Floor Plans Feedback

Hi All,

Been reading here for years but first post.

Finally got some custom floor plans designed up and was after some feedback on any changes or issues you can see with them. We quiet like them but wanted to put them out for any ideas or things we may have missed.

Any tips or changes you would make.?

Wow.

Some small things.

- Do you really want the fridge in the pantry. The 'keep the kitchen triangle small' (fridge - sink - stove) is out of whack when you do that.
- Garage door (internal - to laundry) door swing will have no easy stopper. Flip or have one placed just next to the bench (so the door wont hit the bench.) yet not too far out that its in the middle of the floor.
Actually the external door from there has an even worse issue.

- Upstairs toilet is on the wall of a bedroom. Annoying for that person. Rejig that bathroom, (toilet where the shower is - open to hallway - then that toilet area can become more bathroom? you lose some storage though. Else simply add sound insulation to that wall.
- The 2nd bath upstairs. Is huge... for not much in it. Make it a larger size shower. 120x90 rather than 90x90. Do you want niches?

House looks awesome. I'm jealous.

Looks mint.

I agree about upstairs toilet, I hate toilets beside bedrooms, zero privacy.

I’d just put the toilet in between the en-suite and bathroom so the bathroom is beside the bedroom.

The only other things I’d question is the need for a second bath in the en-suite and the size of the pantry.

If you’re bath people and will definitely use it frequently then leave as is, otherwise delete it and utilise the space saving elsewhere.

We had a butlers pantry in our last place and so glad our new one just has a normal pantry. Butler pantry’s are the biggest wank, you never know whether to prepare food in or out, you’re cut off from everyone, where do we put the dishes, in the kitchen sink or the pantry?

Is there a reason why the pantry and kitchen wall dont line up?, I’d pushing the kitchen wall out in line with the pantry, and making kitchen area bigger, little juts like that increase building costs due to complex rooflines etc
I know lots of people like doors on pantries, however we find we always leave it open, would you consider running the bench all the way into the pantry and leave the door off?

What climate are you in OP?

Firstly, I'd recommend reading this brilliant government website,

https://www.yourhome.gov.au/passive-design

Follow these principles & you'll have a home that is comfortable, light & bright & energy efficient (resulting in lower heating/cooling costs).

Which brings me to your covered alfresco area. Generally, I hate north facing covered alfresco areas. They shade the home in winter, making it colder, & darker. You want that winter sunshine in your home, warming it! I'd much prefer either having an alfresco to the east. Or ditching the roof, in favour of horizontal awnings, or a pergola with a deciduous climber.

I would pprefer to have Master at the rear, also consider no access to laundry from pantry. Im not sure how often youd utilise it. Also add media doors to upstairs. Ensuite looks like a poor use of space

Also I’d consider a three way bathroom up stairs, rather than just a seperate loo, makes it more functional for a family

Having a toilet door opening directly out onto the entry hallway doesn't feel private. I would move it elsewhere. You have a lot of space in the mud/ laundry so I would rearrange it to fit in this area.

There's also no hand basin in the upstairs toilet, so they would need to use the bathroom anyway afterwards (well, I assume they would), which negates the reason for separating. If you wanted a separate toilet, then you should consider adding a basin (and re-orientating it) or just include it in the main bathroom.

I would put the kitchen sink along the window bench and leave the island free, otherwise there isn’t much useful bench space on the island (from the galley side).

I would actually keep the door between pantry and mudroom/laundry. Makes bringing in groceries from the car straight into pantry to put away much easier.

Do you really need a guest bathroom AND additional toilet downstairs? If you don’t, just remove the toilet and put a second door into the bathroom (the recess from the main corridor is a good thing). One less thing to clean!

Thank you all for your responses I can see merit in all of them.

Will have to sit down and rethink a couple of them.

We've got the garage -> laundry -> pantry -> kitchen access, similar to you and it works really well. I would delete the cavity slider between the kitchen and WIP - we've never closed ours. There's no reason to really. And the slider between the WIP and laundry silences the washer/dryer well enough on its own.

You might consider a skylight in the hall upstairs? There doesn't appear to be much opportunity for natural light to fill the area, so a skylight or two would help it feel a little less closed in.