ᐅ Finalizing the floor plan for a 130 m² bungalow designed for 4 people

I'm glad to hear you're enjoying the entertainment value here. There's not much to laugh about in your thread anyway.

I don't have time to chat right now!

Sweetheart... better to observe first, then criticize!

What’s the next step? I found the idea of fixed glazing interesting...

In the living and kitchen areas, we will opt for fixed glazing. In addition, there will be a lift-and-slide door in the living room (external dimensions: W: 2970 x H: 2230 mm (W: 117 x H: 88 inches), divided 1485:1485 mm (58:58 inches)). We are still undecided about the kitchen door (a floor-to-ceiling fixed glazed window would look nice but is not practical). In the bedrooms and bathroom, fixed glazing in the sash or windows with concealed opening sashes is conceivable.

micric3 schrieb:

What are the alternatives to fixed glazing for these sizes?

Single-leaf? If it absolutely has to be single-leaf, there are also pivot windows. These were popular in the 1960s, especially in white bungalows with flat roofs. Nowadays, you rarely see them, but they still exist.

I’m just going to put the chip bag away...

The facade facing east really looked terrible, sorry. More like the barracks we had here for refugees after World War II. A tiny window for every little room... Instead of two windows, add a large sliding door to the dining/living area. Maybe also consider a patio door in the bedroom (trust me, there’s something nice about stepping outside into the sun right after waking up). Give your two children access to the garden through patio doors as well, and extend the terrace around the house—not too wide, but enough so you can step outside easily from the east side too. The child’s room facing west should have a small paved area in front of their patio door. The kids will love it. And don’t come to me with “I don’t want the kids just running outside.” Your house is not a prison—it won’t help with discipline. At a railing height of 40cm (16 inches), even a school-age child can easily climb out—and they will, believe me.

We also have fixed glazing: behind the kitchen counter, the double casement window in the bathroom (where I also have a row of windows I can fully open), and a tall window in the living room. All those windows are complemented by large, openable windows, patio doors, or sliding doors that can also be cleaned from outside. But for your place, this doesn’t make sense.

Your wife wants a closed kitchen—which I don’t really understand, but okay. What doesn’t work at all and makes no sense is that ballroom-sized kitchen—it’s something you can afford with 180sqm (1937 sq ft) but unfortunately not with 130sqm (1399 sq ft). Your wife is just going to have to accept that.

Split the kitchen in half and allocate the freed-up space either to the utility room or to the west side as additional storage/pantry space—because that’s seriously lacking in your plan: storage space. Hello? There are four of you! No basement, a tiny utility room, and nothing else. There’s also not enough space to, like Nordlys, build a permanent staircase to the attic to use that storage space. You could still do that now by enlarging the utility room by half the kitchen size. Then install a space-saving staircase upstairs and your storage problem is solved.

Instead of a second full dining area in the kitchen, with the “halved” kitchen you’d have two parallel kitchen units (meaning the kitchen needs to be about 65 + 65 + 110 = 240cm (94 inches) wide; the shell dimension accordingly larger) and in one of the kitchen units, remove two base cabinets and place two chairs under the counter. That’s enough for a quick breakfast and for seating the kids at lunch, without taking up any more space. Everyone eats together at the “official” dining table anyway. Otherwise, that area can be used as additional work surface in the kitchen. You don’t have a mansion, so the space needs to be planned for optimal use. A second full dining area in only 130sqm (1399 sq ft) is simply nonsense. With a larger utility room, you might also be able to make a niche for a proper coat closet, which would solve that problem too.

Regarding the kitchen overall—so far, the plan has been pretty half-hearted. Do you even know what you want? Which fridge? With a freezer compartment or (now with the newly gained storage space, you could do that) a dedicated freezer in a pantry accessible from the kitchen? You’re four people—generally, almost every fridge tends to be too small, so the version without a freezer compartment has its appeal. But then you need a freezer nearby. I wouldn’t want to live without a freezer with a family of four. A side-by-side fridge is probably unrealistic given the space, but whether you want/need a freezer integrated into the kitchen unit or placed elsewhere is something to consider.

Which appliances? Dishwasher? Microwave? Possibly a raised dishwasher? Conventional oven/stove combo, with the oven under the cooktop, or would you prefer the oven at chest height and a separate cooktop? That should be planned now, since it’s important for the connections. The same goes for the sink—where should it go? That’s where the water connection needs to be! Proper, thoughtful planning and placing the connections accordingly now will save a lot of hassle and complaints later. Even with the smaller kitchen, I’d want direct garden access—how will the patio door be integrated, and how big will it be in the end? It would be silly to plan a large door now and then realize at the kitchen showroom that a door 20cm (8 inches) narrower would have given you many more kitchen options. Just an example.

Deciding where to put my exercise bike can come in the final stages of planning—but before that, I need to know where the kitchen goes, where to store all my stuff, where people hang their coats and take off their shoes when entering the house, etc. That’s all missing here.

You supposedly have a friendly architect? Is that person experienced? And they haven’t stepped on your toes yet???