The kitchen is a very important part of any home. It is a place where the lady of the house spends quite a lot of time. Gone are the days when the kitchen was considered to be a small, stuffy and dingy place where the housewife would almost choke herself in the heat and smoke from the gas stove.

In today’s scenario, people are giving more importance to the planning of the kitchen to make it a better and pleasant place to work in and here is where the option of having an open plan kitchen looks good.

Small spaces
Having an open plan kitchen is especially good if you have a small house. So instead of having a separate kitchen, one could always have a waist high partition or a half wall to separate the kitchen from the dining or living rooms. This gives the illusion of having a bigger space. The dividing wall or partition could be wide enough to to be used to keep things like plates, glasses or dishes of food which are ready to be served.

 While planning an open plan kitchen, one should keep in mind that the colour scheme, flooring and décor of the kitchen are in harmony with the décor of the area it is connecting to, so that both the areas complement each other and give a more spacious look.

Advantages
There are several advantages to having an open plan kitchen. Firstly, the lady of the house need not be alone all the time while cooking as it is much easier for her to converse with the other members of the house while she does her cooking. Thus she does not feel lonely and isolated. Even when one is entertaining guests, it is easier for the hostess to talk to them and interact with them while she finishes her chores in the kitchen. That way, even the guests will not feel that the hostess is all the time busy in the kitchen and they can easily chat without necessarily being in the kitchen.

The open kitchen will also be useful when there are young children who want mom to be there while they do their homework and mom can finish her cooking side by side as well. Another advantage of having an open kitchen is that you can watch your favourite television soaps from the kitchen itself.

Just place your television set at a position that is easily visible from the kitchen. Thus you can finish your cooking and not miss your favourite soaps as well. You can also listen to your favourite songs playing in the music system placed in the living room right from the kitchen.

Disadvantages
 Well, there may be several positive aspects to an open plan kitchen but there are a few negative aspects as well. The first thing is the loss of privacy. When you are entertaining guests and especially when you are having a more formal gathering, you would prefer that your kitchen is not seen by your guests. This is because even the neatest of kitchens tends to get messy and guests when we host a party as there is lot of cooking being done in the kitchen.

 Another disadvantage could be spreading of the smells arising from the kitchen. There are many items which emit a very strong smell and sometimes even some smoke while cooking. This smell and smoke will spread if you have an open kitchen which could prove unpleasant for the people sitting in the living room.

Another issue could be the noise, say the sound of the whistles of the pressure cooker or that of the mixer grinder. This sound may prove a disturbance to the people in the living room. Even the cleanest of kitchens may sometimes be infested by a few pests like cockroaches. There are more chances of them spreading to other parts of the house if you have an open kitchen.

Thus, having an open plan kitchen has its own advantages and disadvantages. So if you are building a home, it is better to keep the pros and cons before deciding on the type of kitchen you want so that you can make the optimum use of your space.