Post a scaled drawing of this in the Kitchen forum. Good help available.

The block is 31m wide from the front and this house design has a 15m width, others that we looked at were 12m and 13.5.....hence the wide comment

Good point about the shower maybe will just get powder room extended so looks bigger when you

The kitchen is a bit of concern to me as well, so was thinking to extend the island bench space and space where the stove is bt 1 m on both and keep the original pantry size so will look something like this.

If you're planning on selling this home before you reach retirement age, you might not need a master bedroom suite downstairs -- but a lot of us wouldn't want it without at least one bedroom and a full bath downstairs.

Perhaps you might reconsider your design with the objective of having different options for the use some room(s).

For instance, if you put the door entering the house from the garage in the center of the back of the garage, you could enter the house without going through the laundry room.

You could enter the house from the garage into an entry about a meter wide and two meters long.

From that back entry, you'd still keep a back hallway, just a shorter one AND, it could lead past a coat closet built beneath the stairs. On the other wall, between kitchen and back hall, in lieu of a powder room, you could put floor to ceiling shelves built into the wall that would serve as storage, decreasing the need for such a large butler's pantry. Your back hall would not be just "wasted hall space" it would be much needed storage, too.

From that back entry, the door to the right, perhaps a pocket door, could lead to your laundry room, with your washer and dryer both against the right exterior wall.

You could still have a door from the laundry room to the next room; however, with all the storage just around the corner from the kitchen, the room the door from the laundry room enters could be a full bath -- powder room with shower -- which would have a second door leading to the room in the right rear of the home that could be a game room or theater room or study, as you choose but, if ever needed, it could serve as a bedroom for those that might be no longer able to climb the stairs.

With all that additional storage just around the corner -- therefore, no longer needing the larger butler's pantry or a door to it, the nook for your refrigerator could be wider and you could place your refrigerator and freezer side by side.

You could create vertical drawers on each side of your refrigerator and your freezer and in between them.

You could still create a large deep closet between the wall on the right and the door that leads from the full bath that could be either a pantry or, if later needed to be, a clothes closet.

My personal opinion is that you would be better served using the space between the garage and the left exterior wall that, with the kitchen located in the center as it is, would create an "L" shaped a great room. The back left room could be a large combination theater/game room.

31M = 102 feet. Helps my US frame of reference.

The house is then 50 feet which is narrow from an US standpoint. That is the slight disconnect.

For me, at 100 feet, I favor a side entry garage. That way the garage is not visible from the street. But I live in an where we really hate front load garages. At 100 feet with non US sized cars, side entry is easy. Just a thought.

Is it typical to have houses half the lot width where you are?

The kitchen is horrible from a US view point. The fridge is way too far from the sink.

Looks to me like the OP is building in Australia, hence the metrics and calling the walk-in pantry a butler's pantry (pretty common here, I'm afraid- that's what mine was called on the plans too).

Australian kitchens aren't much different from American kitchens (maybe the ginormous fridges and stovetops aren't quite as common here) so this kitchen seems as poorly laid out to me as it does to an American. I don't get why the pantry is so huge relative to the kitchen space. I'd cut it back by half, still have a usable pantry with lots of storage, and a much better kitchen.

As for the garage, we ourselves have a narrow, deep house with a double garage in front, but our house is built on an inner city "block" (lot) with zero space on either side of the house (I'm not exaggerating - our garage is on the boundary line) so long and deep makes sense for us. Of course, it gives us no option with garage location - you see a lot of houses here built on brownfield sites with front loading garages so it isn't necessarily a problem, but I agree it isn't the best if you have a bigger, squarer lot offering more options.

And I'm wondering what the orientation is for this house - ie where is north? - because that matters. I wouldn't want this house if the top of the plan is facing west, for example.

Yes I am building in Australia, the other option that we can look at is this design

Front of house is East and back is west.........concerns there??

Yes, I think there are concerns about the orientation. The back of the house is going to get the afternoon sun, and you know how glaringly hot that can be in Sydney. It can make those rooms with windows to the west unliveable in the afternoon because in summer at least, the light comes in at a very low angle, so even roof overhangs and shade sales don't always work to block out the glare. Unless you have an actual spotted gum forest protecting the west, you may have some big issues with heat and glare. Also, if the back on both plans is west, that means north is on the right side of both plans, so the best daytime light is going to the garage and the windowless butler's pantry when it should be going to living areas. At the very least, I'd consider reversing the plan.

We actually are going to flip the plan so the garage will be on the left. I do get the concern about the late afternoon sun at the back........cant change the land though so will need to come up with Plan B for that. Looking at the comments above it does sound like will have to change the design to the second option as the kitchen will be in proportion with rest of the areas and will flow into dining better and island bench will be better utilised with bar stool etc on it......Not sure what to do with the massive STORE are next to the stairs though

Hi singhc1979, I did a little sketch of a different kitchen design on your other thread. I'm no expert though, but it is what I would prefer.

I like plan 1 better than 2, personally.

How long do you plan to live in this home? I see no way to accommodate aging in place. If you or a family gets injured and can't climb stairs, the house won't allow you to recover at home. If you left the full bathroom on the main floor, the home office could be a temporary bedroom for an elderly guest or for recovery.

Thanks, Linsey saw the kitchen sketch.....what leans you towards Plan 1.....

And since there are no bedrooms on the first level, why is there a laundry there?

And with a rumpus, leisure, dining, home theater, store and guest/office on the first floor, it looks like you really can't make up your mind exactly what you want to do on the first floor and are paying a lot of money to construct a bunch of questionable spaces...

Is this really how you live?

PS: what's a rumpus room?

Other names for rumpus room are den, rec room, family room

Virgil - a lot of Australians line-dry their clothes, so having a laundry on the ground floor is pretty common here. I didn't have a dryer at all in our last house, and the one in our new house gets used maybe once a week for towels. Pretty much everything else goes out on the clothesline. (Hubby doesn't want any of his stuff going into a dryer - sob - on the other hand, he hangs 90% of the laundry out).

Things I like better about plan 1 (with a revised kitchen)

-no galley kitchen. Galleys are fine when required. Not when there is ample space available to avoid one.

-the location of the laundry in relation to the kitchen and bathroom. I like to hang dry my clothes and my understanding is that is common in Australia too. Having the laundry close to the kitchen means I can do my laundry as I do other household chores and cooking. And having it on the first floor with access to the yard makes line drying a breeze. Pun intended lol.

-plan 2 has a storage room that you say you will have to figure out a use for. I don't want to pay for a space that I have to invent a purpose for, especially storage. Having enough storage is vital. Having too much means you're likelier to acquire and keep things you have no use for.

-the powder room/bathroom in 1 is in a better spot for access by guests and access from outdoor spaces.

The storage by the stairs in plan 2 seems really awkward. It would be more convenient if you swapped the storage area with the laundry room. That way you could just pop up and down the stairs to wash your clothes (although having a second floor laundry would be even better).

Kind of curious about the home theater room... Is that a standard part of this plan, or was it something you added on? Does everyone in Oz have their own private home theater (maybe I should think about moving?)

Our house has a "home theater" - it's actually just a square room with very narrow windows to keep it dark - we have the TV in there, sitting on an entertainment unit, plus a wall of bookcases, two good chairs and a coffee table. It doesn't have theatre type seating or those ghastly puffy sofas with built in cup holders - and it isn't hard wired for sound (does anyone do that any more?).

Interesting about hanging clothes. I was going to mention the laundry location too. But I get it now IF that is the plan and IF you have a laundry chute!! I also would not want my laundry to be a pass-through. It gets messy enough without filling with shoes and backpacks. And I like to be able to close the door on it when I don't want to think about it, not see it every time I walk in the door. You have lots of space let's give he laundry a better spot.

The pass through laundry is really good when you're hanging clothes out because you don't have to backtrack when you're going out with wet clothes.

I understand the door outside from the laundry. But I would move the door from the garage to the left, so one doesn't go through the laundry coming on from the garage.

I also think the garage is too narrow (19.5 feet). Are Australian cars a lot smaller than in the US?

I'd like to see the upstairs. I share the concerns about having so many living spaces, especially adjacent ones - I think it might make more sense to put a bedroom on the first floor, and move a living area upstairs.

How many people will live here? How old are the kids (if any)?

On the other thread, it was mentioned that this OP has a large extended family and entertains often. So the varied living areas makes sense to me given that lifestyle (which I share, and I find having different gathering spaces to be priceless).

That western sun is going to be brutal. You'd be better off finding an L shaped plan where the majority of the space faces north/south like mentioned above. Or how about an H shaped plan?

Yeah during family gatherings we have 3 main groups...kids, teenagers and adults so having separate entertaining areas comes in handy

Most of the home designs in Australia nowadays come with a separate home theatre or media room as a standard. I will end up wiring it up for a HT as that's the setup I had in my old house as well

Access to outside from Laundry is a must in Aussie homes as we dry most of the stuff outside and dryer is used rarely.

Upstairs plan below

Ok as Annkh mentioned the laundry w access to the side but not garage, WITH a laundry chute (better yet a dumb waiter to send it back up!)

For entertaining though I would not want a galley kitchen. All hands on deck. I also find all of the entertaining spaces odd but I get it. I might be tempted to put the rumpus upstairs but kids want to be where the action is. Will the garage act as a mud room? Hooks and lockers are KEY

Not to get too personal, but from your name it sounds like you're Desi. If you entertain "your large extended family" often, you know that means everyone is in the kitchen all the time. You can't keep the aunties and chachis out if you tried! A galley kitchen is much too small for that. You need to move the door to the butlers pantry over next to the media alcove and extend the kitchen counter into an L-shape. Put the sink on the perimeter wall, and leave the island for seating and serving.

Also, if you want to keep the fridge inside the pantry, you need to move it closer to the door for easier access.

If you are still considering the first plan, you could move the pantry wall back a bit, and make an entry into the kitchen and recess the fridge into the pantry. It would be more convenient for your work layout, and very convenient for anyone coming from the game room. Click to enlarge:

Alternate garage door location:

I like that mammagoose. Definitely fridge goes in the triangle. I have a strong dislike for kitchen sinks in islands. I don't know about your kitchen sink but mine is where all of the dirty dishes go after and during the meal. I would not want to look at that on the island while I was eating. I also don't want to look at people while I'm doing dishes. Unfortunately you don't have a window over where I would put your sink (swapped out with the range) which is my preference.

Possible L-shape layout, which gives you more space on the island and moves the sink to the perimeter. I couldn't put your fridge in the kitchen, but it's at least closer to the sink.

ETA: Just realized that if you turned the fridge so it's against the short wall you would have room to put shelves on all three walls of the pantry.

The thing about open plans, is if someone really likes the open concept, they usually want a sink on the island, whether it's the clean-up sink, or the prep sink, because they want to face the kids, or the guests sitting at the island, or face the action in the living areas.

Does the DW go under the drainboard of the sink? Where would you store dishes, if the clean-up sink is on the perimeter?

If there is space for the DW on the perimeter, as NJ Mom drew the layout, then consider a prep sink on the island. More time is spent prepping than cooking and doing dishes. Helpers can also use the second sink, when you entertain. I like the idea of two sinks for that reason--you can be prepping or cooking, and a helper can be loading or unloading the DW, or gathering dishes to set the table, but that works better if the zones don't cross. In the layout I posted above, the zones are separate. All the prep/cooking is on one side of the kitchen, and DW/dish storage is on the other side. If the DW is on the perimeter pantry wall, then the cook will need to pass through the clean-up zone to get to the fridge.

I wouldn't want the fridge in the pantry, but if you do, singhc, then perishables could be gathered at the beginning of prep and taken to the sink on the island. I'd probably forget the butter, or decide I had space in the skillet for another carrot, so I'd be stuck traipsing back and forth.

For plan one what about something like this for the kitchen? It's a bit different but what I like is you'd be getting natural light instead of it being blocked off. The sink wall could be all windows