Living/Dining Area and Kitchen - Sensible Layout

Hello everyone,

I am hoping for good ideas for our floor plan design on the ground floor of a city villa to be built. Background: We originally wanted an L-shaped living/dining area with kitchen so that the kitchen is not visible. That worked as long as we only had a guest bathroom and utility room next to the living/dining area on the ground floor. Unfortunately, this made the upper floor very cramped, so the guest room had to be moved to the ground floor. The living area and kitchen are now more corridor-like (or a short L) and we have planned a double sliding door to the kitchen. In case of chaos in the kitchen, the door can simply be closed. Based on a rough kitchen plan, the double sliding door was recessed as far as possible towards the kitchen so that you don’t run directly into the dining table on the way to the kitchen. The kitchen in the plan measures 415cm x 275cm. After much back and forth, we think we have found a pretty good compromise for us, only a seating option in the kitchen is missing. Here, only the dining table in the living room is available. The placement of the windows will of course still need to be adjusted. The window by the TV board will probably simply be omitted.

In principle, all walls can still be moved, but the technical room must remain on this side of the house due to the house connections. South is at the bottom of the plan. The (existing furniture) in the living room was added by me to the builder’s floor plan, although it is not attractive, it is to scale. We don’t want to buy everything new on purpose either.



Now to the question: Do you have any other good suggestions on how the living/dining/kitchen area could be arranged, with the premise that we do not want a completely open kitchen? Additional question: Does it make sense to partition off a separate part of the technical room as a pantry and also make it accessible only from there? Originally, a door to the kitchen was planned, but that was no longer feasible for us. I am uncertain about the temperature of the room and to what extent this might gain storage space.

In my opinion, the distance between the sofa and TV is too large (unless you have an XXXXL TV?). The easiest solution for a smaller distance would be to swap the kitchen and sofa area. You can skip the extra storage room in the technical room; the temperatures will be nearly identical everywhere. If you want an extra pantry, I could imagine extending the wall where the display cabinet is to the left according to the plan. Then the kitchen would have the same layout as in your floor plan, you would just need to accommodate the door to the pantry. I see it immediately to the left of the display cabinet.

Again and again I read about the "lockable kitchen" and am sure every time that this - at least for me and from my own experience - is a misguided idea. Apart from being expensive and taking up space, this door will be nothing. To spare myself the "shame" of a messed-up kitchen a few times, I would not put up with installing such a thing anymore. Somehow there must be horror scenarios in people’s minds of kitchens piled high with garbage....- This door will almost never really find its use and nowadays, when one invests a lot of money in a kitchen with great extractor hoods, large windows, etc., it no longer makes real sense. In the past, when greasy fries, blood sausage fried in oil with sauerkraut, or fried fish were already eaten for breakfast in small kitchens with mini-windows, back then yes, today I find it a pity for the view. Ufff- The SbS fits less there, I would like it better if it stood with its back to the wall precisely where the planned wall to the dining room is. It takes the light, encloses the kitchen, and collides with the window right next to it. I also find corner solutions mostly awkward in the kitchen, often devilishly expensive. I think you should post all the information here because every idea can cause a change somewhere else; solutions can be found here. The current floor plan doesn’t seem successful.

The classic problem with square floor plans with a lot of space inside. You build cost-optimized per square meter, but then don't know what to do with the interior space. In the living area, the dining table will always dominate - no matter how you look at it. The suggestion above is already OK as it is if you want this floor plan and a closed kitchen. Everything I imagine drives up costs (as you already know).

First of all, thank you very much for your comments!

Distance between sofa and TV

Yes, the distance would be 50-80cm larger than what we currently have. A smaller distance would also be okay for us, but when moving the furniture we hadn’t yet found a perfect solution.

Swap kitchen and sofa area.

I had already considered that option. The sofa would then be where the kitchen is now. For the kitchen I could only think of a cooking island facing the living area, which would again be relatively open. The planner also said that this would be the warmest side and possibly less suitable for the kitchen. But that’s hard for me to assess.

Somehow there must be horror scenarios in people's heads of kitchens piled high with trash….

That is my wife’s wish. It’s not just about hiding the "shame" from visitors, but she also doesn’t want to see the chaos after cooking herself. We tried to implement that with the door. When it's tidy, the door disappears into the wall. But yes, currently it’s somewhere a compromise and we are searching for ideas.

The SbS fits less well there

The SBS is my wish, though. The window would have to be recessed. Meanwhile, I have also had to find out that it cannot stand on the outside wall sideways because of the door clearance, but should be recessed 30cm. If the wall with the sliding door is removed, your suggestion is good, but in case, it will probably have to give way to a fully integrated solution :\

I think you should provide all the info here because every idea can cause a change somewhere else; solutions can definitely be found here.

Attached is the upper floor layout:


We are basically satisfied with the room layout here; possibly we will move the items in the bathroom again.
In total, the rooms needed are:

[*]Living room
[*]Kitchen
[*]Children’s room
[*]Bedroom (walk-in closet is not important to us and the depicted section is already adapted for our current furniture)
[*]Office (lots of home office)
[*]Guest room
[*]Bathroom (walk-in shower, without glass panes that have to be cleaned constantly)
[*]Guest bathroom

Basically, there should only be one child, but if necessary, the office should also be able to become a smaller children’s room and the guest room would then additionally become an office. The 5sqm on the upper floor is an additional storage room.

The classic problem with square floor plans with a lot of inner space.

Theoretically, we could also move the exterior walls, but I don’t know what impact that has on the price. We initially gave the planner about 150sqm as a guideline. Because of the plot prices, there is hardly any upward price flexibility.

This is a wish of my wife. It's not just about hiding the "shame" when visitors come, but she also doesn't want to see the chaos after cooking herself. We tried to implement that with the door. When it's neat, the door disappears into the wall. But yes, at the moment it's somewhere a compromise and we are looking for ideas

Sure, I already understood that correctly. In my first life and back then in my house I made a similar decision... me fool. We had 2 sliding doors because of cooking smells, messy kitchen... same here. Later the doors and the partition wall made way for a nice, open kitchen (lots of money, dust + work). The dining table must have an appropriate distance from such a door, even if it is never closed, and that again takes up space or can appear lost if the door is open. You will surely install a nice kitchen and therefore I would find it a pity if it is blocked off. I can understand the Side-by-Side well, but in my opinion it should be 2x60cm wide or you should look at the usually measly narrow freezer section of the 90s; as said, nicer with the back to the wall and as an eye-catcher when entering the living area. The upper floor somehow looks lazily drawn or simply placed like that. As already says, it might be the problem of the square floor plan. I think the last word hasn't been spoken by far, because you can also plan something stylish with 150 sqm. Maybe you should free yourself from nicely sounding terms like "town villa" etc. and simply find a chic floor plan that fits you and then have the suitable and possible facade planned accordingly.