One of the most functional trends in modern homes is the open floor plan: a spacious way to open up your home for your family and guests. With an open floor plan, spaces transition into each other seamlessly. You can talk with your visitors and stay within view of the living room while in the kitchen. So if you love to cook, you don't have to miss out on socializing with your friends!

A Brief History

The open floor plan became more popular with the development of centralized heating. This style can be traced back to the 1880’s and is attributed to architect Frank Lloyd Wright. He knew it as the Prairie Style, and it was a contradiction of the rigid Victorian style that was popular in his time, in which areas like the kitchen were treated solely as a service area to be hidden away from guests and visitors. 

Open floor plan homes combined areas like the kitchen, dining room and living room into one open area, which allowed for larger groups of people to all share the same space, rather than being compartmentalized into different rooms. Wright believed strongly that buildings should be a part of the land, rather than dominating it. His ideas on flowing spaces that merge the indoors and outdoors are still highly regarded today, as you can see with the popularity of the modern open floor plan.

Spaces That Flow and Merge

The open space allows you to stay within sight of everyone, and voices can carry easily between rooms. An open floor plan creates a feeling of spaciousness in which guests can feel comfortable stretching out and relaxing. You can also afford to have more people over during those big, celebratory times of the year.

This type of plan also connects indoor and outdoor spaces in the same way that it connects adjacent rooms. The indoor space can be expanded outdoors to meet a deck or patio. Imagine preparing and eating a delicious dinner with your company one summer evening, then moving outside to the deck for dessert. You can enhance the appearance of a continuously flowing space by using floor-to-ceiling glass, and by using floor and ground materials of a similar colour and texture.

The Best Open Floor Plans

NuVista features several one-to-four-bedroom homes that are built with open floor plans. Our variety is meant to give you greater options and control over the layout of your ideal home. It's difficult to choose just a few of these amazing open concept floor plans since they all have their own advantages.

Our Arden model is an open concept kitchen, dining, and great room. It's 1,235 square feet, with 618 sq. feet on the first level and 617 sq. feet on the second. It has a full-width front porch as well as a convenient laundry on the upper floor. The master bedroom has a three-piece ensuite and a large, roomy walk-in closet.

Our 2,391 square foot Kirkwood home features an open concept kitchen with 9' ceilings, a central island and a spacious walk-thru pantry, so you'll never run out of space whether you're cooking for your family or entertaining a house full of guests.

At 2,509 square feet, the Brittany model has an open concept kitchen, dining and great room with 9' main floor ceilings and an upstairs bonus room.

Other Benefits of Open Floor Plans

Aside from being ideal for entertaining your guests, open plans offer some other great benefits too:

• They allow more natural light into the home. Many interior walls are either reduced to half walls or removed entirely so that outside light can reach deeper into the home
• They provide safety for young children. You can easily keep an eye on them while in the kitchen
• They foster family togetherness, instead of keeping everyone compartmentalized in their own part of the house
• They allow for a flexible layout, so you can easily rearrange an area into a living room, rec room, home office or whatever else you might need as your family grows or changes

Open floor plans are very advantageous, especially for homeowners who frequently have company to visit. It's so much more natural and convenient to have a floor plan concept that allows more interaction between people, no matter which room you're in. 

The free-flowing space that extends outdoors is also very modern and visually appealing and is ideal for the spring and summer months. Your home will become a favourite for hosting get-togethers and events.

*Originally posted June 14, 2016, updated October 18, 2018.