My first thought is that the fridge is too far from the sink and stove. I don't think that the size of the kitchen is necessarily the problem, though making it smaller would likely fix the problem. How large is the house and how long is the kitchen wall with the sink on it?

I assumed the galleria was the outdoor space.

Yes, "Galleria" is indoors. I think that in USA it would be called something like an indoor porch? However, all the red lines in the plan below are sliding glass doors, so the idea is that whenever it's a shiny and not too hot day, we can just open up the area to have it almost as a fully "outdoor" place. Regarding the extra outdoor courtyard eating area: thats what the Galleria basically is. The orange box in the plan below is the grill. I have put the names of the areas in english now for better understanding.

Below are the pictures we use for inspiration so that you get an idea:

Emily, galleria is closed with glass sliding doors as you can see above. Regarding measurements, I will upload a plan in a few minuteswith all the measurements in feet. Thanks!

I don't find the kitchen too big, but I do find it poorly laid out. You have the sink and stove almost next to each other and then the refrigerator so far away. Usually when cooking you get stuff from the fridge and rinse and use the fridge and then chop/prep near a sink and near a stove. So in your plan you'd be doing a long walk to the fridge, then work between the sink and the stove and not really use any of the other counter space.

What is it that you like about the current arrangement?

Hi Lyfia. I forgot to mention that the current arrangement of the kitchen is just not final or representative of what we want/need. We asked the architect to just wait on the kitchen final arrangement so that we could get research more on what would be more useful to us. Taking into account that you consider the kitchen to be the right size (and layout?), what would you recommend the distribution to be like?

Also, below goes the plan with most measurements in feet (the ones in red are in feet), the rest in meters.

Luis, I'm in Canada and am wondering what you mean by "nordic design" when it comes to architecture. Also, since you live in Paraguay, where as you note "doing barbecues is a weekly thing", I'm wondering why you selected "nordic design" rather than a design more suitable to your location and climate?

Whether it's too big or not depends on how, and how many of you, will be using it. For some very good help for the kitchen, I'd recommend looking at the Kitchen forum. This post, New to Kitchens? Read Me First! is a great place to start.

I like it!

What is the purpose of the maids' kitchen? Will they be preparing food for the family?

Dear Becky, by nordic design I mean "scandinavian interior design", in the sense of minimalism, clean lines, highly functional spaces, light colors, lots of natural light. The design style we selected is because we like to have lots of glass with minimal standard brick frames. I understand that lots of glass walls and windows are not necessarily a good thing in a hot country, but we have decided to invest in proper insulation, double glass where possible, and air conditioning. All glass windows/walls will have roller curtains that will be automated to open and close depending on the temperature to mitigate too much heat inside the house. Thanks for the article you mention, I will definitely look at it tomorrow!

Summit Studio Architects, the maids kitchen will be used by the maids to cook for the family or guests when we don't want to use the gourmet/main kitchen.

How does one get food from the maid's kitchen to where the family will be eating the food from the maid's kitchen?

Are you applying the same philosophy with the bathrooms?

Hi Mark. Please take a look at the following picture. Red line shows the path the maids would take to get food from and to the living room or dining room.

Blue line is the path the guests would take to go from the living and dining area to the bathroom.

Green line is to show the bathroom that the guests in the BBQ area will use. Also this bathroom would be used by people in the pool (the pool would be built next to the BBQ area).

The yellow areas are the maids bathroom and bedroom respectively.

Definitely need to ask this: why is the garage on the front? Wouldn't it be nicer to have entry away from garage and on side with living and dining room?

Colonialgp has a great point. Not only is the garage on the front, but it is the most prominent, forward part of the structure. Why!!!??? It's just car storage room.

Plus, your front door is tucked in virtually out of sight in a nasty little cave between the garage and a stairwell. Why??

Why are the two most prominent features of the front of your house nothing but service structures?

I think it's cool you have a bike room. May I ask how many bikes you have?

Dear colonialgp and tatts, thanks a lot for your comments. Where would you put the garage? Our idea was to have something that looks similar to this:

The entry door would look towards the internal garden (all glass), and the stairwell will also feature glass.

I forgot to mention that the entire land would be walled too. What are your ideas regarding what you would feature the most in the front of the house?

Dear designhome, would you please elaborate on what you find appaling and excessive?

Dear Jennifer, I have 4 bikes, but 3 would stay inside hanged to the wall. I practice adventure racing so I have quite a lot of equipment to keep in that room apart from the bikes.

I am concerned about the indoor garden being under 3 meters. In a two story home it seems like you should try to get as close to 4 meters as you can.

I don't really see the need for the shower in the powder room.

The picture illustrates a carport more than a garage. It looks like this is going to be an expensive house and not just a suburban mcmansion, so possibly rethink the storing of cars and consider a detached garage away from front door, which should be a prominent feature.

The difference between your plan and your inspiration photo is the carport in the inspiration photo is tucked back behind the front entry. In your plans, the first thing you'll see is the garage doors and as stated, the front door is what is tucked away.

I see your lot, like mine, is not that large. Are you on a corner lot? If so that opens up a few possibilities.

Also what do the elevations for your house look like?

I think what you are attempting is very interesting, but of course, it is something that very few people on GW would be familiar with. Walled properties, maid's rooms and kitchens, indoor garden room. Most of us are in the US or Canada, and most of us would have a hard time finding Paraguay on a map!

I love your inspiration photos. Are you able to use YouTube on your computer in Paraguay? If so, find the British series called Grand Designs. It has some pretty amazing contemporary architecture such as you envision. Of course, the climate is totally different, but with insulated glass, many things are possible.

If you have maids and often have them cooking when you entertain, I think I might have an enclosed kitchen instead of two kitchens. The walk from the maid's kitchen to the area where you and your guests will dine, is a LONG way. Perhaps you could find a way to have a moveable wall that separates the eating and living/dining space so it can be open when you're dining en famille but closed when the maids are involved? I think I saw such on a house that was part of the 2017 House of the Year competition - it's a 4 part series on YouTube as part of the Grand Designs show.

If you can, watch it. If you watch it on your computer (I watch on my TV using ApplePlay), you can take screen shots to show to your architect when you find a feature you like. For anyone who loves/appreciates great design, this series is a feast for the eyes! I'm simply amazed at the creativity shown. Good luck!

It is a unique home designed to meet your unique needs and desires, unlike many designs offered up for critique here on Houzz, making it difficult to make comments without knowing all the design criteria or program. Rely on your architect to make it "perfect".

I spent quite a big chunk of my childhood living in Argentina, with a similar culture and lifestyle to Paraguay. We also had a live in housekeeper with her own bedroom and bathroom, but years ago people did not entertain in their kitchens, so there was only one kitchen, which was a separate room with doors.

It seems the open concept house, with most of the action taking place in the kitchen, has also become a concept for those in some areas of South America, hence the need for 2 kitchens.

Did you know that many of the mainland Chinese immigrants with larger homes also have 2 kitchens. The second kitchen is quite small and called a Wok kitchen. All the greasy/smoky cooking is done there. You will see these quite often in CA.

Since the parilla is going in an "indoor" room you will need to use a vent hood above it to remove smoke and grease. I miss a good asado de tira and mollejas!

Any plans for a basement? We had one under part of the house in Buenos Aires and it was a great space for storage and my father had a small workshop set up for himself. The floor in the entry was glass block which let light into the basement area. It was a very modern house at that time.

You could do much better with closet placement in the bedrooms and storage (pantry, linen closet, utility closet). The maids room needs a closet. What are you storing in room "deposito"? I know that in many area of South America closets are done as furniture pieces that buyers will add after they buy a house, but since you are building it would make sense to build them into the plan.

I am curious how such a servants' kitchen works. Does it mean two full sets of kitchen equipment and ingredients? I would find that irritating as the thyme or baking powder or muffin tins would always be in the other kitchen. When my family lived in Philippines, custom was a multi-station closed kitchen with a separate scullery which also served as maids sitting area and spillover for our grandbabies during parties. Laundry was in an adjacent semi-outdoor service area that was domain of the non-resident lavandera and gardeners, who did not have access to house. That worked well. For myself, when I'm the cook, I would prefer the open "owners" kitchen as a part of the barbecue area, but it really would depend on exactly what the owner wants to cook as a social activity. Pastry vs just main course & salads?

I also think it would be worthwhile as part of the planning process to consult a landscape person re: the enclosed interior garden. It could be spectacular, but too often they aren't.

I like your overall design as is. For the kitchen layout I would like to see a larger scale drawing with lots of dimensions. That will get us focused in on that portion of your build. A lighting layout too if you've got one. On another note info on your offroad bikes would be interesting if you have pictures and time.

Hi Samarnn, you're right in saying that a lot of appliances and utensils are going to be duplicated. However, as we currently live in a pretty small house we already have all the appliances for the maids kitchen. The idea of the maids kitchen is to cook more basic food and only once or twice a week. My wife and I love cooking so we cook most days.

Reading quite a lot of the kitchen forum I have come up with some ideas that I would like to share with you. Please let me know what you think. They go below:

(Dan, I will find photos of my bikes and post them here, but one is a Giant anthem x carbon 29 and the other is a Specialized epic carbon 29. Both of them are 1x11 and have been upgraded on pretty much every front).

Mrv- mine is a Trek carbon Superfly 9.8 with wide carbon rims. They've made a good improvement. I'm looking forward to finding a fast rolling 2.6 x 29 tire for a front.

Your layout can be improved with getting the prep sink near the frig. Where you've got it there's less usability. And the pantry location takes away from counter space to use the main sink for prep when taking things from the frig. Of course with that counter space you wouldn't need the prep sink.

Post your kitchen plan in the kitchen forum