For me open concept. I don’t want guests seeing the mess I make prepping in the kitchen. Our living/ dinning room are open across the center hall; the kitchen “Ls” to the family room and that is open enough. . I do have a white kitchen, but I have always had one. And we have quartz countertops and love how pretty and easy care they are.
Another pro-granite person. Have granite kitchen and bathroom countertops with no staining or etching problems for 20 years in our current home. Just had granite countertops installed everywhere in our new home build. I love the veining and the uniqueness of each slab which you cannot get in quartzite or quartz countertops. As long as the granite is properly sealed, very little maintenance.
People often think granite countertops means speckled and repetitive. Not true. I visited a natural stone showroom that has granite samples I NEVER would have guessed were granite. We almost chose one for our master bath but DH had his eye on a slab of quartzite he loved. We bought that one but now I wish we had gone with the granite. It did not look like any granite I’d ever seen.
@thumper1 - Per your 4 items in post 143… it seems we have the same house, same preferences 
Per granite, I learned (on CC threads a few years ago) that there is a variety of types. Some are more porous, need sealing. Others are easier to maintain. But how do you test before decision?
Gumbymom, quartzite is a natural stone, like granite.
NRDSb4, what patterns did you chose?
@colorado_mom - most stone fabricators will give you samples to take home. We tried scratching, staining, etc… for a few days before committing.
Our quartzite was actually categorized as a granite until very recently when more modern testing showed it had too much calcite to be a true granite.
The show room had our stone on their coffee bar for the past 20 years and it looked great. So far so good!
We had an inexpensive, porous granite in one of our early homes and even a water glass with ice would leave a mark. It was horrible. We had to reseal every year religiously. My last house had a much more durable granite and was only sealed once in over 10 years and still looked perfect.
@bookworm: Sorry, I should have not classified Quartz and Quartzite together. Yes I know Quartzite is a natural stone but at least when I was looking at the samples available, they were not as varied as the granite and tended to lean toward white and grey colors, not what I was looking for in my selection. Like I stated before, everyone has their own preference and you can find fault with any type of countertop material available.
Quartzite comes in many different colors and some are really rather wild (yet quite beautiful). If you are seeing mainly white and gray, that’s more of a reflection of the current demand.
A few of the showrooms I visited had an enormous inventory of some incredible looking quartzite. Granite, marble, and other stones were well represented also.
@Nrdsb4: True in regards to the quartzite colors and what is in demand. I saw many beautiful types of quartzite on-line but saw very few in those patterns in the showroom. I also needed 5 slabs for the house we built.
Kind of hard to describe. Our kitchen and wet bar required several slabs. They are a creamy off white with some subtle soft-looking veining. Slabs are “leathered,” so no shine at all, which is what I preferred. We inherited a very modern Bulthaup kitchen, so I wanted to soften the look by going with the honed/leathered slab vs. polished.
Bathroom quartzite slab was also leathered, in a blue gray that will pick up the colors from a feature wall behind free standing tub that was done in a geometric pattern featuring blue, gray, and white stone. Also hard to describe.
My granite kitchen counter is 20 years old, never been re-sealed, heavily used and looks exactly the same as 20 years ago. It is totally care free.
I researched cork flooring years ago and it really sounded great in many respects. It is warm, soft under foot, very quiet and lasts a long time. It’s also expensive, can stain, not too easily cleaned unless very well sealed, and will dent pretty permanently if heavy furniture is placed on it for any length of time. There are now some luxury waterproof vinyl planks being made with cork behind it (sounds like a nice combo).
Not a new trend but for the life of me I can’t understand the use of muntins in windows. Our architect designed our house with them–we have gorgeous views so why in the world would we break it up on picture windows? Of course we nixed them immediately (saving a few thousand to boot). They give the house a more distinctive look on paper but are totally crazy in real life.
I’m pretty indecisive when something feels like a permanent decision (and true you get to live with some for a LONG time!) But I’ve also found that even if the paint color isn’t perfect that eventually I decide it’s fine. Same with flooring. I’d pick a lighter color granite now but my choices were limited 20 years ago so not worrying about it now.
The appliance companies got rid of the biscuit color (cream) and went stainless and white only. Biscuit was the most popular color in history. Go figure. I’m sure it will be back as “new”.
Someone mentioned yellowing of plastic parts on appliances–two choices if it really bothers you (mine were bad). One is to buy new parts and just replace them–handles and some other parts are available on the internet. The other is to buy the “plastic fusion paint” and just spray paint them (the colors are readily available).
Agree about muntins in windows, particularly when there is a lovely view to exploit.
I think the muntins depends on the style of the house. A colonial style house looks good with muntin windows because it matches how the houses were made during that time.
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I’ve got a colonial style house built in 1923. Some idiot in the 1960s took out the original windows and replaced them with a single picture window. The view was of the houses across the street. I now have double-hung windows that have muntins on the top sash and are open on the bottom. I think muntins give houses a sense of scale and texture, but if you’ve got a mid-century modern or similar I’m fine with no muntins.
But even when you have a lovely view like the cabin we go to in Vermont- built in the 1930s - It has huge windows facing the brook all muntins. I’m very fond of that view muntins and all.
I haven’t read through all of the replies, but I am not a fan of very white kitchens and I especially don’t care for white cabinets.
Oooh! We have muntins! Still have original windows and I don’t like the look of new windows with plastic muntins. Then again, it’d be nice to open our windows… too many are painted shut. Would never paint them black, though.
I love the look of muntins, but our NE house had 16 windows with twelve-over-twelve double-hung sash. Washing those little panes was a nightmare. I miss the look, not the upkeep. (I won’t pay anyone to wash my windows.) So, I’ll just enjoy looking at everyone else’s.
Fake muntins are an atrocity.
I second barn doors and shiplap. Joanna Gaines is nice and all, but SHEESH! Let it die already! I like being able to lock my doors.
The next one is open kitchens. Seriously, who thought that up and what was he/she smoking at the time? Why would I want my kitchen in the livingroom so EVERYONE can see that we didn’t do dishes? In some houses, it’s so bad, you have to walk past the open kitchen just to get to the livingroom. I mean, it’s like being emotionally abused by a contractor.
Finally, PLEASE STOP with the stainless steel appliances! They’re ugly, no matter what color your cabinets are. Nothing says RESTAURANT louder than a metal stove, fridge, dishwashwasher, and microwave…especially with an open kitchen(shudder). Yes, eventually your kitchen is going to look like a smudged restaurant with crumbs and dishes in the sink that EVERYONE can see.
I think I can explain how open kitchens came to be a thing-it’s pretty logical, though clearly not everyone feels the same about it. I do all the cooking in my family. I absolutely wanted an open kitchen so that I could keep an eye on my toddlers/young children as I cooked, and as they got older, be part of the interaction of my family rather than shut off by myself in the kitchen while cooking. And I never leave dishes in my sink. 
I’m a fervent clean up as I go type of cook.
They are absolutely not going anywhere. They are as popular as ever. And again, no crumbs or dishes in my sink (you might be appalled if you could see the state of my closet 75% of the time, however).
Also, I’m interested in the concept that stainless steel appliances always have smudges/fingerprints on them. Is this a brand dependent thing? My fridge does not smudge easily, nor did the one in our last house of 15 years and young children. Both were the same brand.