Floor plan opinions single-family house 140 sqm 2 full floors

Hello everyone, after my last post about costs etc., Ant11 pointed out to me to first start the evaluation here with a floor plan. This has now existed for quite some time with a few minor adjustments, so the ideas have not changed. I am curious about some evaluations.

Development plan/restrictions
Plot size 654 sqm
Slope no
Site coverage ratio 0.4
Floor area ratio 0.8
Building window, building line and boundary 3m
Edge development only garages or carports
Number of parking spaces 2
Number of floors max 2
Roof shape 0-48 degrees
Style single-family house
Orientation doesn't matter
Maximum heights/limits 6m walls and 9m total
Other requirements cistern

Builders’ requirements
Style, roof shape, building type gable roof
Basement, floors 2
Number of people, age 2 adults and potentially 2 children, currently 1
Space requirement in ground floor, upper floor
Office: family use or home office? both
Sleeping guests per year, if so they sleep in the children’s rooms
Open kitchen, kitchen island open kitchen
Number of dining places 1
Fireplace no
Music/stereo wall no
Balcony, roof terrace no
Garage, carport yes
Utility garden, greenhouse possible
Other wishes/special features/daily routine, also reasons why this or that should or should not be

House design
Who made the design:
-Initial design architect then adjustments with builder/architect
What is particularly liked? Why? Utility room with separate door (dirt sluice), large pantry
What is not liked? Why?
Price estimate according to architect/planner: 433k
Personal price limit for the house, incl. equipment: 500k
Preferred heating technology: air heat pump and central ventilation system

If you have to forgo, which details/extensions
-you can forgo: if push comes to shove, then one could do without the separate door to the utility room or the pantry,
-you cannot forgo: guest WC with shower

Why has the design become what it is now? e.g.
Build as small as possible, as large as necessary. The plot becomes wider at the back

So it is a design after a consultation appointment at the architect. This was then changed again with the construction company.
We want a functioning house that works for 2 adults and potentially 2 children (1 existing). Additionally, we have a dog, but of course it adapts (dirt sluice also intended for this).
Home office is generally possible and also planned. First, we have a children’s room free and intended for this. Afterwards the office niche or the bedroom on the upper floor. We don’t need much except a quiet place to work.
If worst comes to worst, the pantry will become the office (possibly then also accessible from the hallway).

The bathroom upstairs is somewhat elongated due to the narrow construction and straight staircase. The washing machine and dryer are shown upstairs and are planned there. In the utility room there are also connections. Otherwise, you use the space upstairs or downstairs for a closet.

I am looking forward to your opinions.

Build as small as possible, as large as necessary.

That has succeeded. More is nice here and there, but not necessary.

I know the room size of the study from England. For computer work, that is more than sufficient, and with a few tricks you can make it atmospherically very nice.

The straight staircase always takes up some space, but it is well placed where there is no natural light anyway.

The kitchen is too small to cook comfortably with several people, but the location of the pantry can help. I would consider moving the dishwasher with an additional small sink into the pantry to create more storage space in the cooking area. You will have few continuously tall cabinets if you want even a minimum of countertop space. Positioning the oven and refrigerator(s) is a challenge.

I would skip the shower on the ground floor.

The utility room is a bit tight, even though the laundry machines are upstairs in the bathroom. I would clarify the planned technology with the appropriate clearance values. As a "mudroom," when autumn walks mean wet muddy shoes and a wet dog, I find the side entrance into the utility room good but somewhat small. However, it can work if the dog learns to shake off under the carport...

The layout of the upstairs bathroom looks uncomfortable to me on the plan. Placing the toilet in line with the sinks—I have a resistance to that without being able to objectify it. The niche for the shower definitely needs good ventilation to stay mold-free.

Overall kitchen and bathroom (not the size here, but the layout) would bother me a lot.

The kitchen is indeed too small to cook comfortably with several people, but the location of the pantry can help. I would consider moving the dishwasher with an additional small sink into the pantry to create more storage space in the cooking area. You will have few continuously tall cabinets if you want even a minimum of work surface. The positioning of the oven(s) and a refrigerator is challenging.

2 tall cabinets, one to crawl through the pantry is a valuable place—one tall cabinet too few. The pantry doesn’t even offer space for a second fridge or tall cabinet (location of door, window).
But even if I cook alone, the work surface would be too small for me. Of course also storage space, because as a cook I have no desire to always move through a cabinet into the pantry to get something.
This whole combination is not well thought out.
I see it similarly with the wardrobe and dust lock: the wardrobe is just there now to store the currently worn jackets, but what about the other jackets? And shoes? With gas heating and controlled residential ventilation, we have about 8.5 sqm, but with about 3 meters of kitchen cabinets on one side. The rest of the space is shared by recycling goods, bags, cleaning supplies that are not stored in the cabinet, tools, and more bags. For our dog, it actually needs as much space as a human occupant, about 60cm wardrobe quality space per person. That fits nowhere here.
You will sooner or later have a cluttered hallway if you do not plan storage space for everyday items now.
I do not see the office corner as a problem. But it could get tight if you have to accommodate a printer and stuff or several family folders.

The arrangement in the bathroom upstairs looks uncomfortable to me on the plan.

For me not only that, also the bathtub and sink together can become tight:
If you make the bathtub where the washing machine and dryer are planned, then put the toilet at the head end of the bathtub by the window (rotated at the end), and then two washbasins on a long countertop. Underneath, where no feet should bump, the washing machine and dryer.
Since you can also rinse off in the bathtub, I would also build without a shower on the ground floor. If it is for the dog, then please consistently without this door through the utility room, which just wastes valuable space.
There is no roof hatch drawn in?
To sum it up: there are bigger houses with 150 sqm. Here, the functions are shuffled around so that the functional aspect of a room has to serve many things in theory. You will probably always somehow be dissatisfied because the room is not sufficient for its function.
And who is to blame? The straight staircase! Double quarter-turn makes the hallway shorter and the kitchen wider. The house is already narrow – and because of the size limit, the kitchen is (too) small.
(…Says someone from a 2-person household who hoards little)

Hello everyone, after my last post about costs etc., Ant11 pointed out to me that it would be best to start the evaluation here with a floor plan.

I am probably meant by this post:

0. Start a planning discussion here, beginning with the completed questionnaire and a representation of the plot, preferably with elevation points or contour lines;
1. Stop fearing the apparent extra cost of a freelance architect’s planning. Complete at least "Module A" of my "Housebuilding Roadmap, also for you: the HOAI phase model!". At its source you will also find the way to my personal advice;

... where of course the whole design is meant—not just a "floor plan";

so it is a design following a consultation appointment with architects. This was then once again modified with the construction company.

... and I went on to say

3. After the dough rest and setting of the course, discuss at length with your freelance architect the aspect of your own construction performance specification.

... so explicitly freelance architect, Module A, dough rest and setting of the course. Not letting the existing design be repeatedly kneaded alternately by one architect and the same construction company as before—that is an unclean (especially downright incestuous) yogurt culturing procedure, which does not exactly demonstrate reading comprehension of my housebuilding roadmap. Impatient-sloppy-incomplete redesign leads to results that do not praise its creators and passed-on germ sequences in the DNA, here recognizable in the maintained stair concept. MTBF correlates (painfully frictionally!) with Clean Code!

It would have been important first to go back to the preliminary design phase during the design process. This apparently did not happen (probably taken lightly out of impatience). Then probably also 2. the dough rest was too short and presumably also 3. the setting of the course was deemed unnecessary (because one already fell in love with the construction company). You can do all that (or better said leave it undone), it is not legally punishable, but largely pointless; wise is different.

A specific floor plan critique thus made little sense if the worm is already in the conceptual approach. Nevertheless, I am curious: what exactly is this three-part, four-and-a-half-meter-wide element from the so-called family of terrace doors supposed to represent, and why exactly in this special way? (asked not only as a construction consultant but quite also as a former window fitter).

That worked. More is nice here and there, but not necessary.

I know the size of the study from England. For computer work, that is more than sufficient and with a few tricks, you can also make it very cozy atmospherically.

The straight staircase always takes up some space, but it is well placed where there is no daylight anyway.

The kitchen is too small to cook comfortably with several people, but the location of the pantry can help. I would consider relocating the dishwasher with an additional small sink to the pantry to create more storage space in the cooking area. You will have few continuously tall cabinets if you want even a minimum of workspace. The positioning of the oven(s) and a refrigerator is a challenge.

I would skip the shower on the ground floor.

The utility room is a bit tight, even though the laundry machines are upstairs in the bathroom. I would clarify the planned equipment with the necessary clearance dimensions. As a "dirt sluice," if autumn walks mean wet muddy shoes and a wet dog, I find the side entrance to the utility room good, but a bit small. But it can work if the dog learns to shake off under the carport...

The arrangement in the bathroom upstairs looks uncomfortable to me on the plan. Putting the toilet in a row with the sinks – something in me resists that, although I can't objectify it. The niche for the shower certainly needs good ventilation to remain mold-free.

We will now have the kitchens planned by the kitchen studio to see how to arrange them. Otherwise, we would have to adjust the floor plan. Perhaps the kitchen can be pushed a bit into the dining room area.

The shower on the ground floor is planned for a household of 4 persons so that you can occasionally shower downstairs, as well as for the dog so that it doesn't have to walk through the entire house first. Hmm... it just offers a bit more flexibility.

The utility room is 8.5 sqm, not huge but not small either. We had thought that the middle of the utility room is unused anyway, so it could be made narrower/tighter.

The technical room is not huge at 8.5 sqm, but not small either. We just thought that the space in the middle of the technical room is not used anyway, so it could be made narrower/tighter.

Some building technology (heat pump, hot water storage tank, inverter, battery storage, etc.) comes with requirements regarding how much distance is needed to the next object. The device dimensions alone do not determine the space requirements like in a kitchen.