Improvement suggestions for the house floor plan in the greenery

The front area is also not as crucial for me as the kitchen and living space.

However, a subsidy-compliant granny flat must also be genuinely suitable for independent household management (and, moreover, usually also triggers parking space requirements).

Continue living in the North? What about the pantry and stairs? Would an exchange make sense?

So, simply exchanging is not possible because of the load-bearing walls. The structural engineering is more important here than in a standard house. You can't just say: swap the stairs and kitchen now. The upper floor has to adapt as well. I wanted to make a sketch, but without plot/building envelope measurements, no sketch. Sorry.

Continue living in the north? What about the pantry and stairs? Would an exchange make sense?

Well, simply exchanging is not possible because of the load-bearing walls.

In #14 these are the same load-bearing walls, and in #17 I don’t see the exchange as sensible (that would mean making the lower leg shorter and the upper one longer).

In #14 these are the same load-bearing walls, and in #17 I don't see the swap as sensible (that would mean making the lower leg shorter and the upper one longer).

But that doesn't change what the OP wants to achieve:

How can the design be made more efficient and friendlier? (stairs/pantry)

In #14 only the children's rooms become larger, in #17 the open space completely turns away from the incoming resident, which didn't please anyway.

attached is a complete plan with measurements...

In any case, a great project!