It’s good to deal with fundamental principles at this stage – many people fall into the trap of getting bogged down in detail too early in the process. There are ways to compromise on layout, which I’ll describe later on. However, reading between the lines I wonder whether you’ve both given sufficient thought to other factors that should influence your decision.

Circulation through the house and between the different rooms will be vital, so you need to think about how you will use your home. Where will the entrance be? Will there be a back door or access out to the garden? Which rooms do you want to benefit from sunlight at which times of the day? In which direction are the best views, and how do they relate to natural light? Is the site on a slope? All of these factors, and more, will influence the extent to which rooms should be open to each other, and you’ll need to discuss them with your architect or designer.

You don’t have to make a stark choice between complete open-plan living or fully cellular rooms. The vast majority of new homes show some openness between key activities, while retaining clear demarcation of zones such as kitchen, dining and living. The conventional way to achieve demarcation is to use walls, but you can temper the level of separation with a raft of subtler devices, such as doorways, double or glazed doors, changes in floor level or surface and variations in lighting. I find large sliding door panels very effective, as they act more like moving walls than door openings and allow a combined room to be separated when required.

So, rather than seeing yourself in the cellular camp and your husband in the open-plan brigade, work through factors such as aspect, circulation and light and try to find an arrangement of spaces that connect effectively. You will lean towards greater separation and he towards less, but when it boils down to it you may find there are fewer specific places where you disagree than you anticipated. And in those instances, compromises such as sliding panels or double doors should solve the problem.