On my PC, your plan doesn't enlarge when I click on it so it's hard to make out what all the rooms are and their dimensions.

The first thing I see is that I wouldn't want to walk into the breakfast room table as walking from garage to the kitchen with groceries. I'd rather there be a more direct path and no furniture to maneuver around.

Which direction will the house face? Will the pond be in front or back?

We once had a house with a similar shape with both front and back porches. The living room was much darker than I had anticipated it would be so that is something to consider.

Are you or your architect trying to make it impossible to use the toilet and tub in the bathroom in the lower right corner of the plan?

That's taking water conservation to a new level...

I have struggled with the layout coming into the breakfast room also, but I don’t know how to fix it! I’m at my max square footage and my husband is ready to kill me.

The front of the house will be facing south with a slight angle west. The pond will be behind it. I’ve attached a picture showing the approximate location of the house in the red circle.

Here is a link to the acrobat file. This may be easier to see.

https://documentcloud.adobe.com/link/track?uri=urn:aaid:scds:US:d2ed7538-15a4-4a07-9afd-f147cdf22c6c

The outdoor and indoor kitchens are very far apart. Will you have to carry stuff from one kitchen to the other?

I’m sure there will be some going back and forth between the two kitchens but I also don’t want the outdoor kitchen to block the view of the back of the property.

- How many people will live here?

- What's the plan with the double pantries?

- Have you mocked up how you'll arrange furniture in the great room? It's a large space, but it looks almost too big?

- I realize you're in the south, but is there no need for coat closet near the front door?

- What is the room to the left of the entry? There's a lot of doors going into it... if it's a dining room, do you need three different locations for eating?

- Is there a carport attached to the house then a single car garage?

- There's definitely some door issues with the master bath (the bath door, water closet door, access to the closet == conflict)

- How will you vent the dryer?

- Is there an upstairs or a basement?

Oof. Can’t say I like the flow. That access to the master seems really dark. Walking straight from the entry into the living room fireplace wall isn’t my favorite either.

How does your furniture fit in here, especially in the living/dining room?

It will be 4 of us with room for my parents if needed.

There is a butlers pantry with a closet opposite for brooms, etc. the main pantry is at the front of the house.

I have some antique furniture that will take up a good bit of room in the living area. I could maybe steal a couple feet to make my closet and laundry bigger???

I don’t know if I would really use a coat closet. We are going to have a drop off area at the back door.

The room to the left is a formal dining. Not something I need (at all) but one day I will inherit my great grandmothers furniture so having that room is important to me. Until then, it will be a playroom for my two young kids. I think I may put pocket doors in there so I can close it off when they are loud.

There is a double carport attached and then a storage room with a roll up door at one end.

Any suggestions for the bathroom doors?

There will be an upstairs but we are not going to finish it when we build. It will be ready for a 4th bedroom if we need it and a bonus room.

I’ve tried to figure out the breakfast room and I think I have room for a six foot table. But y’all, I really need help. Lol.

First thing I noticed is that anyone sitting at the kitchen table will be subject to bathroom , um,music.

Second thing is i’m guessing this is not an architect but a draftsman who calls himself a designer

If that breakfast room is your main eating area, I really, really wouldn't want it to be the main traffic path from the garage. Why not move the garage (along with the powder bath and mudroom) to the side like this, and then move the outdoor kitchen over so it's on the kitchen side tucked back against the garage? That would also allow more windows along the hall to the master bedroom.

Didn’t we see an almost identical house for North Texas? The breakfast room there was also a tricky pathway.

At the very least, add access from the dining room to the pantry area.

The kids bath makes no sense at all. So much floor space between two — separate — vanities, then a squeeeeeeze in the rest. One big vanity each sounds like you have two girls, with lots of personal styling paraphernalia.

Even in SE Louisiana, don’t you need a guest closet for rain jackets, hats and sunglasses, umbrellas?

I did have a door leading from the formal dining to the butlers pantry but I thought the additional storage may be a better use of the space for us.

And I’m going to really think about moving the powder room and everything over. I’ve been losing so much sleep over how you walk in the back door!

This plan is a "fat" plan. Have you considered doing a narrower longer house versus "fat"? Your living room and kitchen are going to be very dark because the front rooms of the house and front porch will block coveted southern exposure. The roof expanse will be massive as well.

The plan also has a lot of unnecessary corners that will add unnecessary expense. The corners on the very front of the house are totally unnecessary - either bring the pantry on the left forward and the bathroom on the right forward to line up with the rest of the front or push the dining room and the bedroom back. It will cost VERY little to bring the pantry and bathroom forward because the framing, roofing, exterior walls and foundation will already be there.

You and your husband also need to realize that all square footage is not created equal. Don't get caught up on some arbitrary square footage number that hinders your ability to create a house that flows and functions well. For instance, you can bump out the entire wall from the breakfast area back to line up with the left garage wall and again, it would cost very little in the grand scheme of things to add that square footage but would create a breakfast nook that doesn't impede the traffic flow from the garage. It would also give you a larger mud area and storage.

Ditch the bumped out master bath as well by bringing the master wall out. You'll gain some valuable square footage for hardly any money.

Speaking from experience, it will be extremely hard to place furniture well in the living room. Again, I had a house with a similar plan and have many regrets from that build (I didn't know what I didn't know ;) )

A talented architect could design you a home that maximizes your pond views, maximizes the amount of light entering the home, and functions well. I don't think this plan is it, unfortunately.

There are a lot of good things about the plan:

•split floor plan

•laundry near bedrooms

•plenty of storage

•good amt of counter space

•access to fridge without interfering cook

•front porch

•back porch with outdoor kitchen

A few things that jump out to me that noone has mentioned:

•Freezer in the pantry with SW facing window

Freezers generate a lot of heat (and need plenty of clearance for sides/back) and having one in a small pantry could pose a problem with your stored goods. Having BOTH a freezer and a southwestern window, not protected by a porch, will make your pantry very hot.

•West facing windows in kitchen & bfast area

While they will let in light, the two windows flanking the range will make a warm job HOT during dinner prep, and the windows in the bfast/dining area will have an extremely harsh glare during your evening meal.

Do you need/want a side entry garage/carport? You could move it to share a wall with the kitchen along with the powder room & locker nook. That way the garage and parking are taking the brunt of the western sun and not your interior, and you could move your western windows to face north/backyard instead.

As mentioned above:

- There's definitely some door issues with the master bath (the bath door, water closet door, access to the closet == conflict)

I really think this area should be reconfigured. Our current bathroom has "fighting doors" for our toilet area and closet AND for our bathroom door and shower door. It's AWFUL! Daily, my husband and I, (plus our 3 & 5 yr old who follows us around) have to do the bathroom shuffle of stepping into the closet to let someone out of the toilet room OR moving away from the closed bathroom door to let entry or exit. I've been bumped in the hips/lower back and my little ones in the forehead/chins by the stupid door knobs.

Love cd7733's suggestion for the master bath - a great use of the space

With respect to the rest of the space, I agree with the others that this is a 'fat' plan - the walkway between the living & dining rooms has no natural light available - particularly given the two covered porches on the front & back of the plan - I think you're doing yourself a disfavor.

- Because of the overall need for improvement, I hesitate to offer suggestions... but will say, that the butlers/main pantry area just doesn't make sense - you have to walk past your broom/etc storage to get to your daily food storage? How do you envision using that tiny sink in there? As mentioned above, generally a butler's pantry connects the kitchen to the dining room (which this one does not)... And at ~11x11, the double pantry is as large as many kitchens - but it's so chopped up... Depending on your needs/usage, I would think about rearranging the space:

Also, on the back deck, I would hate to have the outdoor kitchen right outside my bedroom - hard to get a good BBQ going when you know you're smoking out your bedroom... a quick idea could be something like this: (although obvs deepen-ing this porch means a darker great room... thus the reason room-by-room changes aren't really going to get you where you need to be b/c the whole plan needs re-thinking)

Check out This recent thread. It bears some similarities to your design, and also shows you how we roll here ;)

Y’all are giving me some excellent ideas and a lot to think about. If we were to bring up the pantry and bathroom on the sides what suggestions do y’all have for that?

With chairs occupied you still want a good 3-4 feet of circulation room around your six foot table. So the room should be at least 14 feet wide.

I always tend tend to cut circulation room too close in my kitchens and dining rooms. DON’T. Measure your furniture and air on the side of more than less.