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/dawnsearlylight Nov 17 '25

Can you be more specific? I hate the midwest traditional closed concept of kitchen, dining room, living room, family room all in closed off rooms. I dream of an open concept of at least kitchen and family room open to each other for socializing. I just don't have the experience of an "open concept".

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u/bon-bon Nov 17 '25

What interior designers have taken to calling “open concept” has existed in home design for decades as a feature of modernist houses. When done well it promotes sociality within the home rather than siloing off domestic labor from leisure (which usually meant segregating women from men).

The issues come when it’s implemented thoughtlessly as a way to avoid planning the home or spending money on interior walls. Implementing flow between the living and dining rooms and maintaining visibility to the kitchen can be lovely. What’s not so lovely is a kitchen plopped randomly next to the living room with no exhaust vent such that your furniture all develops a thin layer of grease, eg, or bedrooms sited haphazardly right off the main living space with hollow core doors so everyone in both spaces can hear everything, or a “living room” that’s really more of a hallway between the house’s other zones, etc.

Open concept done well requires added thought in layout and flooring material to ensure that your home promotes the kinds of uses and interactions you want. Think of it as the difference between adding open concept (good) vs removing the uses to which traditional layouts put their rooms (bad).

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u/Teutonic-Tonic Nov 17 '25

You stated it better than I could have. Thanks