Open plan kitchen and dining rooms have become so much a feature of how we live now, that we've had occasion to wonder – is the dining room truly dead? We're not totally convinced on that one, but there's no doubt that the open plan approach is one that works well for contemporary life. Having started to gain momentum in the 1970s, it shows no signs of going away soon. The classic approach is to to break up a large open plan space with an island, which then serves as a dividing line between kitchen and dining area, and can also be used as a breakfast bar. Open plan kitchen-dining-room ideas with a difference