Your opinion on our floor plan for a single-family house without a basement

Hello dear forum community,

the time of silently reading along is over and today I want to present to you my own construction project or rather the current status of the floor plan design. The signatures under the construction contract with the general contractor should take place as soon as possible so that construction can begin this year. However, without the forum’s blessing, I still don’t dare to move forward – as many eyes are known not to hurt...

Thank you already for your efforts – I’m curious in which direction the discussion will develop...

Development plan/restrictions
Plot size: 694 sqm
Slope: slight north slope
Site coverage ratio: max. 0.35
Floor area ratio: max. 0.8
Building window, building line and boundary: Building window = blue 16mx16m, house must be placed on the red line (may be positioned either lengthwise or widthwise – but must stand perpendicular to the building line);
Edge construction: 3m, garage or carport may be built on the northern boundary
Number of parking spaces: 2
Number of storeys: 2 full storeys
Roof shape: gable roof, roof pitch 18°-22°
Style: modern
Orientation: south (possibly also east if the advantages of a better floor plan outweigh)
Maximum heights/limits: max. 7.5m wall height
Further specifications: House dimensions according to development plan max. 14m x 10m, rectangular with an aspect ratio of at least 5:4

Client requirements
Style, roof shape, building type: modern, gable roof 22°, timber house
Basement, storeys: no basement, 2 full storeys
Number of people, age: 3 people, 1 more child planned
Space requirements on the ground floor: utility room, shower bath, office/guest room, cloakroom, large cooking/dining/living area
Space requirements on the upper floor: 2 children’s rooms in the south, bedroom, bathroom, dressing room
Office: family use or home office? Home office
Number of overnight guests per year: 3-4
Open or closed architecture: rather open
Conservative or modern construction: modern
Open kitchen, kitchen island: yes, yes
Number of dining seats: 6-8
Fireplace: gladly
Music/stereo wall: yes and no
Balcony, roof terrace: no
Garage, carport: double carport with additional storage room
Utility garden, greenhouse: later
Further wishes/special features/daily routine: We don’t want direct visual contact from the living room to the kitchen → fireplace as room divider; the washing machine and dryer should also be able to stand in the utility room;

House design
Who designed the plan: self-designed based on an existing floor plan
What do you particularly like? Why?: own access from the bedroom to the bathroom (via dressing room)
What do you not like? Why?: shower bath on the ground floor not accessible from the guest room; layout of the bathroom on the upper floor somehow not fitting 100% – space at the washbasin too small; no space for the TV;
Price estimate: approx. €400,000
Personal price limit for the house, incl. equipment: €450,000
Preferred heating technology: gas condensing boiler

If you have to forgo something, which details/features
-can you forgo: access to the shower bath on the ground floor from the guest room
-can you not forgo: access to the bathroom from the bedroom (via dressing room)

Why did the design turn out the way it is now?
After what felt like 200 drawn floor plans, I came across a plan from a construction company that meets many of our requirements with few changes.
What makes it particularly good or bad in your eyes? Good because it is basically simply structured and still allows the possibility of an additional room on the upper floor (possibly a kind of reading/music corner for later – separated with glass in the sense of a conservatory).
Bad because in some places it is just a compromise – but that’s probably normal in house building as long as the budget is limited...

What is the most important/fundamental question about the floor plan summarized in 130 characters?
Did we fundamentally do something wrong? Would you prefer to orient the living area towards the east? Are the usable areas sufficient?

Spontaneously, I notice that you won't be happy with your hallway/vestibule. How did you want the four of you to take off your shoes there??? The guest bathroom is really annoying. But with this floor plan, I wouldn't have any idea how to solve it differently. If you design the hallway differently, it could become more relaxed. Such a play hallway has its charm, but whether you'll enjoy it for long... I'm already getting a crisis just having to go through my son's room. Having that in the hallway will cause a lot of cursing and hopping around. Better to plan a guest room upstairs and use the space downstairs for the hallway. With just under 16 sqm, the children's rooms are also sufficiently large.

I would move the doors to the dressing room towards the top of the plan, so the wardrobe can be placed against the stair wall and you can put a window in the room, I find daylight very pleasant. Of course, the bed will have to be positioned differently then, so also the window needs to be redesigned there.

Nice start. Nevertheless, I would discard the plan now and start over or directly ask the architect.
The following points immediately stand out to me:
- Space under the stairs should serve as a pantry for the kitchen - wrong location,
- Guest room and HAR should swap places,
- HAR is too tight if laundry is also supposed to go in there,
- Walk-in closet is too narrow and above all too dark,
- Play corridor is huge compared to the other rooms,
- Distance from WC to guest - already criticized by yourself,
- Sightline from living room to kitchen is not really interrupted,
- TV - if desired - where is it placed?

Before I go into details, here are some objections: Windbreak smaller than some in row houses. You won't be happy -> congestion when coming in, congestion when receiving guests, congestion when storing clothes. 1.70 for the freezer room, once the technology is drawn in, it will become painfully tight. Basically, the staircase is in the wrong position, resulting in small, narrow rooms (see also the walk-in closet on the upper floor). Apart from that, 3.20 or 3.40 meters is rather too narrow for a nice meal. So what is too small downstairs is too much upstairs. A 14 sqm bathroom becomes somewhat uncomfortable and inconvenient to handle -> long distances. There is a free space next to the generous children's rooms (unused area is then declared as a play zone). Anyway: basically, when looking at it in the second minute, I would have already thought that I would mirror the whole house. However, all of this is still too immature -> a proper planning, sitting down with your written room program and wishes (an L-shape is more suitable for the all-purpose room for privacy reasons), taking the site plan and roughly outlining the orientation of rooms on the plot first would in my opinion lead to a better result.

well 3.20-3.40 is already okay for eating. we currently have 2.7 (Mietwohnung), well that is already quite tight with a 90cm table, but it still works, 50-70cm more would be good. 4 meters would be more like luxury, if possible it's of course nice, absolutely