We had close friends who moved from Maine to Ohio years ago, one December when the wife and I were both pregnant. I was devastated, I missed them so much. After three months of Ohio’s gloomy winter with minimal sun, they moved back to Maine.
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When we bought our last house, it was a 1911 Arts & Crafts style Foursquare house that had a tiny kitchen with one door to to the elegant DR. We hired an architect who added 3/4 of an octagon around the back corner of the house. This wrapped a family room with lots of tall glass windows around the kitchen (so we could watch our kids play in the yard. But, we wanted him to blow out the wall between the DR and the kitchen and he refused. He said, “First, you need the cabinet space. Just because you have only lived in places with an inadequate kitchen doesn’t mean that you should have that here. Second, when you cook a fancy dinner and have guests, you want some visual separation between the mess in the kitchen and the DR.” So, he left an open door way (no door) and an above the counter wind-shaped opening on the other side between the K and the DR. Created a sense that the two spaces were joined but you didn’t see the mess. Worked very well.
So, we applied the same lesson in our new house. Renovations underway. There is no DR.
We have to create a DR out of a three-season porch. The DR will effectively be a glass box. We are extending the kitchen counter all the way out to the DR. Lots of granite or whatever stone we are using. But the DR is around the corner and you won’t see the mess in the K from the DR.
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Is it that sunny in Maine in the winter? Mostly I was referring to cold and not exactly dining on the deck in February.
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Yes, it is pretty sunny here during the winter.
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I think I’m with the people who “need” a formal dining room. I also love having a fairly large eat-in kitchen.
We currently have both a formal living room and a family room. I think I’d be fine without the living room, but I would want a larger family room.
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Son and DIL bought a brand new house a little over a year ago. No DR and no LR – just a big area for kitchen, eating area and family room. I guess that’s all you need.
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I think that one big room arrangement is sometimes referred to as a “Great Room”. We could probably deal with that kind of floor plan down the road someday.
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We have a great room—the kitchen (which houses the washer & dryer) has walls & pocket doors emptying into great room and is a 1/2 step lower but otherwise the “great room” runs 2/3 the length of our house and is 20-25’ wide. It’s where our dining table, couch, and anything not in kitchen, bedroom or bath live.
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I have that and love it. Huge dining room table on one side, a walk space, then a large area rug and living room furniture on the other side. Semi open to kitchen, but closed enough so physically separate and dirty dishes are not visible it. Large island . It’s an excellent use of space and we get to enjoy our dining room every day (either looking at it or using it). For the 2-4 of us, we usually eat at the large kitchen island, but for morel dining table.
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Our old house had an open loft overlooking the living room, and the downstairs flowed into the small dining room and kitchen. Only the bedrooms and bathrooms had doors. The tv’s were in the living room and loft. So for me, only one could be watched at a time, and if a tv was on, you had to go into a bedroom and close the door to get partial quiet.
We still have a great room with living room, (larger) dining area, and kitchen. But the second tv is in the master suite and can be behind one door. The guest room is at the other end of the house and another door. Blessed quiet.
Both houses had only a high counter separating the kitchen, and I don’t like sitting at bar level. So I always eat at the dining room table.
Of course, most of the year I can eat at the outside dining table, or the outdoor cocktail and love seat area, or the little table by the pool. Outdoor living space in a temperate climate makes a huge difference.
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This is how our current space is (kitchen/dining/living), and I love it. I will say that between kitchen and dining there is a bump up bar height counter. We don’t have bar stools at it (the space would be tight with those, though they would be possible), but the bump up definitely helps hide the kitchen mess. I know those are not, “in,” now, however. I have a friend who just took one out to make a counter-height peninsula. I do love that, but her cook top is still in it!! Yes, there is ample counter space beyond/behind the cooktop, but if I can’t have an island/peninsula that is ALL counter, I don’t want it.
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The noise (as mentioned by Marilyn) is an issue I think about w/future floor plans. For instance, if someone is watching TV (even moderately loudly) in our current first-floor open floorplan (kitchan and family room only separated by half wall) — there is no escaping it, unless you are in the basement or upstairs with a door shut!
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So interesting what makes the “perfect” house for different people.
One main living area (LR, DR, K) with no second living option? That would be torture for me. I need a second option to escape to - it doesn’t need to be large but it needs to have some seclusion (doors or distance) to get away from the television. H seems to have a TV on All.Day.Long. And it drives me crazy if I’m home!!!
Bedrooms to me are for sleeping and not spending time in otherwise. Outdoor spaces (plural!) are essential.
You can give me small spaces but give me several of them!! 
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I thought the same thing as I’ve been catching up on posts. My youngest and his wife are planning on making a Tiny Home for themselves. They consider pretty much any place they spend time in way too big. She works remotely and he works from home (farming). Their main focus is on doing the least damage to the planet as possible and neither need their own space.
H and I still want a two bedroom with two or one baths (pending view and cost) condo. On this thread most seem to think we’re way too small for ideal. Our youngest sees it as way too much for a “single” couple.
All of us like our outdoor space though, so even when/if we get a condo as our second home, it will have to be a community that has decent outdoor space - a beach to walk on, etc. There’s no way I’d want one in the center of a city.
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Our downstairs rooms have no doors (except for den/guestroom and bathroom), and the kitchen turns into family room beyond the kitchen table. Family room is open to the upstairs hallway. Hubby watches TV in family room a lot. Usually I can work around the TV noise, but sometimes he switches to his apple airpods so that only he hears the audio.
My ideal layout is a huge central space with an open kitchen in the middle and furniture/rugs/objects used to define the other living areas. Floor-to-ceiling sliding glass panels would open to large outdoor spaces so inside and outside would flow seamlessly when the “walls” were open. No dining room and no TVs. Two equal master bedroom suites, one on each side of the central space, and a separate casita would do it for me.
Our current house is fairly open, and our kitchen is large and accessible, but we have a couple of interior archways that I’d like to do away with. Though not physically in the center of the house, our kitchen is the hub of our waking hours. I could easily see designing an entire house around that space.
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Two thumbs up.
An interesting point that I had never really thought of: the effect of tv on space needs. We have never had a tv, at least since 1985. Kids grew up without and now, living alone, I do watch things but on Netflix with captions so still quiet!
This thread continues to make me wonder if there are any other single or divorced parents out there for whom “downsize” means a studio or small one bedroom
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As I have mentioned in a few posts, we are renting an apartment as a trial for a second home. It is 2 bed and 2 bath for the 2 of us. At my age I refuse to not be able to use a bathroom whenever I need to (answering the 1 vs 2 bath question.)
I am using the second bedroom as my office (I work part time from home). It has a small bed for my daughter when she visits. She came for Christmas and I vacated it to give her a private space. It worked out well.
It does have an open plan for living, dining, and kitchen areas. We did put in a big tv over the fireplace. We are not big TV people, my husband watches stuff mostly on his computer, so this has worked out well. I spend a lot of my time in the second bedroom and my husband spends most of his time in the living room area.
This matches how we live in our big house. Me mostly in my office (which there is the third bedroom) and him in our family room. Although, in that house we have both a living room and a family room.
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Count me an another who finds everyone’s home preferences interesting.
We having been planning our move for a few years, and our original thoughts were a small 2BR/2BA condo in the city and also buying a lake house. A few things happened: we could not find a condo at our price point in an area we wanted and with the pandemic we wanted some more outside space and I wanted a workout space. A townhouse (very popular here in DC area) seemed like a good compromise, but the new city has very few options.
We ended up with a single family detached home but one significantly smaller than our current home. I did not want a big yard and the new place has a small front yard which is entirely landscaped (beautifully) with no grass to cut. It’s in an older area so the back yard is fenced and the size of a townhouse yard. There is a lovely screen porch. So it is a single family house that lives like a townhouse.
We will have 2 “living areas” inside. First floor has an open living room/kitchen/family room but we also have a lower finished basement level with another family room for H’s “man cave”. There is a guest room, bath with shower and a bar area down there too.
The new house might not be for everyone but it’s perfect for us.
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