Pharmacy cabinet
We don’t have one. Instead, we are getting a 50 cm pantry cabinet with pull-out shelves. I originally wanted a pharmacy cabinet as well.
Huge bathtub
OK, I plead guilty . We are getting such a huge thing. A trapezoid tub for two people next to each other. I’m really looking forward to it. We bathe quite often, usually together.
Fireplace
Oh, my favorite topic. I am an avowed fireplace "opponent". I just don’t really like those things. In our current apartment we have one. The heat is pleasant, no question, but the dirt, the work, etc. annoy me so much that I will gladly do without a fireplace in the house. For heating purposes, it’s no longer useful in new houses anyway, and just for the occasional pleasant warmth the price (including follow-up costs like chimney sweeper), the loss of space (also on the property for wood storage), and the work were not worth it since we would probably only use the fireplace 1-2 times a year anyway. Instead, we treated ourselves to a controlled residential ventilation system with that money, which I’m really looking forward to. I’m a fresh air fanatic and at the same time a cold person, so I hope that the controlled residential ventilation is just right for me. The fireplace is one of those things that divides opinions. Some are totally enthusiastic about it, but that doesn’t apply to me.
Open gallery/loft
Not my thing at all. In my opinion, it only works in a very large house anyway. In standard single-family home sizes up to a maximum of about 200 m² of living space, I find it out of place. But tastes vary.
Gable-high rooms
Simply not my taste.
Loophole windows & skylights
I basically don’t find them wrong and both can look quite nice depending on the style of the house (at least from the outside ). Nevertheless, we decided against them because they didn’t fit our house as a whole and I prefer windows that I can properly look out of. Especially skylights sometimes convey a basement feeling, in my opinion, which I really don’t like. For example, a friend of mine has only skylights in the main bathroom. That’s nice because you can shower there undisturbed without fearing outside views, but the whole bathroom has that basement feeling, which I don’t like. Neighbors have an open living-dining area, with only a long skylight in the living room and large floor-to-ceiling windows in the dining area. Still, the living room corner feels uncomfortable, too dark, too secluded, "basement-like" to me, even though only a few meters away are large floor-to-ceiling windows. But the living room corner does not get any of the light or the generous view into the garden. So personally, I’m not a big fan of skylights, or of course it depends on how high the skylights are. We have "skylight-like" windows in the wardrobe and utility room, i.e. a sill height slightly above 1.40 m, which I find just okay. I like loophole windows better, but that didn’t work out with our floor plan.
Anthracite-colored windows
We have those. I just find them pretty. My parents’ house from the 70s already had anthracite windows (made of aluminum), and I always thought they looked very nice. So we decided on anthracite windows on the outside regardless of the current trend. That it’s currently so hyped doesn’t bother me though; it just shows that our taste is not so unusual . Generally, I do what I like regardless of whether it’s currently totally trendy or absolutely out, but I do sometimes get carried away by one trend or another.
City villa
We have that too . I really like this style. And I’m not ashamed of it . I hate sloping ceilings because I’ve been living in an attic apartment for many years and find it terrible. Therefore, the top priority was that our house would have no sloping ceilings or at least a very high knee wall. Of the house style options, the city villa appealed to us by far the most.
Electric shutters:
We have those too. Everywhere. Controlled by switches next to the doors so we don’t have to walk around every window anymore to raise or lower the shutters. I’m really looking forward to the electric shutters and find the money quite well invested, even though it’s obviously still a gimmick and not an essential must-have.
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I also have a hype to discuss: T-solution/T-wall in the bathroom? What do you think about it? At first we were totally enthusiastic about it, just finding it stylish and something different. Meanwhile, it feels like everyone is doing it. In the end, we decided against it, firstly because our bathroom is awkwardly shaped for it (also for an L-solution), but mainly because I find that it often makes bathrooms feel very cramped. From an actually large bathroom it becomes a cramped little room where you have to walk around what feels like a thousand corners to get to the toilet or shower. I had already noticed that in the model houses at the time, and also now with neighboring houses that have it, I find the bathroom very cramped and awkward. Our bathroom feels significantly more generous despite being the same size. Nevertheless, I think the idea of a T-wall is cool and I basically like it; but in my opinion, the bathroom really has to be large for it!