The Open Floor Plan Explained: Design Pros and Cons
Maximize your living spaces with an open floor plan
Highlights
An open floor plan is a combination of two or more rooms.
Combine a kitchen, living room, and dining room.
Open concepts offer better flow and more flexibility.
Creating an open floor plan can be pricey.
Have you ever felt a little uncomfortable when you enter a home where each room is separated and cut off from other rooms? And have you noticed how there is a flow and a better sense of connection with others when multiple shared spaces are connected? That flow is a hallmark of an open floor plan.
In this article, you’ll learn about open floor plans, including their strengths and drawbacks. You’ll also see why these layouts continue to be in high demand with homebuyers. After you’ve seen the ways modern open floor plans can transform your space, you’ll be able to decide if it’s a remodel you want to make.
What Is an Open Floor Plan?
In the last 50 years, open concepts have grown in popularity as families yearned for ways to better share space and spend time with one another. An open floor plan is a layout designed to maximize open space by combining two or more rooms. Open concepts eliminate individual rooms in favor of larger, more flexible multi-functional rooms.
The Main Characteristics of an Open Floor Plan
When you enter an open concept space, some key features you’ll notice are:
The space is larger than a kitchen, dining room, or living room would be on its own.
Removing walls creates better sight lines and reduces the amount of wasted space.
It lets more natural light in.
By connecting a living room to a kitchen, for example, you enhance the positive qualities of both rooms. Big windows in the living room bring more light into the kitchen. The kitchen (the hub of activity in most homes) is now big enough for more people to spend time together.
Most Common Open Floor Plan Configurations
Merging two or more rooms creates an open floor plan, but the most common open floor plans are a combination of at least two of the following rooms:
Kitchen
Dining room
Living room/family room
Bedrooms and bathrooms aren’t integrated into open concepts for privacy reasons. Home offices are best kept on their own to keep them as functional as possible. Looking at a blueprint of your home will provide insight into which rooms are easiest to connect.
Dining Room and Living Room
Formal dining rooms are less common today and usually only found in larger homes. For many homeowners who do have a dining room, they’ve either repurposed it or it sits unused.
Bringing otherwise underused space to increase the size of a living room makes more space for people to socialize. Larger living rooms have a better flow and a more relaxed atmosphere that is perfect for unwinding.
Dining Room and Kitchen
Bringing the kitchen and dining room together is an excellent way to create extra room for a kitchen remodel while still providing your family with a place to eat.
If you’ve always wanted an eat-in kitchen or a larger island but didn’t have the space, a new layout makes it possible.If you’ve always wanted an eat-in kitchen or a larger island but didn’t have the space, a new layout makes it possible.
Dining Room, Living Room, and Kitchen
An open concept that combines the kitchen, living room, and dining room is one of the most impactful and useful open floor plans. Also known as great rooms, these layouts create a big space by combining the most commonly shared rooms in the home.
What Are the Advantages of an Open Floor Plan?
In addition to being very desirable and fashionable, there are many advantages to an open floor plan.
More Flexibility
Eliminating the walls of individual rooms allows you to expand certain elements of the space. Creating a bigger, more functional kitchen is a good example.
You can move furniture around more freely to accommodate the needs of the space for different functions. That means that when you’re having a party, you can create more open space for people to gather.
Better Flow
With more room to move around, people will feel less cramped. These plans can also help solve awkward living room layouts by combining the space with the kitchen or dining room. These floor plans are a great option for families with kids and pets, as well as people who like to entertain.
More Useful Space
Getting rid of walls between rooms increases the square footage of the newly formed space. With more open space, you’re free to:
Get new furniture that wouldn’t have fit before
Create different zones within the space for your family to use in different ways
Reimagine and reconfigure your kitchen with help from a professional contractor
Add Value
An open concept is a must-have for most homebuyers. Creating an open floor plan can increase the value of your home by adding square footage. If you want to get the most out of your investment, there aren’t many better ways to do it.
Easier Entertaining
With everyone in the same space, parents can watch and spend time with their kids even while cooking or doing other chores. Entertaining guests is also better because people aren’t spread throughout different rooms.
Better (and More) Light
Even if you don't install new windows, letting more natural light in from the living room will enhance the kitchen and dining area lighting. If your living room doesn't have great lighting at night, the lights from the kitchen will make it easier to use the space after the sun goes down.
What Are the Drawbacks of an Open Floor Plan?
There are some potential issues with these spaces you should think about before jumping into a remodel.
Can Be Loud
Without walls separating the different spaces, sound can, and will, travel throughout the area. This makes getting any quiet time in the area more difficult than if there were different rooms.
Can Be Costly
Remodeling multiple rooms can be costly due to some of the features and materials involved:
Reframing or adding structural support (steel and laminated beams) can quickly eat up a budget.
Installing flooring can be costly when you have to run it through a large space.
Higher Cooling and Heating Costs
Clutter gets amplified in large spaces. Even a few things out of place or small piles of mail or books can make the entire room feel dirty or unorganized. And because sight lines cover the entire space, that clutter will always be in your field of view.
Limited Privacy
The openness of the layout can be a double-edged sword. With everyone using one room, finding an area where you can be alone can be tough.
More Maintenance Required
Clutter gets amplified in large spaces. Even a few things out of place or small piles of mail or books can make the entire room feel dirty or unorganized. And because sight lines cover the entire space, that clutter will always be in your field of view.
Smells Linger
Sure, everyone loved the garlic bread with dinner, but are they going to love smelling it everywhere the next day? In an open floor plan, smells aren’t confined to the kitchen.
Is the Open Floor Plan Still In Style?
Since these plans were first popularized by Frank Lloyd Wright in the mid-20th century, open concepts have continued to grow in popularity. For many single-family homes, an open plan isn’t just desirable—it’s a must.
That doesn’t mean there hasn’t been a shift toward closed floor plans. Some newer homes have returned to having clearly defined rooms to give families more privacy. These new layouts also reduce the potential drawbacks of open floor plans.
The need for quiet spaces like home offices has grown, but most people still look for larger, more open spaces in the homes they’re buying.
Is an Open Concept Right for My Home?
There are many reasons that a great room could be a good idea for your home:
Entertaining: When you love having people over, an open floor plan creates a space where people can mingle more comfortably.
Safety: An open floor plan makes keeping an eye on your kids easier.
Style: Open floor plan decor ideas are as unique as you are, whether that means new furniture or ways to paint the inside of your home.
Investment: When you want to see a good return on investment from a home upgrade or remodel, creating an open concept is a great way to accomplish that
The most important step in creating a great room is to find a general contractor in your area. Because of the structural work required, you should trust an open concept remodel to an experienced contractor who can do the job safely. If you’re building a new home, talk to the architect about drawing plans to create an open floor plan that incorporates all of the elements you want. New blueprint costs average around $1,800 but can be $20,000 or more if you are working on new construction.
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes, open floor plans can be more expensive to build than non-open floor plans. The primary reason is the need for additional structural support to ensure stability, which can increase construction costs. Additionally, open floor plans need powerful HVAC systems to maintain temperature in a wider space. Finally, open floor plans need more flooring to cover a large area. If you are buying a home with an open floor plan though, you won’t see dramatic price differences compared to a home with more rooms.
Open floor plans can come with drawbacks—mainly the lack of privacy and noise dampening. Walls act as an important barrier for traveling sounds, meaning in an open floor plan you could hear your dishwasher running while sitting in your living room. Storage limitations and separation of activities (for example, keeping the kid’s playroom away from the dining room) are other reasons some homeowners are opting out of an open floor plan.
Without walls, other options to quiet an open space are to add noise-dampening materials like rugs, carpets, curtains, and soft furniture. These can act as a barrier to block and absorb sound. More expensive alternatives include acoustic panels, room dividers and temporary walls, and more advanced soundproofing.