open up the wall or not?

I have a split level home and I am going a full kitchen renovation. I was wondering what others think about opening up the wall between the kitchen and the dining room. I would not take the entire wall out (because I do not want to) but would open up the top portion of the wall and cut out a huge rectangle. You would then see from the kitchen into the dining room and vise versa.

Everyone I ask says to do it, but I am hesitant for some reason. I like that the rooms are apart right now as singular spaces, but everyone keeps telling me I am nuts and to open it up. The kitchen is an eat in kitchen if that matters. I would use the same countertop material for the base of the rectangle too so it would all match.

Thoughts?

Re: open up the wall or not?

The trend is to open it up, but for our reno, we're not having the kitchen wide open to the dining room. DW doesn't like to be on display like a cooking show, so for her (she does 99.999% of the cooking, so she gets to decide the kitchen layout.... ), she prefers having the wall there, with extra cabinet space.

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We have a split and when we re-do the kitchen we will open the same wall, we will prob put a countertop with stools.

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Like you I prefer all rooms to have their own spaces. Being you are hesitant I would not do it

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this is an old picture and I can't wait to re-do our kitchen some day and put in a penisula... for now we replaced the table with a butcher block cart to make it feel like one.
But we do have the half wall I think you are talking about it.... I love the openess... its makes the DR feel bigger and kinda gives you more space (for your arms and stuff) when walking around the table.
I would totally do it if I was you!

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Message edited 2/16/2012 10:14:26 AM.

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Message edited 2/16/2012 10:39:50 AM.

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What about making pocket doors so that when you want it all open you can but if your kitchen is a mess you can close them and no one will see it .

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Posted by DMT

Posted by caps612

Posted by DMT

Posted by caps612

this is an old picture and I can't wait to re-do our kitchen some day and put in a penisula... for now we replaced the table with a butcher block cart to make it feel like one.
But we do have the half wall I think you are talking about it.... I love the openess... its makes the DR feel bigger and kinda gives you more space (for your arms and stuff) when walking around the table.
I would totally do it if I was you!

We have the exact same room layout. See how your "rectangle" is open on the left....I was going to not do that, I would keep the same thickness on the right as on the left so the rectangle is not open on any end. Does that make sense? How do you think that would look?

i or would you be framing the rectangle and keeping the doorway? like added a post to the end so its like a window?

Yes, this. Keep the doorway as is, just frame the rectangle. What do you think?

I am so confused I could put my head through the wall!

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caps612: Thanks so much for your help! I may try to photoshop my idea into your picture and see how it looks and then decide! Thanks again

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It is common for people to open up the wall between the kitchen and dining room in a split, especially if the kitchen is not a true "eat in kitchen."

I have a split, and I have the wall up. But my eat-in kitchen is large (and that's where we eat everyday meals), and I like having a formal dining room (with wall space on both sides for a sideboard, china cabinet) to entertain and host holidays in. So the separation works better for me.

For resale value, while a lot of buyers love a more open floor plan, I've also seen an increased number of buyers who want a formal dining room.

I think both layouts work well, so I would just do what is more in line with your personal preference and what works best fory our family.

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Message edited 2/16/2012 12:45:16 PM.

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We did, and im so glad we did. Pics in my album.

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We are in contract on a split where the wall is removed but there is a counter and upper cabinets so there is some division and some openess between kitchen and dining room, kwim? This is the best picture I have of it since we are still in contract. I am not sure how I like or how functional it will be since we haven't moved in yet. HTH.

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the wall between our kitchen and DR is open but it remains between the kitchen and LR.... one day, when we re-do the kitchen, we will take the whole thing down and open it up with a huge center island

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That was the first thing we did in our house in NY.

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Thank you everyone for the advice and pictures. You have given me a lot to think about.

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I don't have a picture.

We have a split and the people that we bought from had already opened the wall. They took it down completely and put an island between the 2 rooms.

I love it. I think it makes everything feel bigger and it give me great extra counter and prep space.

My kitchen is eat in (b/c they also bumped the back of the house out about 10 feet in both rooms). I would do it!

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I hope I don't confuse you, but since your kitchen is already an EIK, I opt to keep your DR as a formal DR. Maybe you could just make the doorway between the 2 rooms wider? That would add some "airy-ness" but still keep it as 2 separate rooms. It would make things easier when trying to get meals on the DR table on holidays, etc. but would still keep it formal. I too used to have a small EI area in my kitchen plus a formal DR with a half-wall in between and I really didn't like the look of a 2 tables separated by a half-wall. I also felt it made the DR area feel less formal than I liked. I ended up getting rid of the 2. I knocked down the half wall and put in a peninsula, and just made 1 big EIK. I understand what you're explaining by the "window" type of rectangle. If you opt for that, I'd top it with a routered piece of wood rather than the same material as your kitchen counters. I think the countertop material will add to de-formalizing the DR, and sort of make it an extension of the kitchen rather than its own room.