The way to the perfect floor plan

Hello everyone! My partner and I are currently in the planning phase for a single-family house ("city villa"). We have now received another draft from our builder (the first draft had a half staircase to the upper floor, which made the living room too small), which I would like to put up for discussion. We are both not yet 100% satisfied, but we lack ideas on how to make the whole thing the "perfect" floor plan.

What bothers us and what we would like to change:

Kitchen: with pantry, it is too narrow for us. We would like to accommodate a dining table + 4 chairs. Additionally, we would like a terrace door. We could possibly do without the pantry if we find space for more supplies and drinks in the utility room. We want at least 3 tall cabinets for refrigerator, dishwasher, and oven.

Hallway/utility room/guest WC: The hallway does not need to be a huge entrance hall. Nevertheless, we want a corner for a wardrobe, as planned here in front of the guest WC. The utility room should house the equipment (gas heating, electricity, water, network, possibly ventilation (if not in the attic), washing machine and dryer, also a small freezer. Guest WC must have a shower.

Please have a look at our floor plan. Maybe you have one or two tips up your sleeve!

Thanks in advance!

Best regards, Does and wife


Development plan/restrictions
Plot size: approx. 730 sqm
Slope: no
Floor area ratio: 0.3
Floor space index: no restrictions
Building window, building line and border: 3 m or 5 m
Number of parking spaces: 2
Number of floors: 2
Roof shape: pitch >15 degrees
Maximum heights/limits: FH 10 m
Other specifications

Requirements of the builders:
Style, roof shape, building type: townhouse/city villa
Basement, floors: 2 floors without basement
Number of persons, age: 2 persons 27/29 years + 1 child
Space requirements on ground floor/upper floor: total no more than 150 sqm
Overnight guests per year: present, spontaneous guests
Conservative construction method
Closed kitchen with dining area (4 chairs)
Additional dining area in the living room
Fireplace prepared with external air supply
TV wall
Terrace facing the garden
Carport made of wood

House draft:
Who created the plan:
- Planner from a construction company
What is not liked?
> Kitchen too narrow.
> Utility room possibly too small

The arrangement and number of windows is still open.

Price estimate according to builder: shell construction approx. 500 EUR/sqm
Personal price limit for the house, including equipment: 300,000
Preferred heating technology: gas with solar thermal for hot water

If you have to do without something, which details/extensions
- you could do without: pantry, if kitchen and utility room offer enough space
- you cannot do without: shower in the guest WC

Hello,

here are a few things that immediately caught my eye:

- I find the shower in the guest bathroom on the ground floor inconveniently placed. You have to squeeze past the toilet to shower, and while showering you look directly at it. There probably won’t be enough space for a shower door, so the toilet will get wet during showers.
- The path from the kitchen to the dining room (and also from the entrance to the kitchen to bring in groceries) is too long for me. I would completely do without the pantry, as I find it too narrow to properly equip with cabinets.
- I find the cloakroom as currently planned (in front of the guest bathroom) too far from the entrance (you first have to go through the whole hallway, possibly with dirty shoes and a wet jacket) and it could also get cramped if more than one or two people want to put on a jacket.

Best regards

Storage room in the kitchen gone. If you don’t want a passage to the living room, then you could make the entire width with a wall of cabinets for supplies and such. I wouldn’t put cabinets on the right side of the kitchen, but instead a table with 4-5 chairs against the wall. We have it like that too and we find it perfect. Between the table and the wall of cabinets, you could plan a terrace door directly opposite the kitchen door. As for the pantry, you don’t even have to give it up. Just put it under the stairs. Also put the door to the utility room opposite the exit. That way you gain a nice storage area behind the door.

So, then I’ll also say it again:

- Dimensions are missing
- I believe the kitchen would be better if it were a normal U-shape and the dining table stood separately as a bench solution. The view from the counter to the wall is probably not very nice
- Should something be placed on the way to the WC? Like a wardrobe or something? Otherwise, it’s a very dead space
- Storage room gone
- I would then even align the living room with the rest of the large corridor at the expense of the kitchen..
- The corridor also has the problem with you that there is a lot of unused space in the middle - but well, that’s not so dramatic
- Pathways are all quite long - but well, 10,000 steps are the goal
- Staircase is borderline
- I would make access to the bedroom through the dressing room, not the other way around
- WC niche in the upper floor maybe a bit narrow?

Otherwise, I find the upstairs okay.

Hey you three and thank you very much for your feedback!

I want to make a statement on this...:

- I will provide the measurements later.
- We are now skeptical about the layout on the ground floor guest WC/wardrobe and are trying to develop an adequate solution. We are considering moving the area behind the front door to the right.
- The paths between kitchen/dining room are okay for us.
- We should optimize the wardrobe, see above.
- The storage room in the kitchen, well, what can I say, you have only encouraged us to abandon this room and instead look for the missing space in the kitchen cabinets or in the utility room or possibly under the stairs.
- Bringing kitchen and living room level is not possible because of the fireplace.
- Regarding BeHaElJa: Why is the staircase borderline? Please explain this to me. Thanks!
- We do not want to access the bedroom through the dressing room.

- The placement of furniture is only for illustration and does not reflect our furnishing. Especially in the kitchen, living room, and bathrooms we plan differently.

I will get back to you with a revised draft.

Regards and thanks to everyone!

PS: Feel free to give us more tips. Thanks!

26er stage width is rather narrow - especially in the turning area you then have little steps inside. Then remove the dressing room... it barely has any floor space anyway and probably only about a meter between the closets. The problem with the arrangement is that the sleeping person is disturbed by the awake one if they still have to look for the right top, then the shoes, the necklace, and oh yes - the shirt has a stain... In the living room, the dimensions also matter... if necessary, I would rather remove or redesign the fireplace - as a heat source, it will probably be used less anyway.