Picture?

Picture yes.

Is it flat, curved, sloped, narrow, wide, wintry?

Ok, I have created a photo to show the two different options. The house we are planning to build will let us face the garage doors on either side. I am leaning towards the front entrance (left side plan in the photo). Does the photo help?

You want it to be clear to guests where they should park, and where they should enter. Ideally, where they park is close to the front door, with a direct route (walkway or driveway)

With the plan on the left, you won't really have a front walk. I think that's a matter or personal preference: some folks really want one, others not so much.

It also depends on how you use the garage, and where the views of the front from within the house are. Things like:

do you have kids who might play in the driveway, or do projects in the garage;

do you do your own landscaping and use the garage for working;

what are neighborhood expectations;

which way do you usually approach the house from: from the garage side, or from the house side, and what do you want to see/want your guests to see as you drive up the street to your house?

Which side gives you more maneuvering room?

Wow, you all want too much information. The neighborhood has mostly garages that you enter from the front. Some have the entrances on the side but not many.

Vote: Front side or back side?

Those two look totally different so idk.

Is there a view in back that would be obstructed by a garage? That's why ours is "front" entry. The garage doesn't need the water view.

I can't really read your floorplans so I don't know if both are conveniently located near the mudrooms, kitchen, etc.

I just vote front. In the absence of additional information.

How can people vote when they do not know all the details, the layout and ll the pertinent info? It all matters as it really is not a simple "front" or "back" side. Some municipalities may not even allow the back entrance.

No voting. We already made our decision. Thank you.

I think #2 makes the HOUSE look better, but not knowing your site plan I can't say for sure what I would vote for your application. I would do #2 with a circular front drive.

Votes are meaningless without context which of course you have, and we don't.

There was no way we could vote without seeing how your house is sited on the lot. And another thought is are you turning the house to have it face one way or the other? That too should affect your decision because if you're turning the house, which way is the house facing in terms of passive solar energy, the other houses, etc?

Additionally you posted two totally different houses so there really is absolutely no context.

The house plans I posted were fictitious ones. Neither one of them are a house plan that I am considering. I only posted them so that folks could get an idea on how each variation would look. I wanted to know if there were others out there who had a "preference" and if so, then why. The house plan we are looking at can actually go either way and below is a photo. It currently defaults to entering from the back side of the garage. We are thinking about bringing the garage more to the street (and use the space that used to be the garage area as an office/craft room) , make it larger and then we could enter the garage from the front of the house. We are also considering making it a 3-car garage. There is a front porch. My husband tinkers in the yard and garage. I could sit on the porch and watch, etc. :)

A lot depends on your lot too and if you have any restrictions. I know on our city lot, I was restricted to using the driveway cutout the city already approved, so I created a rear entry garage.

That's why we were asking. Can you place the house on your property for us to see?

Front-entry garages are the favourite bete noire of traditionalists and swish urbanites who wish private cars had not been invented and the hoi polloi would stick to bicycles, leaving limousines only for the political elite. So everything you can do to hide the garage, the better. Fie on that viewpoint! Unless this is an expansive property, I'd vote for not only a front garage, but a front entry garage.

Well, seeing as how Mrs. Architectrunnerguy is in Kansas City for the weekend there's plenty of time to talk about context. For best results don't stop your thinking with "where do we put the garage??" as if it's an isolated thing floating in space. Think of how it will relate to the street, how it will best create outdoor "rooms" and how it's massing will be in relation to not only the street but to your house.

Try to think of every element in the house in terms of it's next larger context. A window in a wall, a wall in a house, a house on a street and yes, even a garage on a site.

While no one's seen a site plan yet, at least it looks like an improvement over your plan from March where I joked "We forgot the garage!!".

The development we will be building in are all one plus acre lots and there are no restrictions about either way for the garage.

Cpartist - I don't mind the laundry room clear across the house. I am not a couch potato and prefer to keep very active. I also want to use the laundry to serve as a pet center.

Part of the space moving the garage out will create a mudroom area.

Island will not have a cooktop in it. I will put a farmhouse sink there and put a slide in double oven (similar to Wolfe) with no wall ovens on the outside wall. I will also put a window on each side of the stove.

The powder room next to master will go away and the master closet will be expanded into that space.

Measurements of rooms - I have always learned that what you see here is not what you always get. When the architect takes the plans and makes his changes, then we will have a more accurate measurement.

I love the keeping room where it is. :)

The stairs in family room behind the fireplace will go away as we will not be doing a basement - just single story.

The stairs next to the pantry will go away as we will not be needing them.

The pantry will be made larger than is on plan (love BIG walk-in pantries).

There may be a few more "little things" to do but they will be minor.

I found a photo on Houzz that is very similar to the kitchen in the floor plan. I love the white cabinets but am not a fan of too much white, so I would like to incorporate an island that is wood-tone, such as below.

I have looked at hundreds of floor plans and I feel very comfortable with this plan. It will accommodate many folks who come over to watch football, etc. and it will accommodate us when we get too old to move. Ha!

Agree with all your improvements.

Now as to the house itself, ARG expressed it very well how the house is sited is also what makes it work well on the lot. It's all related.

Each time I made a change on mine, I had to refigure how that would work with the landscaping, etc.

I was driving DS to a friend's house. We drove up the street, and by the time we saw the house number on the house, we had passed the driveway. The approach is northbound, the garage faced south and stuck out in front of the house. Big, handsome house, and you couldn't see it AT ALL because of the garage. All you saw was garage door and asphalt. Seemed like a waste. If the garage faced the other way, it would have created almost a courtyard with the front door, but with plenty of room (big lot), and the back of the garage could be landscaped. Now, the driveway did "branch off": go straight and then turn left into the garage, or split off left to go in front of the house.

all that to say, there's a lot to think about with garages!

Strong home designs grow from their site. It's not about simply plunking a house down on a piece of ground and connecting it to the nearest street, unless one is building on a very restrictive urban site. With an acre lot you should be thinking not only about car access and storage, but things like views, privacy, indoor-outdoor living spaces and their connection, climate, sun, wind, surface run off, topography, yada, yada. Until these and the many other site variables are well understood, asking about a front or side garage is simply a rather generic exercise. If you post a site plan with some of the details noted above you will get a much more useful answer if you still want one!

All of the land, sunrise, sunset, privacy, water run off, flood zone area, etc. has been covered. We have friends who live in the same development and no problems (it is a small development). Met with developer/builder and checked out the zoning, restrictions with county and everything is good. We have an architect and we just need to push the "go" button.

Since you've settled on a canned plan that apparently works well for you, I'd skip the architect.

Oh no - I need the architect if I am going to move walls and possibly push out the garage. Plus, my architect is my daughter's father-in-law and he will do it for nothing. :)

So let me get this straight...you have an architect in the family but then there's a vote put out there to unknown people on the internet about where you should put a garage?? One of two things here...either the vote didn't matter and it was just a waste of time or the architect didn't matter.

And you have an architect in the family and you're using a stock plan vs having a plan designed to fit the lot perfectly?

I know CP, it's strange. Although actually being an architect IN an extended family, often I've thought of adding a "family premium" to any family work. It's not easy!

I know CP, it's strange. Although actually being an architect IN an extended family, often I've thought of adding a "family premium" to any family work. It's not easy!

True, true as I've noticed over the years doing design work or artwork for family.

Not a waste of time at all. We all look at things differently and I wanted to get other opinions just in case I was missing something. It's like going to a bible study group. You read it, you understand it, but when another person has a different perspective you may learn something. I love this site and love reading everyone's opinions not just for this post but for many others. With the architect being in the family, he may just be telling me what I want to hear. I am hopeful you understand.

As far as using a stock plan, I never intended to do that but I did look at many plans just to get ideas. I kept going back to the plan I posted above and I fell in love with it. But is it really a stock plan when I make some major changes to it? There is nothing wrong with that. This will be the third house I have built and I love looking at things from all angles to see if it can be improved. I see posts all of the time asking opinions on stock plans.

If I offended anyone, then I apologize but if you do get offended so easily because I am asking for an opinion, then maybe you should stay away from this site.

You all have a better day.

I agree CP. For years the family had TWO architects in it. The other one (my former BIL) was smarter than me in that, while I went into residential, he went into hospital design. And there's not a whole lot of family members that want an ER addition to their house! Design work for family or even neighbors for that matter is tough.

Thing is, the garage is a part of the whole house and landscape -- you can't really make decisions about it in a vacuum. You need to consider the space you have available (and that's more than square footage -- it also includes slope, approach, corner vs. plain rectangle, and more). Where you place your garage will impact the location of your kitchen, laundry room, pantry, and more; for example, note that changing the garage in your own example greatly affected your back deck.

Your neighbors may share the same view, same orientation, same climate, but none of them share the same lot; two lots may sit side-by-side and have different details that push them towards different garage choices.

Think about this too: Your garage and driveway will probably require more space than your house. These aren't small decisions.

First thing to consider: I see that you're only considering all-the-way-in-front-of-the-house garages ... or completely-behind-the-house garages. Yet you say you have a lot that's not particularly large, but is certainly large enough to consider other garages. Consider the range of options:

You're already considering a side-entry garage in front of the house, which is called a Courtyard Drive:

Pros and cons:

- If you approach this house from the left, you see the attractive front door; but if you approach from the right, you'll be faced with a big, flat expanse of garage, and the door'll be hidden. Also imagine driving up to this house from the right -- imagine turning into the driveway; it'd be a difficult turn.

- Note that this garage and driveway dominate the front of the house. You'll have little space for landscaping. Since it is so prominent, you might consider making the driveway something special -- stamped concrete, cobblestones, brick.

- The driveway is short, which would be less expensive. The downside of a short drive is that you can't handle many guests. And if you do have guests, their cars are literally in your front yard.

- This could be good for elderly or infirm people; everything's very compact.

- If you're on a corner, you could have a drive-through garage with doors on both sides.

- Lots of people don't like this out-front garage. It does shove the least attractive part of the house to the front, and on many houses it looks like an afterthought.

- I personally like these Courtyard Drives only if the house is placed on a very small lot. In situations like that, the size of the yard clearly makes this a practical choice ... but when you have plenty of space and lawn all around, it looks weird to squish the garage in so closely.

Garage to the back, either attached or detached:

- You'll need a longer drive, which costs more money. You'll also need a "back up pad" near the garage; that is, unless you are willing to back the car alll the way down a long drive.

- In the particular house you showed, it means that your kitchen window view will be ... a driveway.

- If you're in a snowy climate, you'll have much more to shovel.

- You lose your side yard to the driveway; this means less space for landscaping. No trees to provide privacy between you and the neighbor.

- This garage eats into your back yard space. Less space for kids to play, less space for a pool or whatever you might want -- and most of us value our back yards more highly than our front yards.

- With this type of garage, you'd probably go with a single-wide drive that widens as you reach the garage.

- This drive could be straight (like this picture) or could make a 90 degree turn into a behind-the-house garage. Such turns aren't always easy, and they do require significant space.

- I think the biggest issue with this drive is that it's confusing to your guests. Do you expect them to pull all the way forward? Stop halfway? Once they leave their cars, they don't have a view of the front door, which is uncomfortable for them. If I had this type of driveway, I'd ALSO want a half-circle drive (or something else) that was meant for guests -- but that eats up the front yard and costs more money.

You didn't mention side garages:

- A side garage is a halfway point between the two extremes you mentioned -- but you need a lot that's wide enough to handle the extra width. On a one-acre lot, a house with a side garage may appear more "balanced" or "better proportioned" than a more narrow house with a front or back garage.

-This type of garage could have a front-facing door or a side-loading door. As I said above, if you want to make a 90 degree turn into the garage, you need plenty of space to make that turn.

- The above example shows a garage that's essentially "even" with the house, but you could set the garage forward or back 10-20 feet or so, if your lot or other needs dictates that it's better. Something like this:

Some garages are integrated into the footprint of the house:

- The doors could face forward or could face the side -- with the same pros and cons mentioned above.

- One problem with such a garage is that it's tough to keep the rooms above the garage warm (with all that cold air underneath), and the rooms above the garage will hear the door opening/closing.

Finally, don't forget that if you have a sloped lot, you can have a basement garage:

So, no "vote" for one or the other. You can't say that one's better or worse; rather, the garage has to be developed as a part of the lot and house plan -- but do consider all your options, not just the total-front or total-back options. I suggest you spend some time reading /studying pictures online of different driveway and garage configurations. Consider how they'll appear from the road, and consider how they'll impact your family entering from the garage and your guests entering from the driveway.

Moving down the thread, I see that you're considering this house plan:

Note that with this plan, you can keep the doors as they're shown, or you can go to a front-facing garage, but a Courtyard Drive as you've suggested won't work. Why? The porch is in the way and the garage is "recessed" about 8-10' into the bulk of the house. No space for a driveway.

Also note that if you're talking about enlarging to a three-car garage (Why? A yard building is cheaper storage), that'll change the whole equation.

I was driving DS to a friend's house. We
drove up the street, and by the time we saw the house number on the
house, we had passed the driveway. The approach is northbound, the
garage faced south and stuck out in front of the house. Big, handsome
house, and you couldn't see it AT ALL because of the garage. All you saw
was garage door and asphalt. Seemed like a waste. If the garage faced
the other way, it would have created almost a courtyard with the front
door, but with plenty of room (big lot), and the back of the garage
could be landscaped. Now, the driveway did "branch off": go straight and
then turn left into the garage, or split off left to go in front of the
house.

all that to say, there's a lot to think about with garages!

That is soooo common! And it comes from making decisions in a vacuum without considering the lot!

While we're on the topic, does anyone have any experience with a garage that's half underground, like this one?

My sister has some severe restrictions on her lot, and that would be the only way she could get a two-car garage in the space she has available with code the way it is. I've never met anyone with a garage dug down like that and arm wondering about water intrusion and any other difficulties I'm not thinking of. (Taking groceries up stairs is not an issue for her and her husband -- they'd rather have a two-car garage and take groceries up stairs than not have a two-car garage.)

It's a common solution where land is scarce, and housing costs are high, i.e., maximize the floor area ration on the available land. It has all the challenges you've identified plus more: structure, sizing and distribution of all the systems (HVAC, electrical, water, waste, etc), floor space taken up by stairs on each level and so on. For young, mobile and healthy families with good income it's often a good solution for housing in desirable areas. It's not a forever home!

We had one once, in a rainy climate. It was fine. There was a grate before the door to carry all the water away.

They can be fine. I've designed them before with no problems. A coupla things however. Be sure the trench drain (a linear drain right before the door) is large enough, clean it out (remove leaves, etc.) on a regular basis and at the curb be sure there's a rise in the drive apron so water coming down the street continues to go down the street as opposed to down your driveway. And you have to be careful with any "humps" so a typical car won't scrape bottom.

It makes the driveway steeper but if possible locate the trench drain as far away from the house as you can and have the drive rise up to the garage from there but your grades will dictate that.

We had one, it was halfway below grade. The driveway sloped down to it, which affected the size of vehicle we could put it in: when we bought a minivan, we got one without roof racks because otherwise they would hit the garage door as the car came in from above.

The PO had put in a trench with a grate, which we cleaned out every couple of years. But one huge rain did overwhelm it. A bit of water got into the garage, but not enough to damage anything.

We get snow and occasional ice here. One evening my folks drove over in their smallish car, it rained, which froze, and they couldn't back out! We took to parking our cars at the foot of the driveway if the weather called for freezing rain.

On the other hand, an almost identical house was built so that the driveway was flat, avoiding the above problems. One problem remained the same: the retaining walls were about the width of the garage, so parking in the driveway could mean having not much room to open the doors. I noticed that the new owners of our house widened the driveway, moving the walls out.

edited to add, ours was a split-level, so the garage opened to a mudroom, then the stairs were right by the mudroom-family room door, half-a-flight up to the kitchen, living, dining, and front door. It was fine, actually.

Thank you all for your feedback! I have passed it along to my sister.

ARG, when you said there should be a rise in the driveway apron, is this more or less what you meant?

Virgil Carter, you exactly described their situation -- not much land, high housing cost area, young family, not a forever home.

Yes, just make sure it's set up so a typical car (like a Corolla, not an SUV) will clear it when normally loaded (assume 4 people).

Jill I grew up in a house with a driveway like that. This was in Seattle. Never had any water problems. DS and his wife have a house with a driveway like that now. Also in Seattle. No water problems. As said above it has to be done right.