Today I’m in real estate and it’s great fun to do a “Royal Barry Wills” search on the MLS (he was from Melrose, not far from where I am in Cambridge so there are lots of the houses in Massachusetts) and scroll through the photos. Charm, charm, charm.

The kitchen is small by today’s standards (12×12.5) and has a breakfast room (12 x 9) separated by a wall and cabinets. The breakfast room is cozy and done up in wide heart pine (no knots) tongue and groove paneling. The kitchen cabinets were built onsite by Finish craftsmen.

I am going to do some new minor work to the kitchen: new countertops, sinks and refinishing the breakfast room floor …dogs and wide pine floors don’t mix. My brother who does houses over tells me to take down the wall between the kitchen and breakfast room, leaving one large room (12.5 x 21). He tells me that is what people want today.

I get that people live more informally and with more open plans today, but my whole house is cozy with smallish rooms (except the front to back LR). I think that messing with the layout in the kitchen changes something about the character of the house. The house is what it is: a period structure with incredible detail and a feeling you only get in something authentic and designed well.

Also, once you take something like heart pine paneling down, you don’t get it back.

My brother is right in saying open is what people want. And I can see the value of a big open room. But I don’t like messing with the integrity of a piece of integrated design and craftsmanship. I am very hesitant to change the layout for the sake of modernity. I remember how the nineteenth century owners of colonials couldn’t wait to change out the 12 over 12 windows with 2 over 2′s, which meant less washing and more light. Looking at those retrofitted windows today, we grimace with horror. A kitchen remake might evoke the same response 50 years from now.

What do you think I should do? Should I go for the open plan or just update what I have?