ᐅ Floor plan, ideas for spatial separation within the kitchen

Dear Home Building Forum,

My wife and I are currently deep in the planning stage of our new build and have already put a lot of thought into creating the ideal house design for us.

The following conditions apply:

Plot size: 430 sqm (4627 sq ft) [Northeast orientation of the plot (= southern access)]
Plot width: 16 m (52.5 ft) on the south / 16 m (52.5 ft) on the north
Plot length: 26 m (85 ft) on the west / 28 m (92 ft) on the east
Main ridge required in east-west orientation
Secondary ridge possible in north-south orientation (for our south-side extension)
Building envelope: 10 m (33 ft) in width (east-west) + 14 m (46 ft) in length (north-south)
Start of building envelope at the southern part of the plot (= 3 m (10 ft) distance to the access road)


This is what our house should offer:

Ground floor:

• Kitchen/living/dining area with southern exposure and access to a south-facing terrace
• Study for my wife
• Technical/storage room including wardrobe with access to the north garden and the carport
• Storage room under the stairs
• Small bathroom with shower and WC
• Possibility to separate the ground floor from the upper floor
• Southern access (main entrance) + 9 m (30 ft) carport with access to a storage room behind it

First floor:

• Master bedroom with access to the main bathroom
• Children’s bedroom 1
• Children’s bedroom 2
• Main bathroom with shower, bathtub, and WC
• Children’s/guest bathroom with shower and WC
• Utility room (dryer, washing machine, ironing area)
• Guest and study room for me

Attic:

• Project room (playroom, hangout space for the children, etc.)
• Storage room for miscellaneous items

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

We now have an initial draft from our architect, which you’ll find attached. What do you think about it?

Do you have any ideas on how we might create a spatial separation in the open kitchen/dining/living area? We were thinking of an option with a sliding door between the kitchen and living room that can be opened or closed as needed. However, the architect’s current layout doesn’t fully allow for this, in our opinion.

Please share your thoughts!

Best regards,

GTSport1982

Almost 180 square meters (about 1937 square feet) of living space and all three bedrooms are relatively small? There should be more space than that.

Several 45-degree angles... .

I don’t like it.

Hello,

GTSport1982 schrieb:

Do you have any ideas on how to create a spatial separation in the open kitchen/dining/living area? We were considering an option with a sliding door (between the kitchen and living area) that can be opened or closed as needed. However, we feel the current layout designed by the architect doesn’t quite allow for this.

A classic three-gable house; may I ask what cost your architect has estimated for the new build?

Actually, it’s not particularly difficult to divide this area. I would recommend “internal” sliding doors; this way you gain usable space. The question is, why should or would you want to do this, since in my opinion it compromises the original character of the house...?

Best regards, Bauexperte

Why do you need a shower on the ground floor if you already have two upstairs? Wouldn't a simple guest toilet be enough downstairs?
Even though it's 180 m² (1,938 sq ft), the house feels small because of all the angles.

Otherwise, I quite like it, but sometimes it feels a bit too complicated in layout.

Hi!

First of all, thanks for your quick responses.

The initial cost estimate includes pure construction costs (including carport, outdoor facilities, connection fees, architect fees, building permit/planning permission and administration costs, financing charges, as well as other incidental expenses) of around €240,000. The plot of land would add nearly €80,000 to that.

We planned the ground-floor bathroom with a shower so that, possibly in retirement (when the children have moved out), there would be a separate living area on the ground floor, potentially making the upper floor rentable. Then the study downstairs could be converted into a bedroom, and an additional door installed in the staircase landing. That was our approach...

Yes, the upper floor does feel somewhat cramped with all these 45-degree angles, but spatially we managed to fit in everything we envisioned. Are the 13 sqm (140 sq ft) children’s rooms (already calculated excluding the sloped ceilings) too small?

Or do you have other suggestions to make the living space on the upper floor more harmonious?

We appreciate any ideas.

Regards,

GTSport1982

I don’t see the size of the children’s bedrooms as an issue. Each of our three children will have about 12.5 m² (135 sq ft) rooms (our bedroom will also be that “small”). You also have the playroom in the attic.
As a child, I would have been happy with that much space.