Most homes today have open floor plans, which people prefer to chopped-up layouts with separate kitchens and divided living spaces. Open-plan living is more social, plus it creates light, airy interiors. But there is one downside: open homes can get noisy, especially those with wood floors, stone countertops, and other hard surfaces.
If you live in an open-plan home, it's important to minimize noise where you can. Choosing quiet appliances is one strategy. In the kitchen, focus on the refrigerator and dishwasher. Consumer Reports has a listening panel that judges the sound coming from these appliances at various times in their operating cycles, for example when the refrigerator compressor kicks in and when the dishwasher enters full wash mode. Some models in our refrigerator and dishwasher Ratings are excellent at containing sound, while others are merely fair. If your kitchen is part of a great room set-up, with a TV room within earshot, you'll definitely appreciate the difference.
Noise is also a factor with washers and dryers, especially since more laundry rooms are located on an upper floor, as opposed to in the basement. Again, our panel of listening judges determines how much sound these appliances generate. With washers, we also measure vibration, which is not just noisy, but can also be severe enough to cause walls and floors to shake. While noise and vibration used to be a common problem with front-loaders, because of their rapid spin cycles, many new models offer superb resistance in our washer Ratings.
One final item to think about is the vacuum cleaner. Obviously, you can control when it's on (e.g. when the house is mostly empty, as opposed to when the family is gathered around the TV). Even still, some models are quieter than others in our vacuum Ratings, which could make the chore less onerous. Canister vacuums, for example, tend to generate less racket, though Miele is one manufacturer that does a very good job of muffling the motor on its upright vacuums.
Appliances aside, there are ways to reduce the noise in an open-plan home. For example, area rugs and fabric window coverings will both absorb some of the sound bouncing around a room. Deploying screens and other temporary room dividers can also break up the noise while creating a sense of semi-privacy, without returning to a permanently divided floor plan.
Via: In today's open-plan homes, appliance noise matters
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