We built before my now 15 year old son was born... definitely a dedicated living area / gaming room for him, a large laundry / mudroom (somewhere to deposit those stinky uniforms), his room has always next to ours which was great when he was younger, now he could probably switch esp when he is playing Xbox lol.

Thank you so much @Patricia Colwell Consulting You gave me points to think about, that really hadn't crossed my mind yet. Right now it's usually just us four around the table...but as the kids grow, start having friends over more often, get married, have kids... boy that dining room won't be big enough. I'm redoing the dining room to make more space. We're such big foodies too, boy how did I think such a small dining room space is enough lol?

We live in Northern BC (1200 km north of vancouver) so our bbq/deck season is quite short. But a nicely covered deck would give us a little more time to enjoy bbq even once it starts to get cold again, which where we live is really still considered "summer" almost everywhere else LOL.

Also, I was leaning towards a TV in the main living room, because then I can keep an eye on the boys when their watching a movie, while continuing to work from the kitchen. But those days, where I have to keep such a close eye on them are not going to be here for forever, are they? Reading your comment about the Media room being a ways away from your Living Room actually makes a ton of sense, especially as the boys get older!!! Thanks again for your thoughtful response @Patricia Colwell Consulting and for sharing all your great thoughts with me! It really helped me get some perspective instead of being so "now" focused.

We've built 2 homes over the years, and we live on a small working farm. Here are some things I've learned.

Wouldn't do again:

20 foot vaulted ceiling over living, dining & kitchen. This was in the first home we built. It was beautiful and dramatic, but way too noisy. Throw in a loft overlooking these spaces and it was a disaster. The upstairs TV competed with the downstairs TV all the time. Heating and cooling the space was tricky as well.

Would do again:

Large mudroom/utility space- Ours has a bench and hooks right by the back door. We have enough space for a large upright freezer and what I call a family command center/drop zone. The goal being to keep everything such as shoes, dirt, backpacks, mail, etc out of the public spaces. We also have a large closet right off this room which holds our gun safe and has enough storage for all my bulk purchases, extra winter gear, and gun stuff.

Utility sink in the garage- This is a must being a farm family.

8' deep front porch- Our front porch overlooks our pond, and we wanted to have enough space for rocking chairs and a swing.

Vinyl plank flooring- We love our flooring. It's durable, easy to clean, and we get lots of compliments on it. I know that some people look down on vinyl, but in our area this is pretty common in homes.

Kitchen- all drawers in the base cabinets. This is my favorite thing about my kitchen. I love the functionality of the drawers, and they didn't add a lot of cost.

Storage- I made sure we had adequate linen storage in the bathrooms as well as the hallways.

Master bath & closet- this space connects to our laundry/mud room. This was a must have since hubby comes in nasty from working outside. I didn't want him tracking across the house to get to our bathroom.

Things I wish I had done:

2 living areas. With teenagers now, I wish we had a dedicated space for them.

Powder bath. Again with teenagers, keeping the main hall bath clean and presentable to guests is a constant battle.

I will say no matter how many homes you build there will always be something you wish you had or hadn't done.

Good luck!

I haven’t built before, but I have lived in a lot of different houses and also have two boys!

In our new house we’re including:

1) A dedicated room for their toys/computers/video games. It will also be a hangout spot for friends and cousins.

2) A big mudroom connected to the laundry room with a boot wash/dog wash. The mudroom drop zone is not visible from the living areas, so I don’t stress too much about it being messy. Along with 2 boys, we also have 2 big dogs, chickens, and ducks. It WILL be messy.

3) We decided on kids’ bedrooms upstairs and the master down. When they were younger I’m not sure I would have liked this idea, but they’re old enough now where most of the time they sleep through the night without help.

4) Access to an area of the kitchen where they can come in and grab snacks and drinks without getting in the way of me or hubby while we’re cooking. It’s like clockwork that every time we start making dinner, one or both of them thinks “I’m hungry, snack time!”

5) Added insulation to the master suite for sound dampening. So I can sleep in a bit while they’re watching TV on Sunday morning.

6) Windows towards the main areas where they usually spend time outside. This was important to me for my chickens too, so I can just look out and make sure they’re okay.

7) Little nooks where they can retreat to read a book or just chill. We really loved this about our old house so we’re incorporating It into the new one too.

8) A sewing/craft room for me that has a door and a lock on it. Because no one’s allowed to touch Mom’s sewing machines or shears!

9) This one is probably unique to us - but I really wanted more than one way to go from first floor to second and vice versa. We lost our old home in a fire and it was quite traumatic because by the time the alarms woke us up, we couldn’t go down the only stairs we had. We all had to jump from the second floor. In the new house we’ll have 3 options, which will help me sleep a little better at night.

Oh - and I completely with @jenfbc about vaulted ceiling/two story living rooms! They’re beautiful and dramatic, but for living in just SO noisy. Especially if you’re ever going to use the room for TV watching or trying to have a conversation while someone else is doing the same upstairs. Not worth it!

Never built a house but have lived in many, including one on acreage when my kids were little. Learned a few things along the way.

• It's easy to be seduced by lots of SPACE, a large house with extra rooms, spacious gardens, etc. But without a big income, big houses/properties can start to feel like a trap. Before adding more square footage to your plan, ask yourself who is going to clean those rooms? Who is going to paint them? Who is going to change all of those lightbulbs in those very high ceilings, wash those windows, mow that lawn? What will that enormous roof or deck cost to replace? How much time and money do you REALISTICALLY have for cleaning and maintaining your home? If you have plenty of disposable income, go for it and plan to hire help. If not, build what you actually need, which may not be what you envision in your dreams.
• One exception to my less-is-more philosophy is having two separate living areas that can adapt/change over time. Think noisy/quiet, kid/adult, family/entertaining, chaos/sanity. I didn't have that feature when my kids were teens and boy did I miss it!
• Plan for change. Little kids don't stay little very long. Your family's needs will change multiple times over the years so design some flexibility into your plan. Think through scenarios like aging in place for you and extended family, working from home (becoming more and more common), rambunctious teens, your own privacy, etc. Don't design for today -- design with change in mind.

Good luck on your project!

So many great ideas. We've never built but have always owned old houses that did not have open plan. Now that the kids are grown, I'm grateful for this (esp in pandemic times) because there are places to still be close by but not be in the room with the tv. So while you may want all open concept now, when the kids get older it's nice to have some separation.

I’m the exception on here in that we love having two story spaces with a loft overlooking the great room. That said, we also don’t have or want a tv in either space. For us it’s great in that it allows me to keep an ear in what my daughter is doing up in the loft while I work downstairs, or vice verse.

My experience is that rather than a mudroom, you want a mud hall. Basically a wide hallway with mudroom things (closets, hooks, shoe storage, backpack storage, sports equipment organizers, a sink, etc.) along one or both sides of the hallway so everyone is forced to walk directly in front of the spot their things go on their way into the house. That has the best odds of things getting put away. When it’s a separate room off to the side, even just a few steps, everyone (kids and adults) takes the path of least resistance and dumps their stuff in the hall rather than walking two steps farther to put things away. Might as well embrace it rather than fighting it.

A good spot to do homework in the common areas of the house is another big one for me. My mom spent much of my childhood and adolescence creating beautiful desks and workstations for my brother and I in our rooms. We used them occasionally, but mostly just drove her bits by spreading homework out in the middle of the kitchen or family room. We wanted to be where other people were, rather than banished to do calculus alone. And I’m an introvert, but it was still depressing to spend hours alone in a room doing homework. My daughter is now the same - she wants her desk near the main areas of the house, not isolated in her room.

Additions; dorm style fridge in the family room & teen space, when planning the mudroom consider their possible choice of sports (skates & sticks with attendant gear), wider than usual garage to ease access to vehicle interiors, soundproofing any teen area - floor & walls (in 10 years you will include me in your prayers for this last one).

I live in Creston BC now but we lived in Calgary when our kids were growing up so I get winter for sure.

Hello @jenfbc sounds like you're lifestyle is very close to ours :) We're setting up a (small) farm out in the country... again. We tried city life and even moved all the way down to Vancouver, but we just love the space and freedom, that comes with lots of land.

Thanks for mentioning a spot for the gunsafe... we never seem to have a proper spot for my hubby's and I totally forgot about it again.... Going to make a specific spot for it in either the mudroom or basement with hubby tonight.

Is your 8 foot front porch an outside porch, right? Covered porch along the front side of the house? Am I getting this right? We are looking at doing a outside covered porch along the front side (the side where we drive into the yard) of the house as well. But I've been a bit worried that the porch may take away too much natural light inside the house? How do you find it has affected the lighting in your house? Is the porch roof tied in fairly high on your roof or do you see quite a bit of porch roof when you look outside?

Thank you for mentioning the powder room. I've been back and forth on it, but thinking about the boys getting older and having more of their own stuff in the bathroom, I'm more and more attracted to the idea of a small powder room, that's alway presentable for guests.

Again, thanks so much @jenfbc for all your helpful input! I really appreciate you taking the time to share this!

Thanks @einportlandor for your thoughts! The concept of "build for what you need" rather than going Big-Bigger-Biggest brings up lots of memories for me. My husband and I build our "DREAM HOME" about 10 years ago. Before we had kids. Before we even knew (didn't realize that back the though) where we actually wanted to live. We kept adding features and rooms to the plan until we had a 2,000 square foot main floor plus a 2,000 square foot upstairs. This might not be as big as the "executive homes" around, but to me it felt so HUGE. Maintaining the household was quite a bit of work.... and that was before I had two little ones to look after and clean up after.

After we sold the house, we moved several times. Thinking back of the different places we lived at, the most functional and "livable" place we ever lived in (with both boys) was a 1700 sqf 3-bedroom bungalow. The space was on the smaller size, but the house was so darn functional and so easy to maintain.

I'll be working hard to not repeat my earlier mistake of getting carried away during the planning phase but actually build something my family with love and thrive in. We're after freedom and getting the place paid off, rather than a huge house with a huge mortgage.

The planning for change part is tricky for me, but I'm doing my best to envision what it will be like with older, and later teenage kids, kids off to college, and kids married with kids ....gasp! Many of the comments on this tread are helping me with this.

Also, thanks so much for sharing how important the seperation between kids/adult - noisy/quiet space is. We don't have that right now, and I think it would be a huge PLUS!

All the best and thanks again so much for your thoughts!

Yes, covered porch along the front. It's 34' wide and 8' deep. Our house faces west (big no no according to everyone on here), but it had to be this way for lots of reasons. I don't find that it makes the house dark at all.

A snore room.

(still speaking for my wife)

Laundry located so outdoor clothes don't have to be carried through the clean areas of the house. I would rather have laundry convenient to the mudroom than close to the bedrooms. Sure, having it both ways would be perfect but likely your layout won't allow that. My preference would be to have a laundry/utility room off the side of the wide mudroom hallway mentioned above. Everyone gets space in the hallway for daily use items and more storage around the corner in the utility area. If you do cubbies or hooks, be sure to install a couple extra for your kids friends or house guests. I love all these perfect spaces with spaces for each child and then visiting children's backpacks and coats dumped on the floor as there is no coat closet.

My ideal utility space would include a large stainless sink and possibly a drainboard area or dog/dirty boots tiled area with handheld shower and hooks for sopping wet clothes.

Good advice already. Best thing we ever did with our first home was be sure that there were places for kids to have friends over and hang out. There is peace of mind when they are growing up knowing that they are safe at home while still having fun. Low maintenance landscaping and finishes in the house will free up precious weekend time to spend with the little ones, rather than cleaning and doing yardwork. That time slips away and shouldn't be missed. First floor master or ranch style with layout that will accommodate aging in place. As much storage as you can cram into the house and a huge mudroom/laundry room. Very best of luck and I hope you enjoy the home for years.

Edited to add: Don't forget your pets if you have them. Kitty may be able to go up and down stairs to basement litter box now, but it will get harder as he ages. Nice to have a spot in the mudroom for a litterbox.

We bought our forever home 10 years ago (before daughter, now 6), fully expecting to have to rework it a few times over for different life stages. We recently turned our formal dining room into a play room with doors (later, to be used for a kid hang out area) and created a mud room area by the garage for jackets, shoes, backpack. They accumulate so much stuff...and then more when school starts...it needs a place to go. I wish our laundry room was upstairs. Having a big acrylic bathtub in our bathroom has been great for baby to now. She’s just about using her own Bathroom/shower now, so that will stay acrylic for safety and ease of cleaning (will tile later), and mom is getting her own claw-foot tub. Stainless appliances show fingerprints, as do white cabinets (of course, cleaning fixes that, lol). I’ve loved having carpet on the stairs for safety, but those will be hardwood soon. Hardwood on the main floor has been great for keeping clean. Master and kid bedrooms on the same floor is a must. Open-concept is a must. Our kitchen, dining and living/tv rooms are one big space. I can cook and keep an eye on my daughter, or help her with homework when she works at the dining table. I wouldn’t spend money on your dream kitchen or furniture quite yet. Our kitchen cabinets have taken quite a beating in the last 6 years...of course, part of that is us and letting our daughter have free reign in her playing (Bikes and scooters inside were ok up until very recently, but push toys beat up the cabinets as well earlier on). Regardless, you want a space where you don’t have anxiety about letting them be kids. You’ll want a full-size fridge. My SIL (3 kids) swears by her double ovens and double DWs but one of each has been fine for us. If you entertain a lot, you might want to consider doubles. That’s all I can think of right now.

Edited to add: Our main room has windows that allow me to see most of the backyard (small-1/3-acre) if I’m standing in the kitchen. This has been great for kids!

We have one full bath on the main bottom floor- the shower is never used, but the sink is overused. We really need a utility sink somewhere so that I’m not constantly cleaning that bathroom.

I'm in the same season of life as you: twin 7 year olds and a 2 year old. We're only breaking ground now, so I'm following this post, and finding it very reassuring so far as to the decisions we've made. I prioritized a decent sized laundry/mud room, a walk in pantry, large dining area, and a separate den area in the basement for the kids as they grow.

@jenfbc, I am so glad to see your feedback about vaulted ceilings. I have been warring with myself whether I made the right decision to go with plain ol' flat 9 ft. ceilings. Thank you for the reassurance!

I wish we thought of a full size bathroom in every bedroom or at a minimum a separate powder room for guest.

My kids are a little older (ages 11-16) but if you can have a basement, those are great for kids because they can be so versatile! Unfinished, they can be accommodate bike riding, scooter riding, roller skating, playroom, etc. As they get older, you can finish it out for extra living areas, bedrooms, bathrooms, etc.

I'd also make space for an extra fridge and/or freezer. When possible, large closets are definitely great for kids!

With all the talk about the importance of a mud room..I don’t know if any one suggested a shower...my uncle had a little vineyard and my aunt was a pretty picky housekeeper...they both loved the feature at the back entry to the house ....with laundry room and bath room with a small shower and sink ...even for lunch break it was handy for washing up

Wow, I love this thread! We have 2 boys, 1 &3. Our foundation was poured on Monday, and this thread makes me confident and excited for the layout of our future house.
There's also some good reality check advice in here when in comes to some future decisions still to be made that will impact budget, ie kitchen cabinets. Great point by someone earlier that these cabinets will get beat on by the boys, and I may not have my "luxury" kitchen in this season of life, but to focus on functionality, and setting us up to be able to adapt the function of our house and spaces over the coming years.

Get a copy of Susan Susanka's The Not So Big House. https://susanka.com/ Not about tiny houses, but about how to design a home that lives well.

Following: never built and live in an apartment (with 2 sons) so my only 2 cents is that most people really don't need as much space as they think they need. I would love one more bedroom, but I agree with whomever said to build smaller but more functional. It'll be better on your wallet in the long run (and a space where your older kids can have friends over is priceless- to get to know their friends and know they have a safe place to hang out).

Lots of good ideas in this thread and very much along the lines of what we have done in our major remodel and will be including in our upcoming build.

Most important for us is having the kid bedrooms away from the living spaces, I really love a good noise break and separation of public and private spaces. Open dining and kitchen, with access to the living room, but not one big cavernous space and with the rest of the house airy but also separate. We have six kids (so far) and I’ve discovered that with homeschool and entertaining I absolutely love being near the kitchen with our lessons, but my bigger kids also need quieter spots to do their more concentration intensive work.

MAJOR pantry prioritization. I do not need a huge kitchen, but rather one with excellent flow (our current one has that and is maybe 180 sq feet), but I need a perfectly planned, roomy pantry with space for an extra fridge and freezer and all my less frequently used appliances, as well as bulk foodstuffs. It’s critical to have that flexible, semi-invisible space for the food and accoutrements that don’t fit in the day to day kitchen.

Also mud room/entryway storage with exterior access AND garage access is fantastic. Better yet if you can put a half bath right outside the door in the hall and a drinking fountain somewhere in there with a utility sink. Drinks and potty are the biggies and that doesn’t change when they get bigger, so having functional storage and bench areas for each child plus a place to wash up, get a drink, and use the facilities without tracking mud everywhere? Priceless. Generally speaking guests actually like using bathrooms tucked away down a hall by the mud room too, it feels quieter and more private when there is good separation from the entertainment space for the powder room.

For us, with a disabled child and plans to age in place, a main floor master and an elevator are important. We also are planning a main floor guest bedroom either for him when he is older, elderly family members coming to live with us, or houseguests. Having flexible, accessible, ADA compliant guest space is a zero regrets goal that has made more and more sense over the years and I wish we had that at our current place. It’s one of the major missing features and why we need to build, even though this is a ranch and very wheelchair friendly.

Storage. Tons of it. Well planned. ”The Not So Big House” book and sequels are so helpful in understanding this and really thinking through what one *needs* and how to make it live and function well.

Finally, EASY TO CLEAN SURFACES. And on that note, many excellent ideas I’ve had and implemented in this major remodel and the planning for the build have come from the book “Make Your House Do the Housework” by Don Aslett. It’s such a timeless read with so many good ideas for making what surfaces you do have easier to maintain and smartly planned.

Thank you so much CW for all those great thoughts! I love the "little nooks" around the house idea for kids to chill and read at. I'm thinking in the main living areas, a little nook would be great...to make my little ones feel like they have a hide-away, while still being close to mom :)

Also, since reading your and some of the other replies, I've incorporated a boot/utility sink in my Mud-Hallway (I no longer call it a mudroom thanks to @Kristin S)

I'm a little annoyed with my current kitchen layout, because the view into the backyard is completely blocked by the hoodrange wall.... hmmmm I'll have to rethink this a little, because I love your point of being able to look out at the kids (and chickens .... we're planning on getting chickens too LOL). Thanks again.

Hey @Kristin S I totally agree... I always wanted to be near my parents too, even if we weren't visiting .... just to be near while doing homework etc. It wasn't until I got older, late highschool, that I decide to go and study in my own room. Mainly because I loved walking while around while studying and I'd say talk out loud, while doing memorization LOL

We have a large island planned, and I'm thinking of putting chars not only along the end (where there's a counter overhang) but to also put a couple of chairs on the "inside", where I'm working in the kitchen. Instead of having banks of drawers at the one end, I'll keep it open and tuck two stools underneath. That way I can pull out a stool too every now and then and actually SIT across from the boys, while they're doing their homework or crafts etc. Right now, we have an island that has stools on the outer side and that's where the boys hang out A LOT, while I'm cooking.

Mud Hallway vs. Mud Room: It's absolutely brilliant!!! Loved your explanation... made so so much sense!!!

Awesome thanks @jenfbc is that a picture of your actual porch? It's absolutely beautiful!!! This is exactly what my hubby and I were thinking off. Good to know you don't think it's affecting the lighting inside the house by much!

@ksiemens123 yes that is my actual porch

One story home but has a set of stairs on one side of the house to a loft/playroom that has a door. That is my dream layout! Then again we are in FL so no chance of a basement here.

Hey @Lyndee Lee our laundry room will actually be downstairs, so I guess I'm not getting either one of the advantage points (neither close to mud-hall nor bedrooms). But it was call we made to shrink the upstairs overall square footage.... because the bigger the upstairs --> the bigger the basement ---> the bigger the house LOL. But I agree, it's no fun dragging the dirty outside clothes all throughout the clean areas of the house before getting to the laundry room. I'll see if I can tweak my stairs a bit and locate them closer to the back of the house next to the mud-hall. We won't do carpet on the stairs and if the laundry room is right close to the bottom of the stairs, the distance for carrying dirty outside clothes is minimized.

I was going to incorporate a single utility sink in the mud-hall, but after reading your comment, I'll be absolutely adding a drainboard! The job isn't done after washing dirty boots, they've got to dry somewhere too LOL

Storage, storage, storage. Garage storage, kitchen storage, and generous bedroom closets, walk-in and otherwise.

Laundry room on the bedroom level.

A coffee station that is out of the main kitchen traffic area so people can grab their coffee without interfering with food prep.

Wi-fi repeaters now that everyone is on devices all the time, not to mention streaming video.

A real, usuable home office that you can close the door on when you're done for the day.

A three-season sunroom off the breakfast area, or that is the breakfast area, preferably with a nice view.

Large windows and/or skylights, particularly since you're up north and have long winters.

OR...you could add a pergola...we planted wisteria...and add a sunscreen cover in the summer ...leaving it off in the winter to let the sun in...

Also ..forgot the sunshade draw down shades ..you can see thru when you are getting a really lot of sun in the summer......this is the iew

VIEW ...we are trying to enjoy from everywhere in the house

The spring wisteria. “show”...is a never leave home til it is over event

If your laundry room will be in the basement, consider a laundry chute! You can do a built in bench with a flip up lid and a laundry basket underneath.

Don't forget that technology is changing the way we can use our spaces. For example, wireless headphones can allow for activities to take place in the same or adjacent rooms, that would otherwise be too noisy. Much less expensive than constructing more rooms. With wireless laptops, and especially with repeaters, an office can be anywhere. Rooms can be more multi-purpose than they were before. It's made the same kind of change that cordless phones did - I still remember trying to talk to a boyfriend on the only phone in my house, with everyone listening!

Consider putting a direct entrance into your basement. My sister has this and it's great when muddy children can go straight to her basement laundry room, or go in to use the basement washroom without traipsing all over the rest of the house. I moved my main floor laundry room into the basement so I can hang up my clothes there - plenty of space. We seldom use our clothes dryer. Sports equipment can be taken into the house without making a mess upstairs. I don't care for upstairs laundry rooms because I live mainly on the ground floor during the day and so I'd be going upstairs or down, no difference in steps. I don't mind carrying laundry - at my age it's strength training! And anyway I taught my sons to do their own laundry at an early age.

Hey @shead you're the first to mention a second fridge and freezer :) This was on my "wishlist" too already... the tiny freezer under the main fridge isn't nearly enough. Plus I juice almost every day, which means our main fridge is stocked chock full of veggies. I'm planning for a cold room in the basement, which will also have a spare fridge and freezer. Thanks!

Hey @btydrvn I've been on the fence about adding a shower or bathtub to the bathroom nearest to the mud-hall. I'm leaning towards no, because it's another bathroom fixture to maintain and keep clean. Plus we're trying to keep the build affordably, and every square foot of room we add upstairs, gets added to the basement and increases the overall build by twice that space. For the main floor we'll stick with a nicely sized ensuite and one powder room (near the mudhall). Downstairs will have a second full bathroom, for the kids to use later down the road, once they're old enough and have made "the move" into the basement :)

Hey @Ashley :) Yes I totally agree with @Katie B. about not going overboard with "luxuries" while the kids are still so young! We too give our boys quite a bit of freedom in the house to just live and be. They're almost 4 and 6 now, so their responsibilities are increasing, but they're still KIDS and DO get into trouble. It's pretty stressful to visit people, who have quite a few luxury finishes, and where the boys can't even push a chair across the floor, without everyone jumping up and going "no don't do that it will scratch the floors".

Also, @dsnine earlier in the tread suggested a book called "Make Your House Do The Housework", which goes into low maintenance finishes etc. I'll be buying that for sure!!! Might save me hours of work for years to come :)

Good luck on your build! Hope you have a wonderful summer seeing your project come together exactly as envisioned. Enjoy!

Thanks for the booktip @partim I'll check it out!

Hey @Gcubed agreed, I want my boys' friends to be coming over to our house, rather than my boys heading off to other people's homes.... where I won't really know whats going on. My hubby and talk about this already, even though the boys are only 3 and 5, but we really want to be intentional about that. Make our home and farm a fun place, where there's stuff going on and they want to spend time at :) I'm totally on the same wavelength with that as you. And it does't take a huge place for that..... too much separation in too big of a house might not be that good during the teenage years. I'm thinking a nice playroom/media room in the basement, that tucks a ways back into the basement but is open to the staircase. It can evolve with the boys as they grow.

If I could find a way to finish is of the odd small space and make it a fun secret passage in our upstairs I’d love to have that secret hideout for my boys

Hello @dsnine wow your post was packed with golden nuggets!!! So much good info in there. I actually read it out loud to my hubby last night :) You've got a full plate with six kids and homeschooling. I decided to homeschool my 5 year old, but we're only in kindergarten right now, and I salut you for homeschooling six kiddos. That takes major organizational skills.

I'm struggling a bit with our kitchen design. I was planning on putting the extra fridge and freezer into the coldroom in the basement. We're trying to keep the overall squarefootage down, and with the fridge and freezer downstairs, I was nixing a full pantry. Instead, I was planning for pullout pantries along the wall next to the kitchen.

Anyways, I'd love learn what you think makes a kitchen functional and flow well (aside from having a pantry). Are there some kitchen design "no nos" that you can share? What enables you work better and more efficiently in your kitchen?

A batwing style pantry is something you should look into for holding a TON of stuff for easy access in a smaller space.

Functional kitchen design is covered in both of the books I mentioned, with emphasis on the work triangle and efficiently not crossing work streams for prep and cleanup without being too huge or spread out OR not having passing room. But there is another excellent excellent thread on here on the kitchen forum that you should read. And then run your design through a professional kitchen design consultant and double check it with this forum. That will cover your bases, but for understanding the basics read THIS:

EDIT: OH NO MARCOLO’S POST IS MISSING NOW 😭

And brainstorm design and ethos with the Sweeby Test:

http://finishedkitchens.blogspot.com/p/the-sweeby-test.html?m=1

I’ll have to see if I can find another work triangle discussion as succinct as the original ICE WATER STONE FIRE system was, it was excellent but the links all appear broken. Maybe someone has the text saved?

in the meantime here is a good succinct discussion of it from Architectural Digest:

https://www.architecturaldigest.com/story/kitchen-triangle-best-way-to-design-a-kitchen

Sounds like you are planning to build a single story home. Two-storey homes are more cost effective because the foundation and the roof, both expensive elements, are minimized. Is your lot flat or sloped? https://www.finehomebuilding.com/2014/06/30/building-the-best-affordable-house-10-tips-for-getting-the-most-house-for-your-money

Also cheaper to heat. https://www.greenbuildingadvisor.com/question/1-story-or-2-story-home-which-is-efficient-and-cheaper-to-build

Hey @dsnine I googled ICE-WATER-STONE-FIRE and it brought up a blogpost that seems to refer to the old discussion post you mentioned! It's such a great analogy of work flow....I've always thought of flow similar to that. Also, I loooove working from left to right, so for me in the ideal kitchen the workflow would begin on the far left counter with ICE and then flow with less than 9 feet distances per "leg" to FIRE. But my current flooplan won't quite allow for that dream work flow... pretty close though :)

Outdoor room for the kids- A place to relax and enjoy while the kids are playing! A home garden to inspire creativity, learning and grow your own food.