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glenda4501

Members' comment highly appreciated

glenda4501
10 years ago

Planning to build this 2-bedroom dream house and I need all the help I can get. My husband and I are both retired. So far no kids are planning to stay with us.
I want to know if the kitchen layout is OK, especially the work triangle. I am also not so sure about the placement of the powder room. The mudroom/laundry will also be used as "pantry-overflow" - whatever appliances, platters, vase, canned goods, etc.. There is a loft (over the bathrooms), to be used mainly as a hobby/craft room
Thank you all for your help.

Comments (14)

  • mrspete
    10 years ago

    The thing that jumps out at me is lack of proportion:

    The 12'2" space "behind" the peninsula area is big enough to be a bedroom; in fact, it's bigger than the dining area. That big, empty space in the middle of the house accounts for, perhaps 20% of the square footage.

    For this much space, the kitchen could definitely be better. Since the laundry is to be an "overflow" area, I'd consider a door between the two.

    Master bath:

    I don't like the necessity of walking past the toilet to reach the shower, and the vanity isn't large enough to support two sinks -- plus, if you do cram them in that small space, you'll have no drawer space by the sink. Is that a linen closet to the right of the sink? How will you reach things in the back corner?

    Secondary bath:

    This is large, but poorly laid out -- lots of excess space.

    Since you anticipate no one will live in this bedroom permanently, why not bump the bathroom to the right a bit so it can serve the bedroom AND be the guest bath . . .which would allow you a little more space in the master bath?

    Most U-turn staircases are 8' wide.

  • bpath
    10 years ago

    The master closet is awfully small. Do you use a vanity table now? There is a "nook" for one, but maybe other storage would be better.

    The kitchen, hmm, sooooo much counter space, but the sink and stove are a mile apart. Where is the refrigerator?

    The "office" is teensy. How do you plan to use it?

    I'd rather see the powder room door moved to face the stairs.

    Where is your garage?

    I see no coat closets; perhaps it's never cold or wet where you live, lucky duck!

  • debrak2008
    10 years ago

    "The kitchen, hmm, sooooo much counter space, but the sink and stove are a mile apart. Where is the refrigerator?"
    Ditto

    Do you like the sinks being open to the bedroom. If one gets up before the other. Do you want have the light on by the sink and hear your spouse brushing teeth, etc.

    Huge laundry but no coat closets.

    Its easier just to say ditto everything already posted. Where is this plan from?

  • xc60
    10 years ago

    Our last home was similar to this layout in a couple of ways.

    I would place the office in the large space between foyer and family room, and move the laundry into the old office space. In our last house we had a combination laundry/mudroom and in our plan the room was an L shape and the laundry area was hidden in a end of the L. I still hated that layout and wished we had the laundry in a separate room of its own.

    Which would also fix the next thing I disliked about our home was the foyer being completely open to our living areas of our home. Was ok with family or friends but with any stranger coming to our door and them having a complete view it was very uncomfortable. As well as having to have everything clean all the time in the family room..... incase someone came to the door. Moving the office to that space would greatly increase your privacy.

  • energy_rater_la
    10 years ago

    consiter door swings into bathrooms.
    if someone should fall in the bathroom
    the door could be prevented from opening
    by the person needing help.

    wheelchair acessable doorways,
    rails for tubs/shower/toilets/
    railings will need extra blocking in
    framing stage.

    the rest I'll leave to everyone else...but
    ask that you include location & hvac info.
    location of filters/furnace & ducts.

    as we get older we aren't as agile as
    we once were.

    best of luck.

  • mojomom
    10 years ago

    Just playing with an idea to flip the kitchen and eliminate some of the dead space. This should be close to your footprint, but not exact. As drawn, I think the island is about 10'x3'6" and the kitchen isles are 4'2" and 4'6"

    I haven't drawn the bedrooms, but I would consider using the second bath as the guest bath and eliminating the powder room.

    {{gwi:1513862}}

  • dekeoboe
    10 years ago

    This plan looks like a very inefficient use of space. What is the square footage of the plan without including the porches and loft?

  • cardinal94
    10 years ago

    I think the laundry room is unnecessarily large which leads to wasted square footage that could be used better somewhere else. I had a laundry room like this once. I tried putting my sewing machine on a small table in the middle of the room. That worked for awhile, but incomplete projects (which there are always several), would just add to the visual clutter of the laundry. I also don't like the laundry room being the traffic area for coming from garage or outside. First thing I walk in and am reminded of housework - or top of washing machine becomes a place for 'others' to unload pockets.

    If laundry is overflow for kitchen storage, should be fewer steps from kitchen.

    Take quite seriously what others have said about aging in place concepts.

  • glenda4501
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    Thank you all for all your ideas and comments. Let me first tell more information about this future home. The plan came from an architect taking into consideration my wish lists i.e, 2BR, 2.5 bath, functional kitchen with peninsula or island, laundry, mudroom, pantry, office/den (aka mancave), dining area and family room.
    We don't want bathtubs in any of the bathrooms. The plan has a square footage of 1676, not including the loft and the porch. The house will be built in a slooping terrain. No garage, just carport underneath where the kitchen & dining area is about now.
    That huge space in the middle of the house is also glaring at me. Aside from moving the den/office over that way, what else could be done.. make the bathrooms bigger? But then the wasted space will be in the bathrooms.

    @MsPete: I do not understand "bumping the 2nd bathroom to the right to serve the bedrom and guest bath, which would allow little more space in the MB" Please clarify.

    The work triangle is way too far apart, especially the ref which is the end of the peninsula. My only "must" for the kitchen is the location of the stove, and that should be against outer wall (hood/exhaust). The rest of the appliances can be anywhere. IMHO, there is no such thing as too much counter space :-)

    BTW, no need for coat closet. We will not be needing it (Lucky ducks indeed). I forgot to tell you that this house will be built (God willing) in the foothills of Valencia, Negros Oriental, Philippines

  • debrak2008
    10 years ago

    Post the kitchen on the kitchen forum.

  • lyfia
    10 years ago

    I really like mojomoms improvments. It removes the extra empty space and makes for a more functional kitchen with easier access to the pantry/laundry and to bring groceries in. It would also allow the office/den to function as an extra bedroom if ever needed too.

  • mlweaving_Marji
    10 years ago

    The last thing you said changes everything!
    Have you looked at the homes in the area you'll be building? I ask because all the homes that I've been in in tropical areas have very different floor plans than we're used to in the continental US. You want porch overhangs and casement windows and fewer interior walls, to allow the breezes to blow through. Unless you want to live in AC full time, it would be really good to consider air flow.
    Currently I live on a boat and we've been actively cruising for the last 3 1/2 years. Because we live without AC I know how important the cross breezes are.
    Also, what are your building materials? All the places I can think of off-hand that we visit in the Bahamas and the Caribbean are stucco structures with thick walls, floor to ceiling casement windows and lots of ceiling fans. The best have movable walls. Lovely carved wood screen type affairs that divide rooms but allow air through, and ride on rails on the ceiling. I've seen that around St John and St Thomas. And up on Andros and down in St Vincent, and Bequia.
    In Hopetown in the Abacos there is an entire village of brightly painted wood houses in the Victorian style. They need to completely plastic bag those every few years and fumigate for termites and other critters. Get out of Hopetown and further on down Elbow Cay and the wood structures mostly look like fallen down decaying wrecks.

    Have a lovely retirement! While you may not need a wintery coat closet, keep some hooks on the wall somewhere to dry out rain jackets.

  • mrspete
    10 years ago

    I like MojoMom's sketch much better! Changing the kitchen makes the kitchen more functional, connects the laundry /pantry to the kitchen, and removes the problem of the too-large entry (though the entry's still rather generous).

    Clarification on my comment on the secondary bathroom: Remove the half bath. Scoot the secondary full bath to the right so that it opens to the hallway. Now it serves as a half-bath AND serves the guest bedroom. This leaves "empty space" against the exterior left wall, which used to be bathroom. This allows the master bath to "scoot over" a bit and use that empty space -- specifically, I'd bump the shower into that empty space, which would then allow more space for the currently-too-small sink area.

  • glenda4501
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    Hi Mojomom, I also like the way you "rearrange" the kitchen. Thanks again. Where would like to put the stove, sink and Ref? Will there be enough cabinets to serve as main pantry? The grocery store is about 40 minutes away and I would rather have at least 3 weeks worth food all the time. I would like a wall by the main entrance/foyer since I am a messy cook

    Thank you MrsPete for the clarification. Although I am still a bit puzzled, I will pass this idea to our architect.

    mlweaving_Marji: Most of the new homes on this hill and in the nearby city are 2 storey homes and too boxy for us. Most of them do not have roof/porch overhang and big windows. Somehow the concept of cross ventilation was somehow lost in these new homes. We are still planning to have that, however I am not sure about fewer internal walls. It is definitely cooler and more breeze up there than in the city. There will be no other building or structure that will block the breeze and the view.

    The picture/view below is what we will see from our (future) master bedroom, family room and dining area.

    Again, thank you everyone for your time and talents