Do you have an open kitchen? If yes, do you like it?

The current trend in home design is for an open kitchen – a kitchen without any walls, which flows into a dining and living area.

Personally, I hate the whole concept. For me, a kitchen is a place to bang pots, make a mess, and close the door until clean-up. It’s very unappetizing to sit down for a meal and have a fully-exposed view of dirty pans and spilled-on surfaces. It’s one thing to have an eat-in kitchen for casual family meals; nobody cares about the mess, and eat-in kitchens are part of a traditional house layout. It’s very different when setting a beautiful dining room table for a nice dinner or for company.

I have this theory that open kitchens are favored by people who don’t really cook. They use their kitchens to open pizza boxes and Chinese food containers, but not for much else.

What are your own thoughts?

By the way, I’m in the process of completely renovating my Mom’s house for sale. The building contractor asked me if I’d like to knock down a wall and merge the kitchen and dining room. I said, “No way!” That’s just not something I’d do. Besides, why give up an entire wall of kitchen cabinets and counters?