My husband and I are in the midst of floor plan designs for our NSBH remodel. In our last home remodel project, we created a great room. The great room was dramatic and we liked the look of it, but we did really disliked the noise-level that carried over from the family room to the kitchen and vice versa. In this remodel we are seriously considering axeing the great room concept and only having a dining room/kitchen "great room", that will open to an outdoor patio. Currently, the plan is to have the family room, just off the kitchen, but a wall will divide them. Practically, I know this is the right design for us, but I'm concerned that I will not like the closed in feel/look. Does anyone have acoustic suggestions for limiting noise in a great room configuration? Thanks!

Noise travels in straight lines - both through the air and along surfaces, like ceilings. Cathedral ceilings also bounce sound around more than others. If you choose to keep the cathedral ceiling, consider using a soft surface on the ceiling (like homasote) and having a soffit or dropped detail between that ceiling and the next room, to break the sound path.

Another nice option is to have a high ceiling, but not the traditional cathedral shape. It's amazing what it will do for a room to have 9'-0" ceilings, instead of 8'-0".

I also like the idea of simply expanding the size of your kitchen/dining to include space for a seating area. When areas have a larger floor area, you'll want to either have a higher ceiling in one portion, or break the ceiling plane up. A continuous ceiling plane over a larger area will feel lower than the same ceiling height in a smaller room. Dividing into "rooms" that have ceiling plane breaks, but not walls, will cause your eye to "read" the height relative to each smaller area, instead of in relation to the whole floor plan.