The Off Topic Topic

[Josquius]

Kitchen islands are a way to show off how big your house is.
Look at my house. Its so big the kitchen has space to put the bench right in the middle rather than huddled off to the side.

[PDH]

I agree with Beeb.  The open kitchen and kitchen island reflect a shift on usage and cooking within the house.  Even before the ideal mid-20th century homemaker in her kitchen, it was the domain of domestic help, outside of the genteel main home usage area.  The rise of the middle class copied this and it became the place for the wife.

Maybe even beginning with the popularity of the ranch-style in the USA, the kitchen began to be transformed to a social area not just for cooking but for casual dining, cocktail parties, noshing, and more of a family area.  The dining area became a place rarely used except for more formal use.  Now, your mileage may vary, but in the USA at least this was the trend in media, aspirations, and practice.

The kitchen island isn't just to say "Oh look at how much space I have" but also to show the transformation in use.

[Sheilbh]

Disagree.  Move to open kitchens just reflects changes in society.  Back when cooking was women's work and women were homemakers, the kitchen was to be hidden away.  Now with 2 working partners much more entertaining either happens in the kitchen, or the person cooking does not want to be walled away from everyone else in the family.  I mean this is a trend that probably goes back at lest 30 years and is still going strong.

Maybe but I think kitchen as the centre of the home/people always hanging out in the kitchen at parties etc has been a bigger trend for that and happens regardless of whether it's open plan or has an island.

I personally have a conspiracy theory that open-plan actually became a thing via 1990s home redecoration shows - possibly to attract more men to the audience because sledgehammers knocking through walls. Relatedly I think feature walls is because those shows only had a limited budget so couldn't afford the strong high quality paint for the entire room and we got decking because they couldn't afford the costs of installing a patio.

Basically I think the budget constraints on Ground Force and Changing Rooms have shaped UK decor for decades

Edit: And I think as we generally move to far more WFH there'll be a shift back to defining and creating internal divisions between work and private spaces, by walls in some cases.

[The Brain]

Why would I want to be disturbed by cooking noise while I'm watching my stories?

[Tonitrus]

I much prefer the open-plan kitchen thing. 

My current place doesn't have it...a limitation of being in a converted chapel...but it is still pretty spacious and accessible. 

I'm not sure about the butcherblock kitchen counters however...I still consider it a maintenance nightmare, especially around the sink.

[Jacob]

I wonder if the current Danish childrens' program that's full of naked adults is going to be considered dubious in the future. I'm pretty sure lots of people outside of Denmark consider it dubious right now.

[Barrister]

Maybe but I think kitchen as the centre of the home/people always hanging out in the kitchen at parties etc has been a bigger trend for that and happens regardless of whether it's open plan or has an island.

Okay, I just want to make sure about language here.  You seem to be saying the two options are open plan vs island.  I'm talking about the move away from a closed kitchen - a kitchen that is closed off from the rest of the house by 4 walls, and if you go a bit further back by doors as well.

As I think about it it's a shift that probably goes back more than 30 years, perhaps more like 50.  I think in the 70s you first started to see little pass-ways or windows from the kitchen into the living spaces.

[Syt]

I wonder if the current Danish childrens' program that's full of naked adults is going to be considered dubious in the future. I'm pretty sure lots of people outside of Denmark consider it dubious right now.

You mean John Dillermand?

[DGuller]

I wonder if the current Danish childrens' program that's full of naked adults is going to be considered dubious in the future. I'm pretty sure lots of people outside of Denmark consider it dubious right now.

I was curious to find out more about this show, but I think a Google search with "children" and "nudity" just put me on some kind of a list.

[Maximus]

Maybe but I think kitchen as the centre of the home/people always hanging out in the kitchen at parties etc has been a bigger trend for that and happens regardless of whether it's open plan or has an island.

Okay, I just want to make sure about language here.  You seem to be saying the two options are open plan vs island.  I'm talking about the move away from a closed kitchen - a kitchen that is closed off from the rest of the house by 4 walls, and if you go a bit further back by doors as well.

As I think about it it's a shift that probably goes back more than 30 years, perhaps more like 50.  I think in the 70s you first started to see little pass-ways or windows from the kitchen into the living spaces.

Yea, in my experience the island is one side of the kitchen that is otherwise open to the rest of the living area. It doesn't make the kitchen larger, just less closed off with more counter space.

[Barrister]

A kitchen island is just a part of counter top that is 'floating' in the middle of the floor - it's not attached to a wall in some fashion.  A kitchen with an island would still be considered an open-floor kitchen typically.

[Sheilbh]

So in my head.

Open plan kitchen


Kitchen island:


But, sure - they could go together.

I think both will go out of fashion - as will knocking down walls with any other rooms you have to create a larger single multi-purpose living room. I think as our homes become more and more hybrid living/working spaces we'll want to create separate spaces we can use in different ways for slightly different things.

[Maximus]

So in my head.

Open plan kitchen


Kitchen island:

Yea the second one is more what I would call an open kitchen. The first I would call a kitchenette.

But, sure - they could go together.

I think both will go out of fashion - as will knocking down walls with any other rooms you have to create a larger single multi-purpose living room. I think as our homes become more and more hybrid living/working spaces we'll want to create separate spaces we can use in different ways for slightly different things.

I really doubt it. Living spaces will tend to get smaller on average, I think, and open plans are a result of that. Maybe it will happen in higher-end houses.

[Tamas]

So in my head.

Open plan kitchen

That's a living room with some kitchen appliances and furniture

[Barrister]

See I would have called the top pic a galley kitchen - where the counters just run along one wall.

The second is an open kitchen with an island (obviously the thing in the middle).  As long as there is no wall blocking the kitchen from other living areas it's still an open kitchen.

People may or may not want to start creating separate working spaces, but that has nothing to do with closing the kitchen off from the rest of the living space.