitchen is the hub of this house and every house we’ve ever owned. Our current kitchen is totally open to most of the house and where we live and entertain. We have a 12’ x 8’ block U-shaped island with seating for eight along two sides – it’s where everyone congregates, eats, and cooks together. If you come to my house, you can choose to sip a cold beverage and watch the kitchen fun or join in. Like @Nrdsb4, there are NEVER any dirty dishes or crumbs in our kitchen. If we’re not playing in there, it’s spotless, including the stainless.
Add me to those who’ve don’t like stainless appliances. I like plain old white which is getting harder and harder to find.
I don’t like black appliances either.
The more I sit on our balcony enjoying the view the more I realize folks can have “whatever” in the house and we’ll get used to it. Lime green and purple bathrooms? Uh, ok. For me, view triumphs everything else and my “green planet” feelings plus “wanderlust” will keep me from replacing anything that still works in order to save the planet and see more of it.
YMMV as always.
Since we can’t currently travel we have decided we will be adding a bathroom downstairs relatively soon. It won’t be lime green and purple! Not totally sure what it will be just yet other than a stand up shower and similar functional aspects. I think we’re also going to add a home office (room) which will allow us to expand our balcony too. Right now it’s only 5’ in depth. Expanding it over the new office/bathroom would give us some nice usable outdoor room to enjoy. I envision a swing, hammock, table, plants… not sure what else. Open to suggestions from anyone who has them (via experience or wishes). Half of it will be under roof - the other half not. I doubt we’ll screen it in. Bats keep the mosquitoes away and I like an open view better than a screened view. Bugs don’t currently bother us on the balcony we have.
Speaking of appliances, who decided that all the washers and dryers need to be significantly bigger? I know the trend is for huge laundry rooms, but I’m sure I’m not the only one with a laundry closet that won’t fit the new appliances. The standard used to be 36" high, now it’s 38 or more. Worse, the 27" depth has become a minimum of 31"., with a lot being 33" +.
Good for all the people that keep their kitchen sparkling 
For the rest of us mere mortals with kids…pass on the open kitchen.
We’re mere mortals who had kids and still don’t keep a sparkling clean house anywhere. I just warn visitors if they need sparkling clean they’d best not visit.
@rhododendron I’m with you! Our 25 year old dryer doesn’t have that three or four inch bump out on the back. Our washer and dryer are in a closet in our hall bath. New dryer won’t fit unless we get a Miele.
My kitchen and living room are an L - with the eating area at the intersection, so you can’t actually see the kitchen from the living room, but I don’t feel shut off like I did before we extend the kitchen across the back of the house. I like when we have parties and I’m doing all the last minute stuff people can come and keep me company. My kitchen is sort of a cross between farmhouse and restaurant style. I don’t need it too look like furniture. There are stains and nicks on the butcherblock island. I’ve never noticed spots on the stainless steel. I’ll admit I am not the tidiest of cooks either.
I grew up in a very messy house. Additionally, there was constant chaos (5 kids in a small house). The dynamic included a lot of yelling and conflict. I was embarrassed to bring anyone over. When I visited my Dad and stepmom, their house was immaculate and the vibe was calm.They only had one child. Not surprisingly, I associate messiness with chaos and I feel a lot of stress if the house is messy or cluttered.
So my house is very clean, yet I’m still a “mere mortal.” Don’t bring over the white glove! I just don’t want a dirty kitchen ever, and I pick up after myself in the home in general. While cooking, once I use a dish or pan or other utensil, I rinse it out and put it in the dishwasher. I hate having a huge mess hanging over me after I’ve eaten and relaxed finally.
One exception is my closet. It tends to look a little messy, but I don’t share it with “Mr. Clean,” my DH. He keeps his closet like I keep the kitchen.
If feels nice to walk through a clean house. It makes me feel less stress. I get that it’s not necessarily important to everyone.
@mathmom, that’s what we have in our current house. Without young children to keep an eye on, it works well for us. I’m not completely shut in like I was in our first house after D1 was born (we rented it). But with small children, we built two houses with completely open kitchens-I absolutely wanted it that way.
LOL, ok I’ll say it. I LOVE my stainless steel appliances and don’t consider it a huge burden to wipe them down once or twice a day with a paper towel. It literally takes seconds. I lived for far too long with “almond” appliances and thought that they looked grubby all the time. As far as white appliances go, sorry but they just always look cheap and builder basic to me. If any manufacturer can manage to design white appliances that actually look attractive, I’ll be happy to consider them when the time comes.
I also love my white cabinets. It’s puzzling to me when people complain that they hate them because the dirt always “shows”. Does that mean that they are fine knowing that their 1980’s oak cabinets are filthy (mine always looked that way to me, even after I wiped them all down) as long as it doesn’t show? Personally, I love that I can see when something has splashed up on a white cabinet so I can clean it off right away. When they look clean, I know they actually are clean.
My favorite thing with kitchens is light, bright (lots of natural light), and most importantly clean. I think if you use the right flooring and backsplash, a white kitchen can look warm and cheerful. When someone describes a kitchen as “cozy” I always imagine clutter all over the counters and crumbs under the toaster.
Anyway, that’s my defense of white kitchens (which are never entirely white). Off my soapbox now. 
This had me running in to measure my 20-year-old washer and dryer. They are located in the pass-through from the kitchen to the garage. Current ones are 25.5" in depth and absolutely cannot be any larger! They would stick out and block the walkway, which is already narrow. There is some leeway in height, but now I am worried about what I will do when they finally croak.
Not a fan of these new refrigerators which have a viewing window. We have an open floor plan and I’d have no interest in being able to look into the fridge from a wide area. Even with a more closed kitchen, I still wouldn’t want the interior of the fridge on display.
@musicmom1215 You can get smaller apartment sized units, for, of course, a larger price. One I’ve considered is 24" wide, not the standard 27", 25" deep and 34" high. It’s bitty.
Apparently they’ve done similar resizing of refrigerators. My father had a hard time finding one that wasn’t too tall for his cabinets.
It is dumb, but yes the apartment sized appliances still exist thank goodness! I like white cabinets because I am forced to keep them clean. I had a horrible wood kitchen in my first house and they were so grimy!
@rhododendron is right that the new appliances are too big for some laundry rooms that seemed perfectly fine before, like mine. The new washer and dryer make it so tight in there, that now we can barely open the broom closet. I’m thinking of taking the door off the broom closet and putting up a curtain instead. And then there is the problem with how high they are if you get the kind of washer that opens on top, which my mom and a good friend have. Both of them are short people who practically fall in the washer trying to reach in to get the clothes out!
The first manufacturer that introduces washers and dryers that are the old normal size will get a lot of business.
Another trend I’m not fond of: couches have gotten bigger too. I’m on the hunt for a new couch, but it has to fit around a tight corner and through the 32" wide doorway to my living room. (I’d love the house to be a bit more open, but that’s not going to happen.) When I find couches that will fit they are usually either very low end junk or extremely expensive custom orders.
I like stainless just fine and it doesn’t usually seem that smudgy. I think using one of those stainless polishing sprays once in a while helps.
I wouldn’t mind a kitchen open to the family room (not that I have a family room, sad to say) but I like having the living room separate or maybe an L like @mathmom describes. I like having the door to close to the kitchen when desired. I don’t want to be shut up in the kitchen all alone, but I also feel like the noise and commotion can be too much and separation of space is nice.
I agree with those who have said the fake muntins are atrocious. Either go with a traditional style or don’t! I have a very traditional house and sometimes dream of something newer and modern with clean lines and that would include modern windows with no muntins. They would have window screens and be easy to clean, be insulated against sound and weather, and be easy to open and shut. But in the old-fashioned house I have, it would look horrible to change the windows.
I must confess I had to google “muntins” and also must confess that I have fake muntins! A few of them are missing. I think, when the weather is cooler, I might see if I can remove them all. Would love new windows, but don’t have the $$$.
My windows, which are original to the house, are one over one. I love them but storms are a little bit of an issue because none of the windows are standard size.
And I like either stainless or white for appliances. I currently have stainless but it’s no problem keeping them smudge-free.