That's a big pool!

As for design help, where are you located?

Where is your indoor kitchen. Your gas grill should be near that so it's easy to move food from indoors to outdoors.

What direction does this lanai face?

We're located in Florida, and the lanai faces south.

The indoor kitchen is inside to the left... photo attached.

Excellent on the lanai facing south. I'm also in FL and our lanai is south too and this time of year, the sun doesn't penetrate the lanai so with the fans on, it's actually relatively cool to sit outside. In winter, the sun penetrates into our living room.

Have you started building yet? I ask because I do see some things that might be improved but if you've started, I'll stick to the lanai idea.

The problem I see is the kitchen is quite a hike to the outdoors.

What is the room to the south of the kitchen?

@cpartist Thanks for your thoughts! We haven’t started building, so I’d appreciate any suggestions regarding the floor plan. We’re still in the very early phases and haven’t finalized anything yet.

The room to the south of the kitchen is a bonus room (play area for the kids, could be converted to another bedroom down the road if needed). The room below the kitchen in the photo is a dining area with a big 7 foot round table.

Yeah, it’s not ideal that the kitchen isn’t closer to the backyard lanai/pool. It would be nice to be able to watch the kids in the backyard while I’m cooking in the kitchen. But I do like that the kitchen and great room are the first rooms you hit when you enter the house… and I like that the kids’ play areas are adjacent to the lanai. Hmm… trade offs. Would you arrange it differently?

@cpartist And great to know regarding the light situation given a southern exposure. We didn’t have much choice in our house orientation (given lot and road), so seems like we lucked out in that regard!

You definitely lucked out.

BTW: What part of FL are you in? I'm in SW FL.

Where did you get this plan from? Is it a builder plan? Who designed it? Is this a fully custom home or semi-custom?

The major problem is the house will be dark on the interior and the kitchen will especially be very dark. I post this list all the time and anything in bold is what I would consider an issue with the house.

The best houses orient the public rooms towards the south for the best passive solar heating and cooling

The best houses are L, U, T, H, or I shaped.

The best houses are only one to two rooms deep. And covered lanai, porches, garages, etc count as rooms in this case. (This is so every public room and bedroom has lots of natural light)

The best houses make sure kitchens have natural light, meaning windows so one doesn't have to have lighting 24/7 to use the kitchen. (And no, dining areas with windows 10' or more from the kitchen will not allow for natural light.)

The best houses make sure all public rooms and bedrooms have windows on at least two walls.

The best houses do not if possible put mechanical rooms, pantries or closets on outside walls

The best houses do not have diagonal interior walls making for odd spaces.

The best houses keep public and private spaces separate.

The best houses do not have you walk through the work zone of the kitchen to bring laundry to the laundry room.

The best houses do not have the mudroom go through any of the work zones of the kitchen.

The best houses do not use the kitchen as a hallway to any other rooms.

The best houses do not put toilets or toilet rooms up against bedroom walls or public areas.

The best houses do not have walk in closets too small to stand inside.

The best houses do not have roofs that are overly large, and dominate the exterior of the house.

The best houses do not have stick on exterior materials only on the front façade.

The best houses have an organizing “spine” so it’s easy to determine how to get from room to room in the house and what makes sense. Meaning they don’t have meandering circulation paths.