People looking to renovate their kitchen wish to join their dining room and kitchens together, but wish to keep living room areas separate. That is the opinion of George Clarke, presenter of Build a New Life and Channel 4s The Home Show, who noted that while individuals continue to want open-plan designs, there is a limit.Very few people now want open plan kitchen, dining, living, he remarked, adding They want kitchen dining but they want a nice separate cosy living room.According to Clarke, this is because homeowners want a more spacious feel to their property, but they still require some form of privacy. By dividing a combined kitchen and dining room area from the living room, he added, a person can close the doors on all the unwashed crockery in the cooking area and relax in the lounge. Earlier this year, the annual Halifax Home Improvement Survey found that the average amount of money spent by a household on upgrades to a property equalled 5,300 over the last year.