Then think about what a kitchen looks like in everyday life with two kids. Clean is cool, but not practical for everyday use.
Clean might be the wrong word here. That was not referring to the state in everyday life, but rather to the design language. Overall, I have the impression that many people here like things neat and tidy. That is not my claim at all. Overall, we have little "stuff," which doesn't mean the kitchen island never gets cluttered. That doesn't actually bother me.
You probably have nothing to do with the kitchen and just let yourself be cooked for? At least that's how it sounded in the original post because you would tolerate the noises.
On the contrary. I cook 99% of the time. The original post mentioned both – tolerance is rather on the other side ;-). It's not like I just turned 18 and am experiencing a foreign kitchen for the first time. The basic idea of the kitchen (details, as said, not yet planned) is based on my needs. I found your post from 2019 in the kitchen thread you linked. I don't get the impression you have noticeably more space there. The kitchen island is significantly smaller, the cabinets don’t use the room height. Overall, very instructive to have seen your post there. It makes clear to me that we have very different tastes (I couldn't stand a skewed kitchen island in the room).
I wasn’t talking about the table, but about things that just stand in the kitchen because they are used constantly there. If you want to store everything in the pantry, you basically build yourself a show kitchen in the dining room but have a mini kitchen in the back room (Darling, I can’t watch you working hard - please close the door)
Show kitchen is exaggerated, but quite a bit of stuff should go to the pantry (Sodastream, toaster, microwave – all things that are not used several times daily or are so ugly that I accept the inconvenience) or otherwise disappear from the countertop so it can be used. We already do that, and it works well. Of course, that doesn’t change the usual chaos that is naturally present in a busy kitchen. I don’t think I would get that chaos under control even if the kitchen were twice as big. I believe that's less about size and more about damn entropy. There you (I!) are powerless ;-)
We have about 7.80 m kitchen length for two people, with only about 3 meters of countertop purely for food prep and putting down KVA, knives etc. In the utility room, there is a kitchen row for cleaning supplies, tools, bags, empties and beverages. So, I think you underestimate the space requirements.
https://www.hausbau-forum.de/threads/die-liste-die-jeden-bauherren-zu-interessieren-hat.34418/
I don’t know if the 2019 pictures still show your current kitchen. I wouldn’t see a noticeably bigger work surface there. You also have some things standing on the counter there that we neither own nor store out of the way. Other “must-haves” in the kitchen we actually don’t want either: side-by-side fridge, steam cooker, KVA. Oven doesn’t necessarily have to be at working height – I have that now. I think that’s overrated.
I’d start with a 180-degree staircase turn, with a quarter-turn at the start. Whether that will satisfactorily solve the problems, I don’t think so. I think you actually don’t consider how much surface area you need for use and daily work – the more area available for that, the cleaner the rest stays. If you keep it too small, then laundry will always be lying around with the ironing board, nothing of hobbies and co. can be put away and will remain lying around, etc. If there is no space for cabinets (kitchen, bedroom, living room or living area), things just remain lying around somewhere. Maybe you should take a look at lived-in kitchens in the kitchen thread.
https://www.hausbau-forum.de/threads/kuechenbilder-thread-zeigt-her-eure-Küchen.28518/
Turning the staircase downstairs to move it away from the kids’ room upstairs? Then you could make this bigger but would lose bathroom or bedroom. The bedroom would be acceptable, although the closet would slowly be in danger. I would personally like the turned staircase less downstairs. Well, maybe it is also a question of where you are coming from. It’s not like we can’t compare the area with the current living situation. We conduct a normal daily routine there, too. Currently, the open room is 36 m² with a similarly sized kitchen, and it works wonderfully. We would grow to about 55 m². Basically, I agree. The space planned for storage is moderate (although I would exclude the kitchen + pantry – that is sufficiently large for me). There will be a small attic for storage. But that is probably only suitable for things you don’t want to access often. I’m not sure about the conclusion yet, and maybe it also depends on personality. Does one benefit more from the gained space (and accept a little more chaos) in the “main living area” or is tidiness more important and you have to live with a smaller living room? I tend toward the first.
About the toilet:
The idea to put the WC next to the office/guest room is generally logical. However, now everyone who can’t go upstairs because it’s tight, would have to go through the kitchen downstairs. That might not be a problem first thing in the morning; they can make coffee right away…
That’s true and cannot be denied. The question remains whether this imposition is acceptable or not. I don’t know how it is with you, but I would have no problem showing up in pajamas in front of my family. I also find the distance manageable. It is overall part of the compromise. If you want the narrow long house, objectively there is no space upstairs for a second bathroom.
I mainly use the toilet when I have to! With or without shoes. Preferably without if I have to walk through the whole house. However, it could get tight with shoe removal... especially if it has to go fast. That’s where the toilet near the entrance makes sense. When coming in from gardening work, you’re also grateful for the short walk to the toilet. You want to wash your hands first before going further into the house and so on…
You only have to walk through the whole house if you enter at the front. In all other cases, the bathroom at the entrance is at the same distance as now. The bathroom in that position is definitely a controversial topic. For me, an important point, because besides the practical questions, resale should not be prevented by too eccentric details.
You can’t avoid light in the kitchen solution… yes, windows in the southeast would be important here. Nevertheless, the kitchen is much too far from a window… if you look closely, the kitchen is not really planned here. It feels like a bar for guests or something in a heavily used passage area.
The kitchen in the “passage area” is actually intentional. For me, it is the central room in the house, from which everything else leads off. And if we’re honest, 99% of the time it’s just the family there. So there isn’t that much traffic.
No, I wouldn’t. But the bathroom only makes sense there in combination with two equivalent children’s rooms. It just sort of came about hastily.
One kids’ room is small. I would gladly enlarge it without giving up the other aspects we like. The children’s rooms don’t have to be equivalent. That’s the penalty of late birth.
I believe the idea of the house – living room location, arrangement of rooms and L-shape – came from you, the architect just had to adopt it. I can’t imagine a real architect would plan the usable areas so small proportionally and put the kitchen in the passageway like that. For two people, some things may not be so negative, but a family house looks different.
On the contrary. My “drafts” were actually all squares (cost-efficient!!!). This proposal is from the architect. Our requirement was the open kitchen and, if possible, little hallway space. Of course, spaces then have to serve multiple functions to not be purely circulation space.