Duke's Double - PCI 19th June

Dukecaddy · Nov 11, 2013 6:40 pm

Hi all

Have been researching on H1 for a year or so now and reading everyone's threads with great interest. A lot of great builds going on and heaps of useful info, so thanks all

Have decided to start my own thread as we now have council planning approval and things are starting to move along nicely.
A bit about us, mid 30's with two kids (2.5 year old and 7 month old) and a labrador. We made the decision to build on the spur of the moment after looking at established for about 9 months without seeing anything we liked. A block was advertised on the net on a friday and we ended up having to put an offer on the next day as 2 or 3 others were also offering. We were in luck and got the propert after some negotiation. So we had to find a house to build! After searching through a lot of project builders plans we were not too inspired as although most were lovely houses, they just didn't make the most of our block in our opinion. We have a wide frontage but not a lot of depth, so we ended up using a designer who came up with the below!

For the solar passive nuts North is to the right

Due to us having our 2nd kid around the time the block settled we took quite a while to get our design sorted, but we eventually got it to where it is and have signed a PPA with Bellagio Homes. They've been great so far and very patient with us. The plans were submitted to City of Melville three weeks ago and came back approved this week :z:

I was very surprised, we were anticipating a 2-3 month wait, not weeks!

So I think the next step is working drawings and engineering and then pre-start. We're nowhere near knowing what colours etc we want :oops:

Now to ask the first question of the forum.......... what to do with kitchen layout! The plans shown have the oven & hotplate a fair distance from the fridge, breaking the work triangle rule or whatever it's called :th:

We don't want the sink or hotplate moved to the island bench as we tend to have dishes next to the sink all the time, either drying off of waiting to be cleaned (sounds better than dirty :wink:

). We were thinking of moving the dishwasher to under the island and squeezing the hotplate and sink on to the same bench with the window splashback, but realistically that only brings the oven a smidge closer to the sink/fridge than where it is now

Any ideas on how to improve the layout?? :th:

Cheers,
Duke

oncewerefurriers · Nov 11, 2013 9:28 pm

Really interesting design. Sorry can't be much help on the kitchen design. If you put the hotplate close to the sink you'll end up with bottom of the 'L' (near the store if you know what I mean) looking a bit bare. Personally I'd have the sink or hotplate in the island.

Really like your front aspect. Very interesting!

AKB · Nov 11, 2013 10:09 pm

Hi Dukecaddy,

Great plan!

Personally with kids you age I probably wouldn't move the hob to the island. :-)

judydg · Nov 11, 2013 10:46 pm

Nice plan.
I think the kitchen will be fine. It is still a triangle of sorts!

Dukecaddy · Nov 12, 2013 11:46 am

oncewerefurriers

Really interesting design. Sorry can't be much help on the kitchen design. If you put the hotplate close to the sink you'll end up with bottom of the 'L' (near the store if you know what I mean) looking a bit bare. Personally I'd have the sink or hotplate in the island.

Really like your front aspect. Very interesting!

Thanks OWF, the front has lots of glass because we have some nice views of the Darling Scarp (the only hills in Perth :lol:

) and some river glimpses.

AKB

Hi Dukecaddy,

Great plan!

Personally with kids you age I probably wouldn't move the hob to the island. :-)

Agreed, we want to keep the island bench top clear as work space, breakfast bar etc.

judydg

Nice plan.
I think the kitchen will be fine. It is still a triangle of sorts!

You're right, it's still a triangle ::lol::

I don't think it'll be much of an issue. The oven and hob will only be about 1m further from the fridge than our current kitchen, think it just looks like a long distance to Mrs Duke on the plans.

Kash · Nov 12, 2013 3:03 pm

I'd probably switch the sink/DW with the stove/oven based on the way I use my kitchen - I think it would be easier for switching between the preparation area on the island and the stove for cooking, and I almost never use my sink, except as pre dishwasher storage, so I'd rather it to the side. I reckon it's mostly personal preference though and based on the kind of cooking you do regularly

Dukecaddy · Nov 25, 2013 6:03 pm

Accepted an offer on our old place on the weekend :z:

Can now officially afford to build ::lol::

Still waiting on working drawings but not expecting anything for another week or two. In the meantime some barstool has dumped a load of building rubble on the block

AKB · Nov 25, 2013 6:13 pm

Congratulations on the sale of your old place :-)

Dukecaddy · Nov 29, 2013 2:14 pm

Haven't had pre-start or signed the building contract yet, but drove past the block and saw this!

It's amazing at what you get excited about when building :oops:

AKB · Nov 29, 2013 4:03 pm

That is exciting! Ps what a cool builders sign can only imagine how cool the houses are that they build ;-)

Marcia · Nov 29, 2013 5:50 pm

I would leave it as is ... if you move the sink anywhere along the back counter it will look funny, as it is the builder has placed it central on that bench space. The oven off to the side keeps it out of the way and also out of the main working area of the kitchen. I love the idea of a big open island, great for homework as the kids grow up and even better for the Christmas banquet!!!

If it were me, I'd leave it as is. Congrats on the sale of your place, now the fun begins!

Dukecaddy · Nov 29, 2013 5:56 pm

Thanks Marcia.

I think that's the way we're leaning, keeping it as is. We could do with the extra exercise in having to walk a few extra steps between oven and fridge :lol:

oncewerefurriers · Nov 29, 2013 10:20 pm

Congrats on the sale and new sign. It's a bit presumptuous of you builder to put the sign up before you've even signed the contract.

They must be confident of their product putting a big sign up outside. It makes you think that they're a quality builder. Looks so much classier than one nailed to outside of the site toilet.

Marcia · Nov 29, 2013 10:50 pm

oncewerefurriers

They must be confident of their product putting a big sign up outside. It makes you think that they're a quality builder. Looks so much classier than one nailed to outside of the site toilet.

KiwiGalAbroad · Dec 02, 2013 6:55 pm

oncewerefurriers

Congrats on the sale and new sign. It's a bit presumptuous of you builder to put the sign up before you've even signed the contract.

They must be confident of their product putting a big sign up outside. It makes you think that they're a quality builder. Looks so much classier than one nailed to outside of the site toilet.

exactly what I was thinking !!

KiwiGalAbroad · Dec 02, 2013 6:57 pm

Plans look fantastic, I am a fan of two story houses so will have to live vicariously through your build

Dukecaddy · Dec 02, 2013 7:05 pm

KiwiGalAbroad

oncewerefurriers

Congrats on the sale and new sign. It's a bit presumptuous of you builder to put the sign up before you've even signed the contract.

They must be confident of their product putting a big sign up outside. It makes you think that they're a quality builder. Looks so much classier than one nailed to outside of the site toilet.

exactly what I was thinking !!

in the builder's defense, I must say that I know the MD through amateur footy so he can be pretty confident we're going to go through with the deal

KiwiGalAbroad

Plans look fantastic, I am a fan of two story houses so will have to live vicariously through your build

Thanks KiwiGal! I've always wanted a two storey place and finally get to have one (in a year or so anyway)

Dukecaddy · Dec 05, 2013 3:23 pm

Just received construction drawings

There's my next few nights sorted checking these ::celeb::

KiwiGalAbroad · Dec 05, 2013 10:31 pm

Yay, thats exciting :z:

Hope you have your fine tooth comb out

Dukecaddy · Dec 11, 2013 2:08 pm

Construction drawings were pretty accurate, only a couple of minor things to change

There will be a few more changes to make at pre-start but only relating to cabinetry, tap positions etc. Builder has started scheduling and we should be having pre-start over a couple of meetings in January then looking to have contracts finalised by end of January. All going well we should see a site start in late Feb or early March :z: