Homeowners in the UK are increasingly shunning more regular house layouts in favour of open-plan styles, creating so-called “social areas” and ridding themselves of such things as dining rooms, kitchens and living rooms, according to recent research.
According to a study by Lloyds TSB this week, over one-fifth of homeowners (21 per cent) have decided to take the hammer to their home in the past ten years, while many others simply decided to undergo a quick home sale in order to move to this type of home. A further fifth have decided to do the same.
The study of 2,000 people went on to claim that a quarter of today’s homes have a room especially reserved for utilities, compared to only one in ten houses that property buyers grew up in. Another one in 50 even had a gym.
Yet while a number of rooms are being lost, a raft of new ones have made their way into homes and are establishing themselves as go-to ideas for those designing their home. One of these is the kitchen-dining room, which became 50 per cent more popular in just a generation – three in ten homes now have one.
Simon Hamilton, the international director at the British Institute of Interior Design, said: “With our increasingly hectic lifestyles convenience and sociability have become key, which is why kitchen-diners and games rooms have grown in popularity. In the next ten years, the majority of houses will be designed in this style.”
