J. Bryan Lowder hates the incessant demands for open kitchens on HGTV.

However, there is one distressingly popular design choice that has spread throughout HGTV’s stable of shows like black mold through a flooded basement, and I can no longer abet its growth by keeping silent. I’m talking about the baneful scourge that is the “open-concept kitchen.”

I’m with Lowder on this one. I’ve seen some god-awful open concept houses. Open concept can be done well, but it also be done really badly. I find it very distracting to talk to people in those homes, because I’m mentally rearranging their furniture, adding large area rugs to delineate the space, and adding architectural elements to break up those huge rooms of mess. I saw one last week that involved a huge tan, circular leather sofa right in the middle of the space. Shudder.