Single-family house floor plan - Your feedback is important to me

Hello everyone,

we are approaching the completion of the approval planning and received the almost final floor plan from our architect yesterday. I really appreciate this forum and especially the opinions and suggestions expressed here. Therefore, I would be very happy to receive your comments, improvement suggestions, ideas, and critiques on our floor plan!

Thank you very much!

Mertha

Development Plan/Restrictions

[*]Size of the plot: 1,000 sqm
[*]Slope: no
[*]Floor area ratio: no development plan, §34 Building Code
[*]Plot ratio: no development plan, §34 Building Code
[*]Building window, building line and boundary: Building lines aligned with neighboring buildings, see site plan
[*]Edge development: Planned on the eastern property boundary, with garage
[*]Number of parking spaces: 2
[*]Number of storeys: see floor plans
[*]Roof shape: see floor plans
[*]Maximum heights/limitations: Max. height of building structures 9m

Client Requirements

[*]Style, roof shape, building type: classic single-family house with bay window
[*]Basement, storeys: no basement, 2 storeys
[*]Number of people, age: 2 adults + 3 children (1.5 + 4 + 7 years)
[*]Office: guest room is used as a study
[*]Open kitchen, cooking island: kitchen planning not yet done, see floor plan.
[*]Number of dining seats: 6-8
[*]Fireplace: yes, outside to save interior space and as a style element
[*]Garage, carport: double garage with adjacent storage room

House Design

[*]Planning source: sample floor plan from a construction company, adapted/optimized by architects
[*]What do you particularly like? Why? Orientation of the living area to the south/west, lots of light in the house, large children's rooms, connection of garage/storage/utility room, etc. our floor plan ideas have been largely implemented
[*]What do you not like? Why? Sufficient storage space for laundry/food etc.? Does the dressing room upstairs make sense or rather in the upper floor parents' and children's bathroom? Is the living room large enough?
[*]Preferred heating technology: probably gas condensing boiler with photovoltaics (initially a heat pump was planned), central ventilation system

If you had to give up, on which details/extensions

[*]could you do without: dressing room (we have already given up the children's bathroom)
[*]could you not do without: as much light as possible!

Why did the design turn out the way it is now?
We gathered inspiration in model home parks and new development areas, obtained offers from some companies, consulted with friends & acquaintances, and ultimately designed this floor plan with a recommended architect.

What is the most important/basic question about the floor plan summarized in 130 characters?
- Is the room layout overall coherent and/or sensible?
- Do we have blind spots, is something missing or wrongly planned?
- Are there good, complementary ideas that make living better?

The wardrobe has a large area, but you don't really have space for cabinets there. Flat cabinets might be enough. The refrigerator between 2 walls probably looks good, but personally, I would omit the wall next to the door - you usually buy a new fridge after 10 years - and then you are restricted by the dimensions. Doesn't it also get quite warm behind the fridge if the air can't circulate there?

The wardrobe has a large area, but you really don't have much space for cupboards there. Flat cupboards might be enough. The refrigerator between two walls certainly looks good, but personally I would leave out the wall to the door – you buy a new fridge every 10 years or so – and then you are restricted by the dimensions. Doesn't it also get very warm behind the fridge if the air can't circulate there?

Hi Ideensucher, Thanks for the feedback! Maybe there won't be a fridge there at all, but rather some kind of coffee bar. If there is a fridge, I'll look into the heat issue. Regarding the hallway: that's why we've placed a built-in shoe cupboard to the left of the entrance and also a cupboard on the far right. Everyday shoes/jackets are supposed to be open in the hallway, to the right of the stairs.

I like the house overall very much. Upstairs, I would leave it as it is; I find the walk-in closet important because, due to the slope and the door position in the bedroom, you can hardly place a wardrobe. Additionally, you have storage space there for suitcases, bedding, and the like. Children can also go downstairs to shower.

On the ground floor, I don't really like the entrance area. Some space is wasted and yet there is little coat storage. The space under the stairs remains unused. Storage and pantry are missing. I don't find the kitchen particularly ergonomic. There is a large distance between the island and the cabinets. The refrigerator position is rather a bottleneck.

Here is an idea of how it could be solved differently. There is a seemingly square entrance and a pantry under the stairs. Kitchen with a large island. I would do without the row of cabinets at the window and possibly install a floor-to-ceiling window there so that you can go outside.

Guests do not have to curve around the stairs but can go directly to the shower bathroom.

The stairs are shifted one step toward the living room. Upstairs this gives you more space in the walk-in closet.

open in the hallway, hanging to the right of the stairs.

With 3 children, that adds up to quite a bit, doesn't it? It always looks a bit untidy then, I think.
I would plan a children's bathroom on the upper floor. It gets really tight with five people sharing one bathroom. I don't think the bathroom downstairs is great as an alternative bathroom because you have to go through the entrance area, which also seems to be glazed.
My tip: start thinking about a concrete kitchen plan in good time so you don't regret it later.

I like the house overall very much. Upstairs, I would leave it as it is; I find the dressing room important because in the bedroom, due to the slant and the position of the door, you can hardly place a wardrobe. Additionally, you have storage space for suitcases, bedding, and so on there. Children can also go downstairs to shower.

I’m not very fond of the entrance area on the ground floor either. Some wasted space and still little wardrobe space. The space under the stairs remains unused. There is no storage or pantry. I don’t find the kitchen particularly ergonomic. Large distance between the island and the cabinets. The fridge position is more of a bottleneck.

Here’s an idea of how it could be solved differently. There is a seemingly square entrance and a pantry under the stairs. Kitchen with a large island. I would do without the row of cabinets by the window and maybe put in a floor-to-ceiling window there so you can go outside.

Guests don’t have to curve around the stairs but can go directly into the shower bathroom.

The stairs are shifted one step towards the living room. Upstairs, this gives you more space in the dressing room.

I really like the adjustment in the kitchen area, especially because I have often seen this two-door solution to the combined living room/kitchen and never understood the purpose. It probably comes from the horror scenario that you cook fries and fried fish cafeteria-style and then don’t want those smells in the stairwell/upstairs. However, sacrificing an open living concept for that reason would be, in my opinion, completely off because that situation never occurs. The kitchen door is definitely always open, and the cooking smells are in the anyway open living/dining area; plus nowadays you have huge windows to open and great extractor hoods anyway. This second door plus the wasted space would therefore not be sensible. The solution in the entrance area is better this way, but there are surely still options to optimize it.
The “coffee bar” is probably born out of necessity and would not be used much daily there. In the changed plan, the coffee machine and seating would be perfect in the corner of the kitchen. I don’t know if I would need the “children’s bathroom” upstairs mentioned by and sacrifice other space; in my opinion a separate extra WC could be absolutely sufficient upstairs. The “children’s bathroom” is nowadays often seen as a standard, but whether it is actually used that way or justifies the valuable loss of space, I don’t know.
With regard to older children/teenagers, it would be more of an advantage for me that the guest WC on the ground floor is located by the entrance.
Why roller shutters and not more comfortable Venetian blinds?