Revisions log for Answer #941

In my last two apartments and my parents' last two houses, I was terribly annoyed by the open kitchen. The worst was the layout of the penultimate apartment, where the open kitchen started right behind the short hallway, so you were always looking at the kitchen first. At the time, our first child was also still an infant, and the whole place was littered with baby junk. You could always hear the dishwasher or refrigerator running. The dining room table was right next to it and the couch nook was right behind it. It was noisy and always chaotic.

After that, the kitchen-living room became an L, which was a little better, but the kitchen was very cramped with the odd counter that was always only used as a shelf, and it was always noisy and chaotic at the time with two young children. And we were always looking for a magnetic child lock opener on the cabinet doors.

My parents in their current house (in Sweden) have a huge kitchen-living room with an island to dance around. It's normal, especially when the whole family is together and 20 people are huddled around it. With two old people and a dog, it's a little difficult.