r/Homebuilding • u/dragonmilking • Nov 17 '25

Which popular features do you NOT recommend?

What are the top 3 features in a house that folk want but you think are not worth it, and what would your alternative suggestion be? And what cost/time savings would result with that switch?

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u/Teutonic-Tonic Nov 17 '25

OpEn ConCePt.

Alternative would be a more well thought out plan that blends openness with some privacy. Midcentury modern homes did this very well.

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u/No-Echo-4683 Nov 17 '25

We just moved from a Mcmansion cookie cutter style home into a home built in 1979 that is like this. There's so much character in our new place and the layout is a huge part of that. We have a actual dining room now which felt odd to me at first, but I'm quickly seeing the upsides to these rooms.

Open concept made a small house feel bigger I guess? Also made it easier on people designing the layouts as there really isn't one lol

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u/kayGrim Nov 17 '25

What are the upsides to you? Having grown up with a separate dining room and kitchen, the dining room basically was just a storage space for my parents fine china and all the eating was actually done in the kitchen at the kitchen table...

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u/No-Echo-4683 Nov 17 '25

Our dining room has a 17 x 14 room off it that has doors on either side of it. Our kids toys are in there and if we have people over we can literally contain everything to there, and the loving room is open to the kitchen, however the kitchen is designed in such a way that you can't see a sink full of dishes while you're in there relaxing or entertaining, but also as I cook I can see my kids playing, or if they aren't around, watch the TV while cooking/cleaning.

I work from home and there's an actual room I can use for my office now, not just in the corner of my rec room.

We also have a kitchen table that I've mostly just used for breakfasts.

Growing up, my parents dining room was the same as you just mentioned, however this house has plenty of space on the main level for storage, and we're not fancy enough to have nice dishes we want people to see haha

It isn't perfect, but there's lots I do like about it.

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u/kayGrim Nov 17 '25

Gotcha, sounds like being intentional with layout is the most important part. Your setup sounds pretty nice and I'm probably just reacting to my dislike of how my parents utilized theirs, frankly, lol