We're currently designing a one bedroom "Backyard Suite", or "Laneway house" or whatever you might want to call it. It is a suite over a garage. We live on a 50x160ft lot, with SW exposure to the back. I've worked out a number of the details regarding the way we'd like it to be, and I really like the layout we've come up with, but there's one aspect I'm just not sure about.

I based the design on a common nordic layout- the "long house", where things are basically linear from one end/side to the other. I really like how the stairs or sometimes a breezeway/dogwalk split the public from the private areas, so I mimicked that with this design.

The trouble lies in the width of the house related to the overall run needed for the stairs. We've tried to keep the house as narrow as possible so that we can keep as much sunlight in the backyard/on the main house in the winter (we're 51deg north), and 16' has played out to be a comfortable width when it comes to circulation with this linear design.

With a 7 13/16" run x 9 1/2" rise, I've been able to fit the stairs and reasonable landings into 18' with a single step landing at the top of the stairs (white area at top of stairs). That's where my problem is, and where my question for you, the critic, lies:

DOES THIS SINGLE STEP LANDING RUIN CIRCULATION BETWEEN KITCHEN/DINING AND BATHROOM/BED? IS THIS SUPER AWKWARD OR DO YOU VIEW IT AS A CHARMING "QUARK"?