> So when you plan your next office, leave the kitchen
    > open too - the scrape of chairs on the tiles, the
    > sound of the dishwasher being unloaded, the happy
    > PING of the microwave - not to mention the aromas of
    > hot food - all these things will make employees feel
    > right at home.

This is an accurate description of lunchtime at the digital shitshow where I work. An open plan kitchen really is the handiwork of the idiot. Sometimes I'm glad the toilets were prebuilt when we moved in, or else I fear we'd have open plan shitting as well.