ᐅ Single-family house floor plan, approximately 180 m², basement with a pitched roof

May I ask where the laundry chute is supposed to be or where it will lead to?

I fully agree with @Climbee.

For me, the current kitchen layout is a deal-breaker, and the staircase is too small. Given the garage location next to the main entrance, having a pantry door leading into the garage is not practical. There are more elegant solutions, including direct access to the kitchen from a main hallway.

I am currently having difficulty understanding the slope aspect, as there are no cross-sections available and I haven’t had time to study it in detail. However, when building a basement on a slope, it is generally advisable to reconsider the standard room arrangements: if you can exit the basement directly to the outside due to the slope, this space can also be used for living areas—for example, placing the utility room on the upper floor and bedrooms for parents or children in the basement.

I have a few more thoughts about the floor plan:

I don’t think the extensions at the front and back are necessary. They add significant costs and aren’t ideal from an energy-efficiency standpoint; exterior corners create thermal bridges, no matter how well insulated the building is. While I might see some sense in the extension for the staircase, I can’t see any reason at all for the one at the front. Is it really needed?

The staircase, which has been mentioned several times before, is really narrow and small. Good luck carrying furniture upstairs. And there’s also a bathtub to get up there... it’s going to be tight. Besides, you should always consider the future. Something can happen, and you might need to live in an accessible (disabled-friendly) way. What if you can no longer manage tight, winding stairs? There’s no space here for a stairlift. For a new build, I would always design the staircase so that a stairlift can be installed later if needed (while, of course, hoping that never becomes necessary).

I have reread the thread. Has the planning been done without an architect so far? Especially with a sloped plot, I wouldn’t want to do without their help. They might come up with some clever ideas.

The current draft still seems quite unfinished to me and, diplomatically speaking, has a lot of potential for improvement. A few points that come to mind immediately:

- TV in front of a window??? Seriously? (Have you thought about flipping the living room layout? That is, putting the TV where the seating area is now, and the seating area next to the dining table?)
- The living room is large, so there are still plenty of good options (for example, adding a partition wall so the TV can be closer to the seating area; behind it you could have nice bookshelves and a somewhat separated reading nook, for instance.)
- I wouldn’t want the entrance area to go all the way to the stairs; instead, the stairs should be within the living space, but that might just be a matter of taste.
- The windows all seem too small to me; there are no exterior views shown, but they look like many tiny holes in the wall. I would prefer larger windows. For example, if you skip the bay window at the front and use a flat exterior façade: install two large sliding doors, or one big one in the middle with two French doors on the sides, and so on.
- The two drawn-in chimneys: are they for a double-flue fireplace? Do you have a wood stove planned somewhere else? I don’t see one; perhaps this chimney could be better integrated. As it is now, it’s standing in the middle of the room – this can surely be done differently.
- I also see many wall sections that, in my opinion, aren’t necessary at all and just make the living space unnecessarily awkward. There is a lot of room for improvement.

What I like is starting kitchen and bathroom planning early. Then you can adjust the detailed design if, for example, a wall needs to be moved a few centimeters for a better kitchen layout, or decide exactly where utility connections should go. This is especially smart if you plan a kitchen island. However, this also requires a good kitchen and bathroom planner. Regarding the kitchen planner, again, I see, well, as I said before: a lot of potential.

When does your detailed planning need to be finished? I would invest more time and thought into it and ideally find a competent architect. It’s money well spent.

RobsonMKK schrieb:
May I ask where the laundry chute is supposed to be or where it should go?

The laundry chute will be installed in the bathroom/upper floor WC/ground floor.
It is included in the next floor plan.

Mike12345678901 schrieb:
The laundry chute will be installed in the bathroom/upstairs toilet/ground floor toilet.
It is included in the next floor plan.

I am very curious, especially since the toilet is not very large and the chute will probably be a few centimeters (inches) wide.

Pantry:
I’m definitely a fan of having direct access from the garage to the pantry, if possible. However, you should keep in mind that the door must meet special fire safety regulations. Otherwise, it can be quite convenient, even though this is often viewed negatively here. That said, with an extra door, you hardly gain any additional space in the pantry. Also, I would personally find it bothersome if the pantry has no window. I use the pantry a lot, especially in winter, as it acts like a second refrigerator when I tilt the window open. For example, cookies can cool down there perfectly without cluttering the kitchen workspace.

We have now changed this. The pantry will not have a door but will get a window. The garage had to be moved forward a bit because of the bathroom window.

Kitchen:
I consider placing the refrigerator in a niche, far from the main kitchen activities, a major design flaw.

Well, that was actually intentional at this stage. We have breakfast much more often (daily) than we cook (mostly on weekends). So I actually liked the position. But nothing is set in stone yet.

Plan the refrigerator into the kitchen workflow: either integrate it into the wall cabinet run or extend the pantry and move the pantry exit to where the refrigerator currently is, placing the refrigerator where the pantry door is now (this also improves the layout of the vestibule, hallway, pantry, and downstairs toilet). This would turn the freestanding kitchen counter into a true island—moving it away from the wall! A depth of 125–130 cm (49–51 inches) provides enough space for 60 cm (24 inches) deep cabinets on both sides, leaving room in the middle for plumbing. I would place the island about 1–1.5 m (3–5 feet) away from the wall in the center of the room (you have plenty of space!), which shifts the cooking area to the room’s center. A refrigerator where the pantry door is now—or even where it currently stands—is very accessible. You should also consider making the adjacent wall a functional kitchen zone, for example placing the oven (if planned at waist or chest height) and a steam cooker (if desired) there. The pantry door can be nicely integrated into such a kitchen front.

Additional benefits: you can freely design the terrace door—possibly larger—and anyone entering from outside doesn’t have to cross the kitchen but can go straight into the living area without disturbing those cooking.

Personally, I like the stove on the kitchen island because it encourages social cooking. But that’s really a matter of taste. In any case (whether the island has a stove or not), with such a generously sized island, I would plan a small additional sink. This makes tasks much easier, as you won’t have to switch work areas constantly for washing hands, rinsing cloths, washing vegetables, filling pots with water, etc. A small prep sink is enough; the main sink remains in the wall kitchen unit where you perform larger tasks like washing salad or cleaning pots.

Great idea—thanks! Tomorrow I’m meeting with the kitchen planner. Let’s see what they say…

Vestibule, Hallway, Pantry, Toilet:
I find the layout, to put it mildly, suboptimal. You’re wasting a lot of space! The hallway is separated from the living area by doors, so why have an extra vestibule? Either open up the area around the staircase into the living space (which also has its appeal), or keep it as is but then you don’t need a separate vestibule. I would shift the garage further north (if possible), add a window in the pantry, move the front door to the right where the toilet currently is (which now stands somewhat awkwardly in the middle of the room), and place the toilet against the right wall next to the garage. This opens up the cramped entrance area, lets you redesign the pantry space, and eliminates the bottleneck between the vestibule and the hallway that I mentioned earlier. Overall, there will be more space in the hallway/vestibule because the toilet is moved out of the center. You might also want to consider elongating the toilet and rethink the pantry layout accordingly. I think this will make much more effective use of the space.

You mean something like the attached example, @BeHaElJa style. We have already looked at that variant. I personally liked it a lot, especially as it shows the staircase much better. But my partner was not so convinced. Also, since the garage must be on the west side, this variant does not have a toilet window, which is not ideal either.

Laundry in the basement:
Personally, I think that’s completely impractical: carrying dirty laundry downstairs (although you plan a chute, making this faster), then carrying washed laundry back upstairs to hang outside, back down to iron, and finally back upstairs to put it away. Whew............ With modern machines, this problem is largely solved, and I would definitely include a small utility room on the upper floor where the washer and dryer are located, with space to set up a drying rack if needed.

Well, our kids are still small, and most dirty laundry comes from the lower floors (winter and snow gear, sandbox clothes, etc.). I would still have to carry those items upstairs first. I prefer to let it drop downstairs and straight into the washing machine. There’s plenty of space there for drying and hanging clothes too.

Do you really want to keep the open void? That space could accommodate a utility room. Think about it again. And if you must keep the void, then consider enclosing it as a room: why isolate it from the upper hallway? I would design it as a gallery without windows. But that’s also a matter of taste.

We understand that the bay window and the void aren’t necessary, but we like them. We close them off so noise, odors, etc., can stay downstairs when needed.