ᐅ Living/Dining Area and Kitchen – Practical Layout

Hello everyone,

I am hoping for some good ideas regarding the floor plan for the ground floor of a city villa we are planning to build.
Background: Originally, we wanted an L-shaped living/dining area with a kitchen arranged so that the kitchen would not be visible from the living space. This worked well as long as only a guest bathroom and utility room were located on the ground floor next to the living/dining area. Unfortunately, this made the upper floor very cramped, so the guest bedroom had to be moved to the ground floor.

Now, the living area and kitchen are more corridor-like (or a short L shape), and we have planned a double sliding door to the kitchen. When the kitchen gets messy, the door can simply be closed. Based on a rough kitchen layout, the double sliding door has been recessed as far as possible toward the kitchen so that you don’t bump into the dining table on the way in. The kitchen measures 415 cm x 275 cm (13.6 ft x 9 ft).

After much back and forth, we think we have found quite a good compromise, but we miss having a seating option in the kitchen. Only the dining table in the living room is available for seating. The positioning of the windows still needs to be adjusted, and the window above the TV unit will probably just be omitted.

In principle, all walls can still be moved, but the technical room must remain on this side of the house due to utility connections. South is at the bottom of the plan. The (existing furniture) in the living room has been added to the builder’s floor plan to scale, although not very nicely by me. We don’t want to buy everything new anyway.

Now to my question:
Do you have any other good suggestions on how the living/dining/kitchen area could be arranged, with the condition that we want to avoid a fully open kitchen?
Additional question:
Does it make sense to separate part of the technical room as a pantry, accessible only from that room? Originally, there was supposed to be a door leading to the kitchen, but that no longer seemed practical to us. I am uncertain about the room temperature and how much additional storage space this might provide.

In my opinion, the distance between the sofa and the TV is too large (unless you have an extra-large TV?). The simplest solution for a shorter distance would be to swap the kitchen and the sofa area.

You can skip the extra storage space in the utility room, as the temperatures will be almost the same everywhere. If you want an additional pantry, I could imagine extending the wall where the display cabinet is located to the left. This way, the kitchen would have the same layout as in your floor plan, and you would only need to incorporate the door to the pantry. I see this door just to the left of the display cabinet.

I often read about the concept of a "closable kitchen" and every time I’m convinced that, at least in my experience, it’s a misguided idea. Apart from being expensive and taking up space, that door won’t serve much purpose. I wouldn’t want to put up with such a thing just to avoid the "shame" of a messy kitchen a few times. There must be some horror scenarios in people’s minds about kitchens piled with trash...

This door will almost never actually be useful and nowadays, when people invest a lot of money in kitchens with great extractor hoods, large windows, and so on, it doesn’t really make sense anymore.

In the past, when greasy fries, blood sausage fried in oil with sauerkraut, or fried fish were already eaten for breakfast in small kitchens with tiny windows, then yes, it made sense. But today, I find it a pity to ruin the view. Ugh.

The side-by-side refrigerator doesn’t fit well there; I would prefer it if it faced with its back to the wall, exactly where the planned wall to the dining room is. It blocks the light, encloses the kitchen, and collides with the window right next to it.

I also find corner solutions usually awkward in kitchens and often extremely expensive.

I think you should post all the information here, because every idea can require changes elsewhere; you’ll find solutions here. The current floor plan doesn’t seem well thought out.

The classic issue with square floor plans that have a lot of interior space. You design cost-optimized based on the square meters, but then don’t really know how to make good use of the interior. In the living area, the dining table will always dominate—no matter how you look at it. The suggestion above is fine as it is if you want this floor plan and a closed kitchen. Everything I imagine just increases the costs (as expected).

First of all, thank you very much for your comments!

Pinky0301 schrieb:

Distance between sofa and TV

Yes, the distance would be 50-80cm (20-31 inches) greater than what we currently have. A smaller distance would also be okay for us, but we haven’t found a perfect solution when rearranging the furniture yet.

Pinky0301 schrieb:

Switching the kitchen and sofa area.

I had already considered that option. The sofa would then be where the kitchen is now. For the kitchen, however, I could only imagine a kitchen island facing the living area, which would make it quite open again. The planner also mentioned that this side is the warmest, which might be less suitable for the kitchen. But I find that hard to assess.

pagoni2020 schrieb:

Somehow there must be horror scenarios in people’s minds of kitchens piled with trash....

That is a wish of my wife. It’s not only about hiding the “shame” when we have visitors, but she also doesn’t want to see the mess herself after cooking. We tried to implement this with the door. When it’s tidy, the door disappears into the wall. But yes, it’s currently a compromise and we are looking for ideas.

pagoni2020 schrieb:

The side-by-side refrigerator fits less well there.

The side-by-side fridge is my wish. The window would have to be set back. Meanwhile, I’ve also learned that it can’t be placed directly against the exterior wall because of the door clearance—it needs to be set back about 30cm (12 inches). If the wall with the sliding door is removed, your suggestion works well; otherwise, it might have to be replaced with a fully integrated solution.

pagoni2020 schrieb:

I think you should post all the information here because every idea will require changes elsewhere; solutions can definitely be found here.

Attached is the floor plan of the upper floor:

We are generally satisfied with the room layout here, though we might rearrange the fixtures in the bathroom. Overall, the rooms needed are:

• Living room
• Kitchen
• Children’s room
• Bedroom (a walk-in closet is not important to us, and the layout is already adjusted for our current furniture)
• Office (a lot of home office work)
• Guest room
• Bathroom (walk-in shower, without glass panels that require constant cleaning)
• Guest bathroom

There should only be one child, but the office should still be able to be converted into a smaller children’s room if needed, and the guest room could also be used as an office. The 5sqm (54 sq ft) on the upper floor is an additional storage room.

hampshire schrieb:

The classic problem with square floor plans leaving a lot of space inside.

Theoretically, we could also move the exterior walls, but I don’t know what effect that would have on the costs. We initially gave the planner a target area of about 150sqm (1,615 sq ft). Because of the land prices, there is hardly any budget room upwards.

AllThumbs schrieb:

This is my wife’s wish. For her, it’s not only about hiding the “embarrassment” when guests come over, but she also doesn’t want to see the mess after cooking herself. We tried to implement this with the door. When it’s tidy, the door slides into the wall.
But yes, right now it’s some kind of compromise and we are looking for ideas.

Sure, I totally understand. In my first life and previous house, I made a similar choice... what a fool I was. We had two sliding doors because of cooking smells and a cluttered kitchen... same situation.
Later, the doors and the dividing wall gave way to a beautiful open kitchen (a lot of money, dust, and work). The dining table really needs an appropriate distance from such a door, even if it’s never closed, and that takes up space or can look awkward if the door is open. I’m sure you’ll have a nice kitchen built, so I’d find it a pity to block it off.
I understand having a side-by-side fridge. In my opinion, it should be two units of 60cm (24 inches) width each, or you should take a close look at the often tiny freezer compartments of the 90cm (36 inches) models; as you said, it looks nicer with its back against the wall and makes a good focal point when entering the living area.
The upper floor somehow seems half-heartedly designed or just thrown together.
As @hampshire already mentioned, the issue might be the square floor plan.
I think the last word hasn’t been said yet, because you can definitely design something stylish with 150m² (1,615 sq ft).
Maybe you should let go of fancy terms like “town villa” and instead focus on finding a sleek floor plan that suits you, and then have a matching and feasible facade designed accordingly.