How many people in your family? What part of the country are you in? Which way is North? What is your property like?

You and a local architect can do better.

I think both of them have a large central hallway with a fireplace, through which everyone will travel to go everywhere. If you put furniture in that space it will always be askew from people bumping into it or kids (and adults) leaping or climbing over it.

Thanks bpathome.

Besides what bpathome have said, what's wrong with these plans?

We have 5 people. I'm located in Texas. I know the ideal entry is to face north but lets not take that into consideration.

I wouldn't like either one. I don't like the big, cavernous, informal, open, noisy central area. Will your furniture fit well into this space? And will you have room to easily travel through it to get to other areas of the house? It's one big open Grand Central Station.

Hey, you asked.

Besides what bpathome have said, what's wrong with these plans?

Ideally, houses should be 1-1.5 rooms deep (including covered porches and garages), with 2 being the absolute max. Once you hit 2.5+, natural light has a difficult time making its way to interior spaces.

I'm located in Texas. I know the ideal entry is to face north but lets not take that into consideration.

Fellow Texas dweller here, and I beg you to reconsider orientation! It gets dang hot here! :-D

Can you elaborate on 1-1.5 rooms deep? Sorry, I'm new to this.

Yes, I'm here to hear what others have to say about these plans and I'm open to ideas.

You don't think 18x20' is big enough for family room? We like to gather in the family room and that's where we spend most of our time together as a family.

Are there any wasted space that you see?

In a recent home review, I was struck by the final commentary from the architect Omar Gandhi: “The materiality, form, and siting are all intrinsically connected to the local condition.”

Designing a home around a floorplan drawn with no relation to location, lot size features and views, elevations, style and budget is an exercise in futility. But, yep, it's cheaper than spending money on professional design when, heck, anyone with a pencil knows how to draw a house.

The nook in the first plan is pretty useless given it's width of 8' and the need for a walkway into the game room. You'll end up with a space of about 6 x 8. The kitchen lacks storage space like so many similarly designed kitchens. I do appreciate the game room space given the family size.

So the plans are pretty different in width. So they don't make sense at all to compare. One requires a 110 foot wide lot while the other could fit on 80. In my world, that is a huge difference. It would make no sense to have the first plan on a 110 foot wide lot and it would look silly next to the homes that take full advantage of the width.

Now if you have acreage, then neither plan makes any sense at all.

So are you in a subdivision or on acreage? That is the first question in the conversation not looking at plans with rooms drawn. If subdivision, then what is your buildable width taking into account lot width and setbacks? What are surrounding houses like?

Neither kitchen has good storage.

Living room is small because the walls are hallways so the furniture needs to float. In the first plan, one dimension is 16 feet which is ok but you would never put a couch up against the island so you lose 3 feet. Now it is 13 feet. The couch is just under 3 feetin depth. Now you are 10 feet from the fireplace which is tight for an open plan. I am currently sitting in a 16x20 living room. Not open - couches against the wall - feels fine.

Ignoring orientation and light is not an option. I am building a house with a west facing backyard in NC. The entire plan is designed to maximize southern exposure and limit the west.

This is the family room and kitchen for one of the plans above.

Don't get sucked in by the coffered ceilings and finishes. Also - note that EVERYTHING here is designed to reflect light. I would be willing to bet that these photos were "enhanced" to increase the light.

Yes. That's true. Can you provide some example of good floor plans?

Also, they're taken with a wide-angle lens, which warps perspective and makes things feel more spacious.

Can you elaborate on 1-1.5 rooms deep? Sorry, I'm new to this.

OK, so look at the first plan. Count the rooms across the center: Bedroom, living room, kitchen, bath/bedroom. 4 rooms deep.

We can be generous with the bottom one and go from top to bottom: porch, living room, entry, porch. Still four rooms.

Light doesn't penetrate that far. So, professional photography aside (and the use of all white, shiny finishes plus an applied "lightroom action" to further brighten the exposure) both houses will be dark.

If you're building on acreage, look for plans that are long and lean. Or, I, T, or H shaped - these shapes give more rooms windows to let light into the house and keep it feeling bright than you'll get from a big square with bump-outs.

As to layouts - both plans have closets accessed through bathrooms, which is a deal-killer for me. Both from the moisture aspect AND from the "I don't want to have to go past my husband using it to get to my closet and vice versa" aspect.

Neither nook is terribly useful, though the second is nearer the mark. Look at the REALLY narrow table they staged that photo with, because you have to account for the doorswing AND travel space behind the chairs to get to it.

Does either utility room have enough space to contain the debris field from your childrens' comings and goings? Or is their stuff going to mostly land in the kitchen? (Or get dumped off in the hallway to the master)

The first plan has no coat closet. Does that bother you?

Anywhere there are angles, there is wasted space.

In particular, angled fireplaces do make it harder to arrange furniture, so give THAT some thought.

Neither living room will FEEL as large as dimensioned, once you factor in room to walk through it to get from one place to another. Especially factoring in using stools at the island.

Personally, I really hate the location of the master suite on the second plan. It's plunked into an area of the house where everybody is coming and going, AND guests must go right past that door to get to the powder room. No thank you. (In fact, I suspect most will use the bathroom between bedrooms three and four because it's just more convenient to the living room.

I suppose the first plan is infinitesimally better. But the 4th bedroom has the garage on one wall and the W&D on another. That seems loud.

I think you can do better.

You don't think 18x20' is big enough for family room? We like to gather in the family room and that's where we spend most of our time together as a family.

Are there any wasted space that you see?

Yes lots of wasted space and the room sizes are not what they seem.

Here in the first plan, I drew in red the walkways to get to other rooms or to get to a door to get outside, or to a closet. These need to be a minimum of 3' and 42" is better. 3' is tight feeling.

Notice how much of the house is taken up with walkways? So for example. The living room which says it's 16' x 22' really isn't.

The 22' is really only 15'-16' deep because of pathways. However the width is even worse. First you have the fireplace wall which takes up 1'6" right there. Ideally behind a seating area at a counter you need 5' of walking space between the counter and for example your sofa. So now the 16' width has been reduced to 9'6". (16' - 5' - 1'6" = 9'6")

Even if you skimp and make the area behind the island 4', that still only leaves you with a living room width to put furniture of 10'6". Considering a sofa or large chair is 3' deep, that now leaves you with a space that is only 6'6" from the fireplace or again if skimping on the space between island and sofa 7'6".

Similarly, the nook which says it's 10' x 8' isn't. You'll lose 3' because of the door to the porch so the 8' is now only 5'. However the loss because of the pathway to the game room is even worse. It's not a loss of 3' like someone above suggested. It's almost double because those are double doors. Assuming those double doors are 5' wide, then the space for the nook is only 5' x 5'. A very small table is 3' x 3' so where is the seating room?

The living room will not be 20' wide but will be 17' wide. Still not shabby though. However the 18' width again you need 5' between seating and island countertops so now your width is down to 13' wide. Plus you will have the problem of how to lay out furniture with a corner fireplace. Corner fireplaces are a bear to lay out furniture in.

And again with the nook. the nook will not be 10' but 7' wide and the length will not be 12' but 9' wide. 7' x 9' is doable for a small table and chairs.

One thing you haven't told us is how big is your property. These two plans are meant for suburban lots and not if you have acreage.

If you're building on acreage, look for plans that are long and lean. Or, I, T, or H shaped

Add to that a U or L shaped plan too.

This is the family room and kitchen for one of the plans above.

Yes that's the second plan with the angled fireplace. Notice how behind the sofa is lots of wasted space because of how they had to arrange the sofas to take advantage of the fireplace?

As Holly mentioned the camera is distorting the photos too. Notice in the second photo, how the area to the right for the fridge looks like it would fit a 60" wide fridge, yet the plans only spec a standard 36" fridge?

This is most likely going to be in a suburban area. We don't want to build too big of a house and frankly can't afford it. It shouldn't be bigger than 2600 sqft.

Add to that a U or L shaped plan too.

My alphabet was a bit short today. :-) Even the "I" remark would make more sense if Houzz used serif font.

There's a lot of wasted space in the master bedrooms and bathrooms. The bedrooms are nearly as big as the living rooms! And all that floor space in the middle of the bathrooms.

Neither house has much storage at all. The third garage bay and the similarly-sized game room, are your choices for "stuff": out-of-season clothes (unless you live south of the Woodlands of course), seasonal decor, bikes, sports gear, etc.