Most of that is how we're living now especially since it's a small space.
Except I'm still waiting for my Rosie robot maid to come to the rescue! :o)

I completely agree with the dining room prognosis.
I just moved from a spacious Chicago contemporary loft that has a huge kitchen with a dining countertop to a large Seattle craftsmen home with a tiny kitchen and a separate dining room, and cannot get used to is.
Miss my kitchen.
Miss my Chicago.

No hydroponic ceiling gardens and food rehydrators?
WAIT. Wasn't Marty and Jennifer's kitchen in Back to the Future Part II an eat-in kitchen? And that's supposedly 2015.
Not too far off, eh.

Fascinating and interesting statistics. The idea of smaller, open spaces with no formal dining rooms greatly appeals to me. People are so busy and the idea to simplify our homes makes sense.

My favourite - separate rooms are disappearing... yay! Great article, thanks for sharing!

The thought of the dining room disappearing makes me sad. We would be a better nation if we sat down to dinner as a family more often.

It won't take until 2020 for us -- that is how we're living now and we don't plan to change it!

My living room, dining room and kitchen are separate spaces but they have a great flow. I like the kitchen to be a bit hidden. It can be chaos in there! The idea of master bedroom as media isn't a surprise... as media is mobile (hello, iPad!), every room is a media room.

My house lives great... and it's 112+ years old.

Last year we moved from Massachusetts to New Mexico and from a 3000sqft modernist barn style home to a 1800sqft modernist pueblo style sustainably built energy efficient home that we had built. Although our old house was open plan there were still rooms we barely used. Our new home is so much more efficient to use and to maintain. We have pretty much 100% footfall in every part of the house every day! So, I guess we're living 2020 now, except for the voice and sensor control stuff which will be great to see evolve.

bodicegoddess: You know exactly how I feel about your comment.

I will definitely miss formal dining rooms. I agree that they should be multipurpose, but I love being able to get around a big table and eat, play cards, talk... I'm also just not huge on the open floor plan idea. I like flow and the ability to separate. Also, I like being able to close my dog and cat out of the kitchen.

@cbreynolds - Losing dining rooms doesn't mean we're not eating together - it means people are eating at the kitchen table.

At my mother in law's house, the dining room really only gets used at Thanksgiving. Everybody prefers eating in the cozier kitchen.

Whenever you have people over, they always end up in the kitchen! That's why an open space from kitchen to living room is so great.

They promised us jetpacks!

I totally agree with virkv6. We always end up in the kitchen when people are over which is great at our house because our kitchen is open to the eating space open to the family room. I love having one big room that is open and flowing. Granted I have a formal dinning room as well and I love it but it doesnt get used as often as I could like. Maybe once my kids are older we will start eating in there more regularly.

My husband and I have been looking at houses for the past couple of months to buy and one of my favorites happens to have an open floor plan but a separate dining room with a kitchen that can be closed off (no door, though). I'm kind of sad to read that the dining room is predicted to disappear, but I know it's happening- the same favorite floor plan I've got in mind happened to be present at another house, but instead of a dining room, they turned it into another room with a closet, so that it can either be a bedroom or a home office.

I am okay with eating in a kitchen, but I personally like to be separated from the mess that gets created and stuck in there until after meals (or the day after, if dishes are really THAT bad ;) ). With that said, I'm still for a dining space that can be separated from the rest of the areas, as well as dividing rooms specifically for what they are if possible, but I'm also for a plan that can make me feel like people and energy can flow through a house with ease.

This makes me sad because I hate open floor plans. I know I'm like the only one. I would hate to have people hanging around in my kitchen watching me make a mess.

I'm glad my house is older.

Hey AT: maybe put this post in the tickler file and resurrect it in 2020 and we can all have a good laugh... or not!

I would love it if eco-friendly construction became more affordable and thus more common and as a foreigner, I would love to see more spaces with gardens :)

I just spent 6 weeks teaching my computer my own voice recognition. It is simply a matter of reading to the computer, allowing it to listen in when you are talking on the phone (it can't hear the other person), and talking-talking-talking. The result is that now I can wear my blue tooth and wander around doing other things and my computer takes my dictation and commands. In the kitchen I have a ceramic cooking surface and an over with a touch screen. I will be the first person in line when I can network those items into my computer and use voice commands to operate them. It would be genius to have the heating and cooling system tied in and nothing short of a miracle to have the gardening water cycle and the TV/DVD/CD player all connected too. I can't wait for the future!

I was hoping for more automated cleaning systems. Isn't anyone working on a way to automatically clean showers? Or improve the roomba? Anyone?

I'm with the folks who disdain the open floor plan. I am seriously turned off by massive rooms in which you can see the stove and kitchen sink from the sofa... or worse from the entry door. Yuck.
I don't want people to see my kitchen. My kitchen, my mess.
I'm in a building recently converted from apartments to condo... originally built in 1949. One of my neighbors cut out a passthrough from the galley kitchen to the LR/DR. Good for them but eeewww for me. Maybe it's different if you have two people to do the cleaning up and washing dishes.

I say, if the kitchen is open to the entirety of the house... what's next? Open bathroom concepts? Gah!

With the exceptions of the first and last one, this reads to me as if it were the survey from 2001. In other words... seems like these predictions already came to pass.

This is sort of funny. Reminds me of the way houses went post ww2. Lots of open spaces, no dining rooms, movable walls. Sounds good to me!

Interesting that the survey's responses did not not list the environment as being a major factor for change.

The thing that I see with both touch and voice control is a need for more standby power and regardless of your position on global warming, the truth is that energy generation and supply is becoming more expensive. However perhaps what we will see is more 'intelligent' devices that can better sense our needs within our home and adjust power consumption that way, eg dimming lights, adjusting heating/cooling depending on whether we are in a room and how we are using it.

I am sure such things are perhaps already available but maybe they will become more common place to the point where they are 'standard' in our homes.

I recently demolished my home office, which had been in the dining area, and have been debating what to do with that space. Some friends have been advocating for a dining area - now I can back up my "no" with trend research!

BTW, if you have a paper proble, a home office on an open plan space is a real problem.

brown, how many times do I have to tell you, NO JET PACKS IN THE HOUSE! Take it outside!

I would be interested in the 2010 survey, just a thought.

Susannah, I'm pretty sure such a system exists already. The advantage of individual rooms is that you can control heating and cooling better, closing off rooms when they are not in use. Media, particularly tvs are not recommended in the bedroom, but then, divorce is on the rise. :(

@degerkas Believe me... once the kids are older you'll start eating sitting on the couch. :-)

Hoorah! Our 1956 house is back in style. We're at 1600sf with a decent size living room (no separate family room) and combined kitchen/dining area (one big room).

Yes, there have been times I wish we'd have had a larger house with more rooms -- but we'd just fill it with more stuff we don't *really* need. Our house really isn't small -- but it's smaller than what appears to be the current standard. It's been comfortable for us for over 20 years though!

Because the house was built in 1956 it isn't quite as teched-out as I'd like but we're right in line with many of the other points!

I believe in a some of this, however they seem to be saying that homes will get smaller over the next decade, which I cannot agree with on an economic basis. There is still a ton of foreclosures that haven't hit the market yet, and rates will remain low until at least June of 2013 as per the federal reserve statement a month ago. With low financing rates and an influx of supply going into the housing market, it is impossible to believe that people would not be willing to buy the bigger houses at the depressed rates. People will not move into a 800 sq foot home when they can afford a 1200 sq ft one. That is just human nature.

I'd miss the formal dining room! My house technically has an eat-in kitchen, but instead of putting in a big table we bought a stainless steel utility table and a couple of matching stools, so it serves as a breakfast bar, and also as extra counter space.

We don't even have kids yet, but when it's cooler out we often make it a point to sit in the formal dining room for dinner even if it's just the two of us (we have an enormous front porch, so when it's warm out we eat a lot of meals out there). But our dining room is a pretty fantastic space, it's attached to the den, which has built-in bookcases, comfy recliners, and our piano (and guitars, accordian, clarinet and saxophone!), so the dining room/den area has become the area where people automatically congregate, due to both the size and feel of those rooms.

Oh, also: I don't like the whole moving tvs into the bedroom thing. We have one tv, it's in the living room. Once in a great while we watch a movie on the laptop in the bedroom, but for the most part it's a media-free zone.

So I guess I'm a bit of a curmudgeon despite the fact that I'm only in my 20s. ;-) But I do like the smaller home thing. Ours is 1400 square feet and it's the perfect size. Enough space, but not so much that we start accumulating tons of useless crap.

I also dislike open plans--I like being able to get away from the tv being on, etc. And I love having a kitchen somewhat separate, so the mess and such don't take over the house.

Along with a few others, our 1929 bungalow has the living room and dining room open onto each other, with great flow for entertaining. We have a separate room for the tv, a guest room/reading room and bath on the first floor, with the master bedroom, bath and home office on the second. I love the separation of private and public space by floor.

And there will never be a tv in our bedroom.

If I didn't actually have formal dining furniture, I'd turn my formal dining room into a home office.

I like separate rooms though. Not a fan of the open floor plan. My life is not diminished by being unable to watch TV while cooking.

My 1951 house has no formal dining room. Sometimes I think it would be nice to have a bigger house with a space dedicated to fancier dining. But I'm pretty sure that room would get used exactly 3 times a year: Easter, Thanksgiving, Christmas.

When we moved in we put a tiny folding table in the kitchen to keep the kids' crumbs off the hardwoods in the "dining room". It's really just a small rectangle connected to the living room. But the kitchen is so dinky, we got rid of it. I sweep up crumbs a lot. Where's my Rosie?!?!?!?!

I am so over the open kitchen-family room concept. The kitchen can get really noisy, really messy, and disruptive to any sort of serenity in the family living space. I'm currently looking for a home, and this time, I do NOT want an open kitchen, just good flow.

I also think losing the dining room is unfortunate. My family looks forward to special family occasions around the big dining table. And it doesn't have to be wasted space. A dining table makes a great work/sewing/craft space, a great library table, and the walls can hold lots of books. I would rather have a dining room that can be converted to some other use than forgo the space altogether.

I predict that once people have lived in an open kitchen concept for a while, especially with families, they'll be hankering for the days when kitchens with some separation made sense.

Yeah, open floor plans can be so loud. We have a semi- open kitchen-DR-LR and that's enough for me. We do have an 1800sqft house that we live in all of except for under the stairs storage. So much more affordable in every way.

I cannot agree with the statement that built-ins will go out of style. Often the best use of space in smaller homes involves built-ins. Admittedly they are a more expensive option and cannot move with you but if you own your living space they are often a great option.

SO NOT REALLY NEWS! SOME PEOPLE ALREADY LIVED LIKE THIS FOR THE LAST 60 YEARS - I JUST SAY "EICHLER HOMES"!

SINCE FEBRUARY THIS YEAR ... WE LIVE IN A MORE THAN 50 YEARS OLD EICHLER house + WE LOVE IT! ;)

KITCHEN COMBINED WITH A MULTIFUNCTIONAL ROOM WHERE I WORK OFTEN, BECAUSE THE LIGHT WHICH TRAVELS THROUGH THE WHOLE HOUSE ---- WINDOW PANELS FROM FLOOR TO CEILING. WE HAVE 2 HUGE TABLES - 1 GLASS WITH METAL FRAME AND ONE HEAVY WOODEN ONE ON CHROME LEGS - OWN DESIGN ;) WHICH WE USE WORKING ON THEM. WHEN WE HAVE GUESTS THEY OFFER LOTS OF SPACE TO HAVE DINNER. OUR FRIENDS LOVE THE IDEA OF THE MULTIFUNCTIONAL ROOM AND THE ATMOSPHERE!

IN THE "PUBLIC" AREA [KITCHEN, MFR, LIVING ROOM] HAVE NO DOORS - OPEN FLOOR PLAN. MORE PRIVATE ROOMS [BED ROOMS/BATH ROOMS] HAVE DOORS.

IN BETWEEN KITCHEN AND LIVING ROOM THE WALL IS OPEN FROM 1 FOOT BELOW THE CEILING .... MAKES THE ROOMS FLOATING MORE [THE CEILING OF BOTH ROOM IS ONE HUGE WHITE PAINTED WOOD PLANKED AREA - SIMPLY BEAUTIFUL!]...& COZY DURING THE NIGHT ... WARM LIGHT .... ;)
SOME GREAT ARCHITECTS WHERE THINKING AHEAD OF THE TIME IN THE 5OTH! HOW WONDERFUL!

IF MORE PEOPLE WILL WORK AT THEIR HOME OFFICES, I THINK ARCHITECT - ALSO THOSE WHO DESIGN THE HUGE RURAL AS WELL AS URBAN COMMUNITIES, SHOULD THINK ABOUT THE ASPECT OF BRINGING NATURE INTO THE HOUSE - ONE WAY OR THE OTHER, TO KEEP PEOPLE HEALTHY. [WE HAVE LIKE A LITTLE PIECE OF A FORREST BEHIND THE HOUSE ;) JUST SO PEACEFUL!] JUST GOOD FOR THE SOUL!
CHECK OUT THE EICHLER HOMES
http://youhavebrokentheinternet.blogspot.com/2010/05/eichler.html

From 1950 to the mid-1970s, California real estate developer Joseph Eichler and his company, Eichler Homes, built thousands of homes in small pockets in a handful of communities across the Bay Area from San Rafael to Walnut Creek to San Jose.

The Mid century Modern homes made up among the first distinctive tract housing to be built in their time. Most are single-story structures that feature roofs that are flat or low-sloping A-framed, vertical wood siding, floor-to-ceiling windows, private outdoor rooms and facades with clean geometric lines.

The goal with most Eichler homes was to "bring the outside in," which is part of what people still love about them today.

The whole point of an Eichler is letting the outdoors in, and with all that glass and the lush yards and the open living space, you kind of get swept up in it all.

GET INSPIRED BY HISTORIC ARCHITECTURE ;)
LOL KRIS

Not looking forward to a voice-activated home. I can't get with speaking to inanimate objects, especially those with a recorded/generated human voice (particularly despise speaking to the disembodied voices that are found on so many corporate phone systems).

Wow. I'm not alone in hating open concept with full view of the oven and the fridge. I like a nice separated kitchen, that way, I can decorate it with my collection of 50-60's stuff. While these items are fabulous, they don't belong in every room. Two more plusses: hiding the mess and locking myself away from the cats while I cook!

good I hate dining rooms

As one or two other commentors have eluded to, most of these "trends" are based on the biggest, current "trend"...effeciency. I use quotations because I am not so sure these predictions are based on trendiness as much as they are on perceived necessity and environmental awareness. I do not agree that smaller homes and multifunctional spaces will be, in and of themselves, hip and cool or even wanted by most people in the future, but they are, and will continue to, thrive in societies, like the US, who are driven to reduce the wasting of resources and money. I absolutely agree with Stafferty that human nature drives us to want more for less and in 2020 many will still be residing in 1500+ sqf homes even if many of the newer homes are built smaller in the future.

I also think the biggest driver for fewer walls and multifunction rooms is the need to feel and be closer to our loved ones in this post-9/11, economically depressed world in which we live. Recylcing and reusing is the wave of the future and trends will continue to be green, which will also continue to result in each of us making the best use of our spaces and furnishings.

I will never have media in my bedroom. You need some place that is sacred.

I like the idea of more tech in the household if it helps with making daily life easier. 3D TVs seem blah compared to well designed cleaning technology or safety controls.

I disagree about the open floor plan thing. We have an open kitchen (open to built-in dining and the living room) but also have defined rooms. I think having a place set aside for family dinners and quality time is very important, and I hope we see more of a shift in this direction. With how connected we are with computers/phones/etc it would be nice if there were still a spot in the home that you could live in with some undivided attention to the things that really matter.. even for just a half hour!

I agree with your predictions, especially the high tech at home one.

As a kitchen designer/design blogger, I recently shared this Kitchen of the Future vision from the 2011 Kitchen & Bath Industry Show on my blog:

http://jgkitchens.blogspot.com/2011/05/kbis-2011-kitchen-concept-2015.html.

It talks about the integration of technology in 2015 into the kitchen, and I think AT readers will find it interesting.

I didn't realize I was ahead of the trend! My wife & 2 cats have a lived in a 600 Square foot cottage (that I built) for the last 6 years. Lived in a 300 Square foot camper for the 6 years before that while I built the cottage. You learn quickly what you can and can't live without! Apparently, not cats.