Living/Dining/Kitchen: How do you live or how will you live?

Well, I think that at least walk-in closets, similar to some American innovations, will also establish themselves in the long term here with us.

They are, with sufficient sizing, definitely a nice gain in comfort.

However, I am not so sure about the open kitchen, living, and dining area. This trend has also made its way to us from across the "big pond," but it can certainly be viewed ambivalently.

Our new house will also have a kitchen open to the living and dining area with a "work island" including an attached counter and bar stools.

However, we often cook together or even with friends. Therefore, nothing else was an option for us.

The open kitchen simply has to fit the personal lifestyle; then it is a great feature.

But I also have no problem if someone does not necessarily want to have their kitchen (keyword "battlefield") on display.

Each to their own...

The open kitchen simply has to fit the personal lifestyle, then it is a great feature.

I believe that is really the crux of the matter. Modern or not, in the end it has to suit you. One could have similar discussions about the sense or nonsense of a walk-in closet or a children's bathroom. Some find it great and it is a must-have, for others it is complete nonsense. If you can identify with it, then it's good, and if not, then it's not. And in the end, I’m not building my house for others, but for myself. Whether others find it stylish or if it is trendy, I don't really care. For me/us, it has to fit.

I think the same way. We currently live "open" and it fits perfectly. There are no separated rooms between the kitchen, dining room, and living room, but the layout is not quite ideal. Therefore, we will use the experiences we have gained here for the construction of our house, even though we already find our situation in our current house acceptable. The dishwasher is quiet and does not disturb; mostly we cook together or one cooks and the other plays with our daughter, so the boundaries blur anyway. And when we both stand at the stove or something similar and Romy plays in the living room, there is no separation either. And we like it so much that we will adapt it for our next house.

We couldn’t decide for a long time whether we wanted the kitchen to be open or closed. With both options, you don’t just have advantages but also disadvantages. We then decided on a kind of breakthrough as a compromise. As long as the open kitchen is still desired, it will remain as it is now. If later a closed kitchen is desired, we will install a double door/sliding door in the "breakthrough" or completely wall it up. To keep the option open, I had to forgo a cooking island....

@Bauanbenteuer: That's exactly how it will be with us.

Well, I think that at least walk-in closets, similar to some American inventions, will also become established with us in the long run. They are, with sufficient dimensions, definitely a nice gain in comfort.

That just shows how much it depends on personal feeling, I quite boldly claim the opposite. I am a fan of short distances; it would annoy me to have to walk to another room for clothes. And I already have stuff in my normal closet that I haven't worn in ages, so there is enough space. Otherwise, I just recently built a new place with a large eat-in kitchen and a small separate living room, which is more a media and "chill" room for evenings than a place to stay during the day. In the kitchen, besides a long row of cabinets, there is also a large cooking island; I need space when cooking and have already gotten used to an island from the previous apartment.