Hello,
So, one more opinion from me – a lot has been said, and I don’t want to harp on small details either, so I’ll limit myself or rather try to ;)
At first glance, I thought: Wow, a nice prestige property, inviting, generous... if you can afford it, then please go ahead. But then I saw that there is no direct access from the hallway to the living areas: you always have to pass through a cloakroom airlock. The rear window facing the garden is completely useless when it comes to openness.
As generous as the window surfaces to the garden are planned, the house closes itself off for entrance and exit.
This is probably intended from outside, since the entrance side is also the garden side, but INSIDE the house, you should be able to reach the living room (or vice versa the exit) in a short distance.
Therefore, I would suggest changing the cloakroom/storage and kitchen areas. How exactly is up to the architect. There are definitely options :)
Now about the kitchen:
... The kitchen island is 3x1.2m - actually quite large. But I am not satisfied with the width of the cabinet row - here we definitely want 3m - so that 5 installation widths can fit. There would actually be about 1.2m space on both sides of the island - but I agree with you - that it is probably not typical to go through the kitchen to get to the dining area.
... ... The kitchen island at 3x1.2 will actually be quite decent. I’ve seen the same in the kitchen studio and worked on it during a cooking course - even with 10 people in total. The space should be sufficient.
It will definitely be a stylish kitchen, I like that: tall cabinet area with kitchen island.
What is typical, how you are supposed to walk through it, I wouldn’t care at all: if you design a stylish kitchen, you also like it and keep it tidy. We have everything open, but not that big: so you walk “along the island,” eventually/somehow you always pass by it now and then. Oh dear, a guest might even look into my cooking pot, but that’s exactly why you have an open communication kitchen, right?
What the forum participants want to tell you though...
We calculated the storage space regarding the kitchen island - it would be more than now. Also, we still have the pantry behind the kitchen for Tupperware, cookbooks and so on. The actual cool storage room is supposed to be in the cellar.
... is that you lack easily accessible storage space. Which cook leaves their pot to go to the supplies to check in the books how much spice to add again? No one, because they all have the books easily at hand somewhere. The kettle should have a safe place in a corner or niche, the kitchen machine (or whichever machine) does not want to stay on a free surface, the herb pot, the bowl with leftover food... everything that would disturb the work surface should be able to stand and be stored within easy reach and openly on a storage surface.
What about the half-full glass of juice from a child, in your case 3 glasses? Opened bottles?
I’m also wondering: do you already have children or are you planning?
Because anyone who has children knows how messy a kitchen can get, and there a more hidden surface would be... well, I’m repeating myself ;)
Sink in the middle: where do the cleaning cloths, scrub sponge, and dish soap stay? Eventually, they stay hanging on or behind the faucet, very stylish :)
3 meters in length could be quite cumbersome for the workflow of one or two people if you always have to go around the corner.
Children’s rooms: to the idea of not stringing the rooms together like a row of pearls, you say:
But then one child’s room would still be northwest and the other southwest?!
Would that be so bad? Every child is different and has different needs than the other. Who knows which one likes one side better. Or do they all say they want southwest?
You can furnish different rooms and promote each one’s advantages, so no envy arises.
... in 20 years when the kids are gone – then I have 75sqm of unused space?!
The development plan allows that – but as I said, I don’t want my office and reading room in the basement. ...
When the kids have left the house, you’ll be sitting alone with 270 sqm. Yep! There will be even more unused space added to your 75 sqm. Also, we are only talking about an additional 15 sqm (which according to your argument would also be unused) if each room were 5 sqm bigger.
But 14/15 sqm can be enough.
The house is not even full with 5 people – 2 people can really get out of each other’s way, that should be considered even if you can afford spaciousness. Square meters can also become cumbersome; for example, for me the paths would be too long and floors too many.
We really like to spend time on our roof terrace. The terrace in front of the bedroom is not supposed to be big either – just for a seating area for a coffee in the morning or a late-night drink. We enjoy that very much on our current roof terrace.
And upstairs in my reading/music and workroom I definitely want something like that too.
How do you live right now? If you have a garden, you actually want to enjoy the green garden. Roof terraces are stylish and prestigious, but often forsaken (not even mentioning technical problems).
I would place the piano in the fitness room, fitness upstairs (with sauna the roof terrace would even be justified), and combine working with the guest room, if it’s not a permanent guest ;)
I would like to see the views of the house and the plot!
Best regards, Yvonne