Should Your New Home Have an Open or Closed Floor Plan?

There’s a lot of questions when you’re moving homes. There’s the location: condo living downtown or more space, peace, and quiet further out in the country? There’s the kinds of countertops, trims, and fixtures you want. There’s whether or not you want a move in ready home or something that will take some fixing up before everything’s perfect.

One of the most fundamental questions you have to ask has to do with home design. Do you want an open floor plan or closed? When you work with custom home builders on a new home, they typically have a number of different designs to choose from. You can find dozens of floor plans from Blythwood Homes, custom home builders in Niagara Region, to compare a variety of detached and townhome bungalows, with both open floor plans and separate kitchens.

Let’s take a look at how open and closed floor plans compare.

#1 Space

This is where having an open interior often comes out ahead. It just feels bigger and it’s easier to use the space. Walls tend to break up the flow of movement through a home and they make a home feel visually more cut-up.

If you love a cozier kind of feeling, the smaller rooms created by walls can be put to excellent effect, but people often prefer the sightlines and airiness of the alternative.

#2 Style

One of the big style challenges that comes with an open floor plan is making sure everything is cohesive across multiple rooms: living room, dining room, and kitchen. When you’re planning a home where those three main living areas blend together, it helps if you have the option of working with a custom home builder that allows you to pick and choose countertops, tiles, colors, etc. With a bit of preplanning, you can make sure your kitchen will gel well with the interior design you want for the other parts of your home.

#3 Lifestyle

Do you love being able to just close a door and hide away clutter when guests come over? Are you the type of person who gets bothered by kitchen smells in the living room, or who enjoys the privacy of cooking in a separate room? Or do you prefer being able to prepare a meal without abandoning your company and enjoy the sightlines of a kitchen that blends in with the dining or living room areas?

The home floor plan can be designed so that the kitchen is right in the middle of the great room. In these plans homeowners often like to have the sink and dishwasher in the island facing the area with guests. Some home buyers like to have a design which includes a spacious butler’s pantry so messy stuff can be hidden away from the great room.

Approximately 70% of homebuyers want an open floor plan, so it’s the clear front-runner, and thatalso helps resale value. However, when you’re looking for your dream home, it’s really a matter of your personal preferences. Think about how you use the space and what you want out of it. It’s a decision that will guide your interior design and even your lifestyle once you’ve moved in.

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