You’d be better off finding an actual architect to work with instead of the builders designer

Which way is the house oriented for north/south?

Overall, though I really love it! I think this is one of the best and most functional house designs I've seen on Houzz. That pantry/prep area is amazing and I really like the location of your playroom! The comments I have below are more preference than anything else.

On things to change, I feel like your master bath is not super functional. I've never understood master baths that have two doors since it seems to just limit the amount of usable space you have. Given how big the rest of your house is, too, I feel like your shower in the master bath is a bit small. I would nix one of the doors and rearrange that master bath so you can have a much nicer shower.

On the ground floor, you might consider making that powder room into a 3/4 bath by taking out a bit of space from one of the offices. That way, for future resale, someone could use one of the offices as a bedroom, since most people don't need 2 offices. Given the size of this house, I wouldn't just do a powder room in the ground floor.

The layout on the kitchen is a bit wide --- you'd be doing a lot of walking to get from the sink to anywhere else in the kitchen. Personally, I don't want my sink too far from my fridge and my range but that's just me.

Gorgeous home and great use of all that space!

I want office b to have a door to the hallway where the bathroom is.

Also, instead of the jack and Jill bathroom for bedrooms 3 & 4, make that bathroom open to the hallway. Now you have a guest bathroom that can accommodate the folks in the ‘bonus room.’ The bonus room will become either the oldest kid’s room or a guest room, so you’ll need bathroom access.

I love the prep pantry.

I second Akila’s idea to make the first floor bath a full bath with shower. People love an option for a first floor bedroom.

If relocating the fireplace is an option, perhaps you'd consider making it a free-standing, see-through fireplace and position it between the great room and family/dining.

This will give some definition to the two spaces but also maintain an open floor plan. Additionally, you have the opportunity to have an additional fireplace directly above in the master suite (at minimal cost).

Good luck with your build!

I would want 1 bedroom and a full bath downstairs. What happens if you get injured/surgery/ can't climb stairs? Perhaps, you have an elderly houseguest who can't handle the stairs? I also wouldn't want to have to go into the bathroom to get to my closet. What happens if the shower springs a leak and floods your closet?

I would also swap the coat closet and the entry to Office B so that both offices open next to the bathroom and the coat closet is near the actual entry. I would also consider adding a shower to the powder bath so if you need a full first floor bathroom (say if someone breaks a foot/ankle/leg and can't navigate stairs for awhile), you have it.

I would eliminate the "grand foyer" and make that space on the second floor a nice nook. A two story space in the foyer, especially with no other spaces of similar scale in the house, just looks cheesy.

In contrast to others, I don't like the prep kitchen/pantry. If you eliminate this you can push back the kitchen and get wonderful windows on two sides and great light. Right now the kitchen window looks out to a covered space, so it won't be particularly bright. If you push back the kitchen into the pantry/prep space you could have lovely windows with lots of light, and you would have generous space for pantry cabinets. You could also eliminate the kitchen bump-out in that case, if you wanted.

I agree that suite 3 and 4 would be better off sharing a hall access bath.

I would want to rework the entire master suite so that 1) the closet isn't accessed off the bathroom, 2) the space was flipped so the closet and bathroom were between the master and suite 4, and 3) the master bedroom could have windows on two sides.

I would make sure there's access to the space under the stairs for storage.

Add windows on two sides to all the bedrooms and the offices.

Who will live in the house? Kids? Ages? Do you work from home or homeschool?

Does the house have a basement? Room to store off-season gear and decor?

In Michigan, you need a coat closet in the foyer.

The steps from the garage are right in the middle of the vehicle. Will the open car door hit the steps? Will anyone trip on the steps as they walk around the car? When everyone is getting or out at the same time, will the door and steps placement impede them?

How will you use the prep/pantry? If you use it for any prep, and I’m trying to imagine what you‘d prep there, I’d have a sink and maybe a dishwasher drawer.

I like the two routes out of the mud room. Do you think you’d want an outside door for the mud room? Or will you typically use the garage? Will you have a hose handy to wash off muddy shoes, and a place to hang dripping gloves and hats?

Over by the offices, yes to adding a shower to the bath. And remove the hall closet, add a door for Office B, and if it needs a closet, add some storage under the stairs. And, “flip” the bathroom so that the door isn’t right in line with the hall, and so that the toilet isn’t visible from the hall.

Make the jack n Jill bath upstairs a hall bath.

Add windows to the sides of the bedrooms.

The master bath. Big. Do you do your own housework?

Do you have elevations?

I don't think the overall layout is bad but here are 3 particularly troublesome areas:

1. ALL the bathrooms are poorly designed. I mean next level poorly designed. There is NO individual storage of counter room in the J&J bath. Kids will hate that. Nowhere to really get ready, park a toothbrush, put on makeup, style hair, etc. In the other suite - same thing. The master seems to be designed for the door to smack both occupants in the side of the head if they are brushing their teeth / washing their face when someone else needs to come in. Terrible sink placement. The circular flow, open closet, multiple doors and entrances are dizzying and have left you with a small "Star Trek" transporter shower that will be too small for the space and dump humidity into your closet. It's also a really large space with virtually no natural light. :-(
2. The closets too - if you hang clothes in the WIC's in the other "suites" - you will have 1) WAY LESS rom that you think as only one rod can to the wall in the corner and 2) lose the ability to have the WI part of the WIC. The actual linear foot of usable space is really tiny.
3. Windows seem to have been doled out begrudgingly instead of focusing on ways to provide natural light and cross ventilation. Are you on a zero lot line piece of land where you are only a few feet away from your neighbor? If not, it's a cost "savings" that isn't worth it - focus on natural lighting.

I agree with the comments about the bathrooms (upstairs and down). Notice that none of the bathrooms has adequate storage. For sure ditch the Jack and Jill bath and the 2-story foyer.

I definitely agree with Kristin about the kitchen. And unless you have a full basement, you don't have nearly enough storage.

You're missing a lot of opportunities to put windows on 2 walls in bedrooms. I think the master should go in the corner - that seems like the prime location upstairs.

One last thing - 21' x 30' is not very big for a 3-car garage. My garage is 22' x 22', and it's just barely big enough for a Jeep Grand Cherokee, a minivan, and some storage along the wall. Will you have 3 cars? Where will you put bikes, lawn mower, snow blower? With a side-load garage, where will guests park, and will they be able to find the front door?

The mud room/WIC looks like a bottleneck to me, especially if you have children. A pocket door would help - notice you have to go in and close the door to use the W/D.

Most important of all, however, is the information you didn't provide. What is your lot like? What are your views? Which way does the house face? One shouldn't just plop a generic house plan onto a lot without considering sun, slope, and views.

I think you could do a lot better with an architect designing a house for you to live in. It seems like this plan was more designed for the convenience of the builder.

Overall, I like. But. The rooms with two exterior walls - there should be windows on both of those walls. Otherwise it looks rather forced into pre-planned faux housing.

You have enough space there to ditch the Jack and Jill bath - and get more bath space for cabinetry etc - by having the bath accessible from the hall instead. Jack and Jills really don't add to the features of a home.

Where are your directions, and what might be a best view direction, if any?

Is there a reason to want an "open to below" space in the house? Such a thing will bring more noise up to anyone sleeping nearby upstairs.

I also quite like it but would change:

- master bathroom entirely. Too many doors

- no Jack/Jill bath make hall bath

- like Kirsten I'm not a fan of the pantry nor the two floor entrance because of noise travel

- would add a closet in entry

I disagree that the location of the stairs in garage is bad. It is the side isn't it? I"m assuming this is a multiple car garage...

I would square off all the little jogs in the house, e.g. push in the kitchen jut-out, or pull the whole house out to be even with it.

Enlarge office A by squaring it off. That will give you room for a shower.

The kitchen could have windows on 2 sides if it were in the corner. The windowless pantry should be in the dark middle of the house.

Architect.

Random thoughts:

- Two offices and a playroom -- you have specific thoughts on how you'd use all these living spaces?

- You have a great deal of half-height space under that large, expensive switch-back stair. You should add shorty doors to access this for storage ... it could open into one of the offices OR into the small hallway leading to the office.

- Note that the exterior has jigs-and-jogs that're driving up the price /forcing the roofline to odd shapes ... but those things don't add to the livability of the house.

- Mudroom looks very functional ... but it is going to be dark. What about making the current mudroom into a walk-through closet, which would serve both the front entrance and the garage entrance. And put the mudroom into what is now the walk-in closet, which would allow the mudroom a window.

- Love a large pantry ... I'd want a swinging door in this space. This set-up allows for windows in the pantry, but light is an enemy to food storage. Again, what if the current mudroom because a walk-through pantry (placing it in the middle of the house /in the dark) and the current pantry could be a giant mudroom with reach-in closets against the kitchen wall.

- Hate the master bath ... all that wasted space and only one bitty window? It'll be so dark.

- Not loving the other bathrooms either: In the J&J, the kids'll have to squeeze by the toilet to get into the tub. I agree with other posters that a simple hall bath would be more functional. None of the sinks have any storage space. I've lived with that sink, and I'll never have it again. Ask yourself where the kids could place a hamper, a trash can, etc.

- The laundry would be better on an exterior wall so that the dryer could vent directly to the outside.

- I'd open a second door into the large master closet so you could move clean /dirty clothes straight into the laundry room without walking through the bath and the bedroom. In a closet this size (do you really need a closet this size?), two doors isn't outrageous.

Right now the kitchen window looks out to a covered space, so it won't be particularly bright.

OP, will this be true? The lanai is marked optional.

Windows seem to have been doled out begrudgingly instead of focusing on ways to provide natural light and cross ventilation.

Windows are not a strong point here, and that will matter.

With a side-load garage, where will guests park, and will they be able to find the front door

This is true. Side-entry garages aren't guest-friendly. Imagine a guest pulls up next to your garage. That person must now walk aroooounnnd the garage -- with no view of the front door. Uncomfortable.

I also agree that this is really a 2 1/2 car garage with three doors.

Which way is north, what do the elevations look like and how does the house fit on the lot? A plan isn't designed in isolation

I agree with others about adding a shower to the bath downstairs. You can put extra guests in the office when needed, or when an injury happens and you need a temporary solution without stairs. It will also add tremendously to your resale value. I would change the windows in the master bedroom so you have two windows on the far sides with a bed to fit between them. Otherwise you are forced to put the bed against a shared wall or the bathroom wall. Lots of wasted space in the master. Redesign the space so both sinks are near a window, the shower is larger, and the walkways are minimized. You don't need two doors to open and close. For the bathroom between bedrooms 3 and 4, put a door just on the toilet and shower, and have two vanities together with one door for the main space. That minimizes all the doors and is just as functional. I would also find a way to add a small closet near the front door for guests, whether under the stairs, or as part of the first office. Otherwise, your guests coats have to go all the way into your house, and through your mudroom to reach a closet. If you put the closet into an office, that qualifies as an official bedroom, and also enhances the value of your home.

Ground floor:

You have a "gallery"...with no walls!

No closet anywhere near the "grand foyer".

A small front porch.

Second floor:

Something over the front porch labeled "open to below". How can that be? Below is a porch--exterior space.

No sound isolation between the master suite and suite #4. The kid in suite #4 will be traumatized by the noises his parents make. That wall needs a full-length closet on it.

The master bath is a dog's breakfast of conflicting doors and walkways.

The only--only--way to get to the closet is through the bathroom. Yuck. Run the master bath along the outside wall and the closet along the hallway, with entrances from the bedroom, hallway, and bath (if you must).

How do you plan to vent the dryer in that location?

Look at the path from the laundry to the master closet.

Double doors into the master suite. Really?

The jack & jill bathrooms.

You're spending money for a 3600 SF house and have 4 rooms with no real plans for use (2 offices, playroom, bonus room. Did you win the lottery?

Get an architect.

"I’m a new home buyer building a 'custom' home with a Michigan builder."

No, this is not a custom home. This is a tract home for which the builder has a pre-established list of changes that can be made.

i am curious what "custom" home means.

I like this floor plan a lot.

I'm not a fan of open concept so would do more of a cased opening between family room and dining room.

Definitely no two story foyer for me.

And totally agree about making the downstairs bathroom a full bath.

I would totally buy a house with this floor plan but I would add a LOT more windows.

I didn't read the comments above so sorry if these are redundant. I would:

• Take some space from the playroom to create a coat closet for the foyer.
• Add closets to both "office a" and "office b" so those can be counted as bedrooms and add value to your home.
• Eliminate the jack-and-jill bathroom and have the entry to the bathroom from the hall. Then, rework layout so the toilet isn't the first thing you see.
• Reconfigure the master suite bathroom -I'm not the biggest fan of the dual entry, placement of the tub or shower, but great size closet. Just feels like there is a better solution here.
• Swap placement of the master suite and master bath so there is more privacy between suite #4 and master.
• Add windows to the West walls in the home --Is there a reason for no windows on that side?
• Your kitchen's working triangle (sink-cooktop-fridge) seems large (can't read small dimensions) so I would look into reworking a more functional distance between them.
• If the playroom is truly a playroom you may want to consider a pair of glass french doors.
• A window in the prep/pantry would be really nice especially since you have the space.

Hope this helps!

I find the layout poor. Everything from a kitchen layout that basically sentences you to a life time of hard labor (that is a sophie-ism) to a pantry that would be of infinite better use if it were a foot wider to "Offices" that would be more flexible and enhance resale if only the powder room was full bathroom. There are many other things, but you will be better off engaging a local architect to design a home with you that meets your needs and fits your site.

First the best houses have windows on at least two walls in all public rooms and in the bedrooms to allow for natural light and cross breezes on the days you do open the windows. This house doesn't have that.

The two story foyer is useless space and all it does is make sound travel up.

Downstairs, you come out of the mudroom, look down the hall and what is your view? A powder room bathroom.

If someone in Office B needs to use the bathroom, that's quite a convoluted trek to get to the powder room.

You climb the stairs and your view is a wall. Not very inviting.

Big dysfunctional kitchen with the island acting as a barrier between sink and fridge.

Panty on the outside wall blocking what could be light from two directions in the kitchen.

Master bath upstairs is a mess. That toilet room will feel claustrophobic with those angled walls. (Angled walls in most cases are the first clue that a person doesn't know how to design)

Did you even notice the window in the master suite isn't centered in the room?

How will you get linens out of the angled linen closet?

Why does a master bath need two doors to get into it?

Don't put a kid in suite 4 unless you want to traumatize them for life.

A better arrangement would have been to flip the bathroom/master so the bathroom is on the left, the closets in the middle and the master bedroom on the right with windows on two walls. Again showing this was not designed by an architect.

Lots of useless space in suite 3 with the hallway into the room and the space in front of the too small WIC.

How will you vent the washer/dryer upstairs?

Where is a coat closet in the "grand foyer"?

And why is there that useless hallway to the office on the left from the grand foyer? More wasted space.

If you want to build a custom house, then find a talented architect to design you a custom house. There is NOTHING custom about this house. Choosing tile, flooring, paint colors and door knobs does not make it custom. It's still a tract house even if it's higher priced.

If HGTV ever makes a show on "Critique my house plans", we have a load of Simon Cowell judges that would be perfect.

Jeff Goodman, lol! It’s all good. I posted asking people’s opinions. Just didn’t realize people would get so worked up about our current plans.

Kaya, many of the posts highlighted the same issues - which suggests that those issues might be real problems.

Are you interested in having the best house you can get for your money, or are you already committed to this plan and builder? Where are you in the process?

We’re finalizing the design and will be submitting for permit in 2 weeks. I’ve read through all the feedback and a lot of them are sound advice. What commenters have not taken into account is the size of our family, our lifestyle, budget, outside elevation design, etc. All of which I obviously did not disclose. Somethings that people have suggested we’d love to do, but don’t want to compromise certain ‘must haves’ in our footprint. I appreciate everyone’s comments whether or not they were intended to be mean spirited.

One last thing: when you step out of the shower, where is your towel?

If you are set on the large pantry and the kitchen appliance layout, at least add a prep sink to the island. That divides the kitchen into a prep/cooking zone and a separate clean-up zone. Dishes will be convenient to dining, but far from the fridge, if someone wants a quick snack.

I would also want a back door to the pantry. If you include a window, you can open the door to let more light into the kitchen as you work.

For me, the lack of a full bathroom on the ground floor, and the layout of the master bath with that skimpy shower would be absolute deal breakers.

What commenters have not taken into account is the size of our family, our lifestyle, budget, outside elevation design, etc. All of which I obviously did not disclose. Somethings that people have suggested we’d love to do, but don’t want to compromise certain ‘must haves’ in our footprint. I appreciate everyone’s comments whether or not they were intended to be mean spirited.

No but we have taken into account the basics of good design and good design flow.

Better to compromise now while it's on paper than to be disappointed after it's built. Making changes on paper is a lot cheaper.

I was in permitting when I stopped the process because DH and I were not happy with what we had come up with. We went back to the drawing board and changed everything and now we have a fabulous house where everything flows beautifully and works well. I listened to those who commented here on houzz and did lots of reading and research. It took an additional 4 months to redo the plans but it was worth it.