Floor plan single-family house, ~180m², basement with gable roof

May I ask where the laundry chute is supposed to be, or where it is supposed to lead to?

I completely agree with

For me, the current kitchen would be a dealbreaker, the staircase is too small. With the garage located next to the main entrance, the pantry door to the garage is not at all suitable; there are more elegant solutions, including direct access to the kitchen through a main hallway.

I currently have problems with the slope because there’s no section and no time to figure it out. However, when building a basement due to a slope, one should fundamentally rethink the standardized room arrangements: if you can exit the basement through the slope, living spaces are also possible here, e.g. the utility room on the upper floor, parents or children in the basement.

I still have a few thoughts about the floor plan:

I don’t think the extensions to the front and back are necessary. That costs significantly more money and is also not ideal from an energy perspective; outside corners are thermal bridges, no matter how well insulated you build. And while I might still see some sense in the extension for the stairs, I can see no reason at all for the front one. Does it have to be there?

The staircase, which has been mentioned several times here, is really very narrow and small. Good luck carrying furniture upstairs. And a bathtub still has to go up... that’s going to be tight. Also, you should always think about the future. Something could always happen so that you need to live in a disability-friendly way. What if you can no longer manage narrow, winding stairs? There is no space here for a stair lift. I would always plan a staircase in a new build in such a way that it can be retrofitted if needed (and of course always hope that this case never occurs).

I reread the thread. Has the planning been done without an architect so far? Especially with a hillside property, I would not want to forgo their help. They might have some clever ideas.

The current design still feels quite unrefined to me and has, let’s say diplomatically, a lot of potential.
A few points that come to mind immediately:

- TV in front of a window??? Seriously? (ever thought about “turning” the living room? so TV goes where the seating area is now and seating goes next to the dining table?
- the living room is big, there are still some good possibilities (e.g. putting up a free-standing wall so that the TV is closer to the seating area, behind that you could wonderfully place bookshelves and have a somewhat separated reading corner, for example)
- I wouldn’t want the entrance area to extend all the way to the stairs but have the stairs in the living area; but that’s a matter of taste
- the windows are all too tiny for me; there are no exterior views, but these are many small little holes in the wall; I would like somewhat larger windows better. For example, if you leave out the front bay window and make a straight exterior facade: install two large sliding doors, or one large one in the middle and two French doors on the sides, etc.
- the two shafts shown, is that a double-flue chimney? Have you planned somewhere a wood stove? I don’t see one; maybe this shaft could be integrated better as well. As it is now, it stands right in the middle, surely that can be done differently
- I also see many sections of walls that in my opinion are not necessary at all and unnecessarily make the living space awkward. There is quite a lot of room for improvement here.

What I think is good is to start kitchen and bathroom planning early so that in the detailed planning you can perhaps respond to something, e.g. if for a more favorable kitchen situation a wall is to be moved a few centimeters, where connections should go, etc. Especially if you plan a kitchen island, that’s not a bad idea. However, this also requires a good kitchen and bathroom planner. Even here, regarding the kitchen planner, I see, well, as I said before: a lot of potential.

When does your detailed planning have to be finished? I would spend quite a bit more time and brainpower and ideally find a competent architect. The money is well invested.

May I ask where the laundry chute is supposed to be or lead to?

The laundry chute goes into the bathroom/upper floor WC/ground floor. It is included in the next floor plan.

Laundry chute is coming into the bathroom/upstairs toilet/downstairs.
It is included in the next floor plan.

I am very curious, especially because the toilet is not that big and the chute will probably have a few centimeters.

Pantry:
I am definitely a fan of direct access from the garage to the pantry, if possible. However, it should be noted that special fire protection requirements apply to the door! Otherwise, it certainly has its charm, even though it is often rated negatively here. However, it is already like this here: due to the additional door, there is hardly any more space left in the pantry. Besides, personally, I would find it disturbing if there is no window in the pantry. I use the pantry a lot and especially in winter, it's like a second refrigerator when I tilt open the window there. For example, cookies can cool down wonderfully without getting in my way in the kitchen.

We have now changed that. Pantry will not get a door, but it will have a window. Garage had to be moved a bit forward because of the window in the bathroom.

Kitchen:
I consider placing the refrigerator in the niche, far from the actual kitchen activity, a major planning mistake.

Well, actually, that’s currently intentional. We have breakfast much more often (daily) than we cook (weekends). I actually thought the position was very good. But nothing is set in stone yet.

Planning the refrigerator into the workflow: either integrate it into the wall unit, or extend the pantry and place the pantry exit where the refrigerator is now, and put the refrigerator where the door is now (for the layout of the entrance area, hallway, pantry, and downstairs WC even more so).
That would really make the free-standing kitchen unit into an island that deserves the name: so away from the wall! Depth 125 - 130 cm, then you have space for 60 cm deep cabinets on both sides and space for pipes in the middle. I would place the island about 1 - 1.5 m away from the wall, in the middle of the room (you have enough space!), thereby shifting the cooking activity more to the center of the room; and a refrigerator where the pantry door is now or even where it currently stands is easily accessible. Then you can generally consider whether this wall should become a functional area for the kitchen, for example, the oven (if one is planned at hip/chest height) and steam cooker (if desired) could be planned there. The door to the pantry can then be wonderfully integrated into such a kitchen front.
Other advantages: you can freely plan the terrace door, possibly make it larger, and someone entering from outside does not have to walk through the whole kitchen but can go directly to the living area and won’t disturb the kitchen crew.
Personally, I’m a fan of having the stove in the kitchen island, because it makes cooking together more enjoyable. But that’s really a matter of taste. In any case (island with or without stove) I would plan a small additional sink in such a generously sized island. This makes work much easier, when you don’t have to leave the workspace every time for finger washing, rinsing cloths, washing vegetables, putting water into pots, etc. A small basin is enough; you have the main sink in the kitchen unit along the wall, and larger tasks (washing salad, cleaning pots, etc.) are then done there.

Great idea – thanks! Tomorrow we are going to the kitchen planner. Let’s see what he says...

Entrance area, hallway, pantry, WC:
I find the layout, let's say politely: suboptimal. You waste so much space!
The hallway is separated from the living area by doors, so why have an extra vestibule? Either you design the area around the stairs open to the living area (which also has its appeal) or you keep it as it is, but then you don’t need an extra vestibule. I would shift the garage a bit more towards north (if possible), give the pantry a window, move the front door to the right, where the WC is now and it practically stands in the middle of the room. Put the toilet on the right wall towards the garage. Then this crooked entrance area is smoothed out, you can dimension the pantry differently and you already get rid of the bottleneck between vestibule and hallway mentioned above. Overall, there is more space in the hallway/vestibule because the toilet is moved out of the middle. You could also consider planning the WC a bit longer and how I would then plan the pantry. I think, that way you can use the space much more effectively.

You mean something like in the attachment, -like. We have already tried that variant. I personally liked it very much, especially the staircase is much better showcased there, but my significant other was not so convinced. Since the garage must be in the west, in that variant we don’t have a "toilet window" either. Not nice either.

Laundry in the basement:
Personally, I find that complete nonsense: bringing dirty laundry downstairs (well, you plan a chute, so that’s faster), then carrying the washed laundry back up to hang it outside, then down again to iron and finally back upstairs to the upper floor to put it away. Phew..............
.......With modern appliances, this problem no longer exists and I would definitely plan a small utility room on the upper floor, where I have the washer and dryer and possibly also space for a drying rack.

Well, our kids are still small, so the dirty laundry mostly accumulates on the lower floors (winter & snow clothes, sandbox, etc.). I would have to carry that stuff upstairs first anyway. I’d rather let it drop downstairs and straight into the washing machine. There is also enough space there to hang and dry.

Do you really want to keep the open space like that? There would be enough space for such a utility room. Think it over again. And if you really want the open space, then leave it as a room: why closed off from the upper hallway? I would then plan it as a gallery and not with a window. But that’s also a matter of taste.

Bay window and open space are not a must-have, that is clear, but we like it. Closed off so that noise, smells, etc. stay downstairs when desired.