Remodeler Insights: Open-Concept vs. Traditional Layouts

Walk any street with homes built before the 1960s and you’ll notice a rhythm: rooms with doors, clear thresholds, predictable transitions. Kitchens were work zones tucked away from guests, living rooms framed conversation, and hallways managed privacy. Then mid-century modern gave way to great rooms and kitchens with sightlines that span the entire floor. Both models have real strengths. After two decades working as a Remodeler across kitchens, baths, and whole-home reconfigurations, I’ve learned that layout is less about trends and more about how you live, cook, host, Dave's Professional Home and Building Repair bathroom remodeling rest, and recover from a fine layer of drywall dust. The right plan often blends ideas from both camps.

This guide steps beyond the slogans to walk through trade-offs you can feel underfoot: noise, light, HVAC behavior, structural work, and how resale responds in different neighborhoods. I’ll draw on what I’ve seen from small handyman fixes to full structural re-frames, including regional realities if you’re working with a construction company in Kanab or similar high-desert markets where climate and lifestyle add their own constraints.

Traditional layouts evolved around heat, ventilation, and chores. Smaller rooms held warmth, doors kept smells and soot in check, and built-in storage let you close life behind cabinets. By the late 20th century, kitchens and family rooms merged. Open-concept plans promised better flow, brighter spaces, and a social hub centered on the island.

What complicates the decision now is not design fashion, but the way families blend focused work, messy hobbies, and shared downtime. When a kitchen doubles as an office and a homework zone, openness can feel inclusive or exhausting depending on your day. Conversely, a series of compartmentalized rooms may protect quiet but limit flexibility. Good remodeling recognizes that context.

The benefits of an open plan hit you immediately: the light carries. Sightlines stretch, which makes even a modest footprint feel generous. For parents or caregivers, being able to watch kids while cooking is gold. If you entertain, a kitchen open to the living area keeps the host in the mix and makes seating easier to flex. Builders and kitchen remodelers know that open sightlines flatter finishes too. A handsome range hood, a soapstone island, or a walnut shelf on steel brackets becomes a visible part of the home’s personality.

Yet openness amplifies everything. Blender noise, phone calls, cartoons, the tail end of a Zoom meeting, even the clatter of a sheet pan on a cast-iron grate. Smells travel farther and linger longer, especially if the home lacks high-capture ventilation. Visual clutter becomes part of your living room the minute you start dinner. I’ve had more than one client call a year after a wall removal to ask for a glass partition or a cased opening because nightly life felt too exposed.

There is also a subtle ergonomic effect. Without walls, furniture defines space. You rely heavily on sectional placement, rug sizes, and lighting to create zones. If you enjoy rearranging, this can be a pleasure. If you prefer a set place for everything, it can feel like the room never sits still.

A traditional layout creates destinations. You can step into a foyer, hang a coat, and reset. A closed den can be a refuge for a musician or the only place someone can take a work call when the rest of the house is buzzing. Kitchens with doors isolate sound and smell, which is nice when braising lamb or making fish stock. The dining room becomes a stage. Holidays feel intentional because you walk into a space designed for a single purpose.

The trade-off is circulation and natural light. Separations can turn hallway corners into dead space and limit how much window light spreads through the home. Guests may cluster and get stuck if a room is too small or the doorway too narrow. Some older plans put the powder room halfway through the kitchen, which solves nothing well. A carpenter can widen openings or add a transom to pull light into a darker center hall without blowing up the plan, but you still live with more edges and thresholds.

Sound follows paths you might not anticipate. In open rooms, high ceilings plus hard surfaces like quartz, tile, and finished concrete bounce sound around. A rug absorbs some. So do linen drapes and upholstered chairs. In traditional rooms, the doors cut transmission dramatically, even if they are hollow core. If you think you’ll rely on an open space for daily remote work, consider whether your home office fallback is a bedroom with a door or simply the corner of the dining table. A remodel can help, with options like acoustic drywall, resilient channel, or even fabric-wrapped panels disguised as art. But it is easier to tame sound in smaller volumes.

On one project, a couple traded a small, walled kitchen for an open, L-shaped space that connected to their living room. Two months later, they called about an echo. The fix was not magic. We layered a wool runner, lined the pinch-pleat drapes, and switched from four can lights to two linear pendants plus a floor lamp. The echo dropped by half. If you love openness, budget a line item for softening the acoustics.

Open kitchens work best with real ventilation. The rule I give clients is simple: aim for a range hood with capture efficiency, not just cubic feet per minute. A blower rated at 400 CFM may underperform if the hood is shallow and mounted high above a powerful range. For most electric or induction cooktops in a home kitchen, a 300 to 600 CFM hood with full coverage and a short, straight duct run to the exterior will do more than a big number on paper with a long, kinked vent path. Gas adds combustion byproducts, so you want strong capture and makeup air in tight homes.

In traditional kitchens, smells still matter, but they spread less. If you like deep-frying once a week, the closed plan might feel kinder. If you barely sear a steak twice a month and live with the windows cracked most evenings, an open plan with the right hood and an operable window near the cooktop feels fine. In dry climates, such as southern Utah, you’ll also want to think about balanced airflow. A construction company in Kanab will tell you that a powerful hood can backdraft a gas water heater if makeup air is not handled. These are not theoretical risks. Plan holistically.

Mechanical systems respond to layout. Open spaces allow uniform conditioning but can expose weaknesses in duct design. Hot air creeps up, which makes lofty rooms harder to heat evenly without well-placed supply and return registers. Conversely, a set of smaller rooms can trap heat where you want it in winter but feel stuffy in summer without active circulation.

Ductless mini-splits fit both layouts. In open plans, one head can condition a large area efficiently. In a traditional layout, multiple heads let you zone to the activity, which can lower operating costs if you don’t occupy every room daily. If you rework structure for an open plan, involve the HVAC contractor early. Moving a load-bearing wall often triggers an opportunity to correct undersized returns or poorly balanced branches. A seasoned remodeler coordinates this, rather than treating it as an afterthought.

Many homeowners imagine wall removal as a single dramatic day with sledgehammers. The truth is slower and more exact. Before your Kitchen remodeler or carpenter cuts anything, someone identifies whether the wall is load-bearing and what it carries: floor loads, roof loads, point loads from beams above. A structural engineer may be necessary. In two-story homes, we often see stacked bearing walls. Removing one means transferring loads with a new beam and posts down to a solid footing. If the slab lacks the capacity, you’ll need new footings cut and poured. It is doable, but it is not a quick paint job.

Costs swing with beam choice. Engineered LVL beams are common. Steel works when you need slim depth or long spans. A flush beam looks clean but demands joist modifications, which adds labor. A dropped beam is easier and cheaper, but you’ll see it. In historic homes with plaster, plan for more time. Plaster cracks propagate, and matching the texture demands patience. A good carpenter can tie in casings and millwork so the new opening looks like it has always belonged.

Not all open moves require full wall removal. I’ve converted a solid wall into a six-foot cased opening and a pass-through with a shelf. It kept much of the kitchen’s privacy but shared light and conversation. Clients sometimes return later and expand that opening. Phased projects work when budget meets long-term goals.

Open kitchens push you to edit. If you prefer a clear counter, you’ll need storage that is easy to use, or you stop using it. Banks of deep drawers, a tall pantry with roll-outs, and a small appliance garage help. For one family, we built a full-height wall of shallow cabinets only 12 inches deep, with doors that matched their paneled refrigerator. It swallowed spices, oils, baking trays, and mixing bowls without making the room feel heavier.

Traditional plans often come with walls that naturally accept storage. A walk-in pantry replaces fiddly cabinet inserts, and closed dining rooms can hold a built-in hutch. If you buy bulk goods, enjoy small appliances, or keep specialty platters and glassware, a traditional plan might support your habits better. The flip side is daily steps. A closed pantry draws you out of the cooking triangle more often. I’ve watched cooks take an extra hundred steps a night because of a beloved but poorly located pantry.

One of my first open-concept kitchens was a victory for hospitality and a headache for the cook. The island looked perfect, but the aisle between it and the range ran only 36 inches. Once someone sat on a stool, the cook had barely 24 inches of usable passage. The fix required paring the island depth, not a glamorous move, but it made cooking sane. The standard guidance still holds: aim for 42 to 48 inches of clearance in your main working aisles. If the island is a throughway from the garage to the backyard, build closer to 48 inches. Traditional plans usually avoid long public aisles through the kitchen. If you want calm prep, that can help.

Seating deserves the same thought. An island is convenient but not comfortable for long meals. A nearby breakfast nook or a title case Dining Room gives groups somewhere to linger. I sometimes see open plans where the island does everything, and then everyone stands for two hours on hardwood after soccer practice. Add a bench or a table. Your back will thank you.

Bathroom remodeling brings a different set of decisions. Few people want an open bathroom. Yet the same design tug applies between a free-flowing primary suite and a series of smaller, buffered rooms. A large, open shower looks great, but if your home lacks a powerful bath fan and the room opens to the bedroom, moisture migrates farther than you expect. If one partner wakes early, a water closet with a real door and a vanity niche that shields light can preserve sleep and goodwill.

As a Bathroom remodeler, I pay close attention to door swings, towel reach, and heat. Radiant floors are wonderful in both layouts, but in large bathrooms you need more wattage or a hydronic system to avoid cold corners. In small compartmentalized baths, even a simple 120-volt mat can keep toes warm. Storage again matters. An open vanity with beautiful plumbing may make you smile every morning, yet it leaves no place for the big hair dryer. Good bathrooms hide clutter effortlessly.

Open interiors pair well with decks and patios because the threshold between inside and outside feels natural. A generous slider off the kitchen expands a party and lets you grill without isolating the cook. A Deck builder will likely recommend a minimum door clear opening of 6 feet for flow, and a landing or small platform if the grade drops quickly. Plan for bug control and shade. If you live where summer sun is fierce, a covered section makes the deck useful, not just photogenic.

Traditional layouts can still connect outdoors well. A screened porch off a den becomes a quiet retreat, and a French door from the dining room turns a formal dinner into a garden event. What you avoid is the constant in-and-out traffic through a central living space. Families with toddlers often prefer a single, controllable threshold to the backyard. Fewer choke points. Less dirt dragged through the entire first floor.

Resale gets thrown around as a trump card, but it deserves nuance. In many markets, buyers want an open kitchen-living area. That does not mean they want a bowling alley. They usually respond to sightlines, light, and a kitchen that welcomes guests without giving up all definition. In towns with older housing stock, a well-proportioned cased opening respects the home’s character, which can attract buyers who hate the idea of gutting craftsmanship for trend’s sake.

In mountain and desert communities like Kanab, where outdoor life is central, buyers often value an open great room that spills to a deck with a view. At the same time, they appreciate a quiet office or den that closes off. A construction company in Kanab will have stories of buyers who loved the great room, but only signed when they saw a door they could shut for work. Multifunction wins.

The cleanest open conversions usually cost more than people guess because they touch structure, flooring, electrical, HVAC, and finishes all at once. When you take out a wall, you are not just patching plaster. You are recircuiting outlets to meet code spacing, rerouting returns, replacing continuous flooring across formerly separated rooms, and rethinking lighting so you don’t end up with a grid of cans without purpose. I tell clients to expect a meaningful wall removal with beam install and all finish work to start in the mid five figures and rise with span length, finish level, and complexity.

Traditional reworks can be cheaper in the short term if you limit the scope. Widening a doorway, adding a transom, and upgrading door casings can transform flow for far less than a full-span beam. Kitchen remodels within a closed footprint often push budget toward cabinets and appliances instead of structure. None of this is a blanket rule, but it is common enough that a good Kitchen remodeler will present you with two or three scope options with honest costs.

Any layout change that interacts with structure, electrical, or the envelope deserves a permit. Inspectors are not the enemy. They catch dangerous old wiring, undersized beams, or vents that dump steam into an attic. In older homes, we routinely find knob-and-tube wiring hiding in walls scheduled for removal. Or we discover a past DIY beam with no proper bearing. A reputable construction company documents loads, uses stamped drawings when required, and sequences work so you are not living with a temporary post in the middle of your living room any longer than necessary.

For bathrooms, waterproofing and ventilation are the common fail points. A beautiful open shower without a properly sloped pan or continuous waterproof membrane becomes a leak within a year. A small water closet without a fan turns into Home remodeling a humidity trap. Your Bathroom remodeler should be fluent in modern membranes, flood testing, and CFM calculations, not just tile selection.

I often encourage clients to stress-test their assumptions for a week before committing.

These experiments cost little and can shift a decision from theoretical to practical.

Some of the best remodels land between extremes. Here are balanced moves that have served clients for years without buyer’s remorse.

From the field side, the difference between a satisfying remodel and a stressful one often lives in sequencing. If we are removing a wall, we plan flooring transitions early. Matching 20-year-old oak requires sampling, not guesswork. We decide where the beam will land so posts do not sit in awkward alignments with baseboards or crown. We coordinate electrical so the new space has layered light: a soft general wash, task lights where you prep, and focal lights over a table or island. Dimmer control adds nuance you feel every evening.

Cabinet layout in an open plan rewards restraint. Big islands tempt oversizing. I ask clients what lives in the island and what must stay within a single pivot from the cooktop. Deep drawers for pots and a narrow pull-out for oils often do more than a third sink. For bathrooms, I favor a vanity that allows sitting light on the face, not harsh downlight that shadows your eyes. A bathroom that photographs well but ages you by five years each morning is a failure of lighting, not tile.

Handyman work has its place too. You can trial a blended layout by opening a portion of a wall, rehinging a door to swing differently, or adding a glass panel above a door. Not every improvement needs an army. A skilled carpenter with half a day can change how a room flows.

In high-desert communities, we build for light, views, and dust control. An open great room facing red rock or mountain vistas is hard to argue with. Still, when the wind kicks and fine dust sneaks in, having a proper entry with a mud bench, shoe storage, and a place to drop grit before it hits your main space matters. A hybrid plan with a defined entry that opens to a great room is often the sweet spot. If you work with a Construction company Kanab homeowners trust, ask how they handle filtration and sealing around large sliders, and whether they spec gaskets and thresholds that stand up to fine dust.

Evaporative cooling and open plans can clash if windows must be open to move air. Mixed systems or mini-splits solve that. In dry climates, wood shrinks. Your Deck builder should account for gap sizes that won’t feel like traps in August. Interior trim needs acclimation time before installation, especially when opening rooms changes airflow and humidity patterns.

Layouts are not moral choices. They are tools. Open-concept spaces shine when you want social cooking, shared light, and flexible furniture plans. Traditional rooms defend quiet, discipline smells, and give each activity a frame. Neither is perfect. The best remodels listen to the household.

If you cook every night, plan for ventilation and working clearance. If you host twice a month, invest in a table and chairs that beg to linger. If you work from home, guard a door somewhere. If you collect gear or pantry staples, respect storage realities. Bring in a kitchen remodeler or bathroom remodeler early, especially one who designs and builds. A comprehensive approach lets a construction company coordinate structure, mechanicals, finishes, and code so you get a layout that feels inevitable when you walk through it.

I have opened walls that transformed quiet houses into joyous ones. I have also added a single cased opening and watched the same magic happen without losing the home’s dignity. Great remodeling is not about installing the trend of the decade. It is about shaping space to fit real life.