My bro just purchased a home w 4 bedrooms up . The way the 3 bedrooms and then one bedroom on the other side are situated I thought of a similar thing for him . He reads and does a lot of computer work so an area in 4th bedroom for dorm style fridge /counter / or table /and coffee etc / small storage hutch. His laundry is in basement which to me is preferable . But totally get the ability to have access to coffee some fridge items .....when one retreats to upstairs have needs met. Not sure he’d plumb a sink ... there’s a dual entrance into a good sized hall bathroom . We will look at sink configuration maybe. Ranch home was my vote / lost that / trying for enhanced use of upstairs zone.

Well - you surely shouldn't be leaving your master suite for coffee.

This seems like a funny question. Have you ever lived in a large house?

What is common is to have a mini kitchen in an upstair's bonus room where a TV is. That is everyday in many spec houses at 5,000 ft. And then becoming more common is the coffee station in the master suite.

What you are doing is combining the two. To me that is less than ideal. Where are you planning on having popcorn? And have you heard how many chemicals it takes to make microwave popcorn? If you have a media or bonus room upstairs, that would make sense. If not, then are you planning on popcorn in a bedroom? Then your laundry idea makes some sense.

We have a coffee station in the master suite - Miele pre plumbed - the best way to drink and make coffee if you can afford it. We do not have a microwave in the upstairs media/bonus room (since we don't allow microwave popcorn) but we may do a small fridge up there but haven't had the need to yet (our son is 10).

I live in a condo 1700 sq ft and have never lived in a house. Building a home so just "imagining" what can be built.

I watch TV in bedroom, I also sometimes eat in my bed and drink tea at night in bed. Often eat popcorn in bed, and I work in my bed for many hours at night with laptop.

I don't think a media room upstairs would work, because we just watch TV in bed at night.

I think just build a coffee and mini fridge in to master suite, or put it in bigger laundry room are the options.

Thanks for all your help and ideas.

So I dislike 2nd floor laundry rooms since you spend the better part of the day on the main floor a main floor laundry is just more convieient . I have an espresso machine in our guest room for early morning coffe if they want it. Please no media room on the same floor as bedrooms and really do you need 5000 sq ft. If you do all that in your bedroom then put that in your bedroom . I don’t think I want kids helping themselves to stuff during the night and for sure not MW popcorn. I have a 3200 sg ft house and find it is more house thatn we need most of the time but we entertain a lot so the space is used but I often wish it was smaller when house cleaning is the issue.

Thanks, I've only lived in a condo and rarely entertain. I probably only need 3,300 at most.

I figure since I am building, why not build as big as possible since that will be the trend?

I too used to take my laptop to bed and spend hours working, I am a data analyst and would sometimes start a process and set my alarm to one hour increments so that I could start the next process when one completed.

Lesson learned - I had a 99% block in the widow maker at age 57. I thought about something my mother had said to my dad after he had a heart attack at age 57. She told him to get a bucket of water, make a fist and shove his fist down into the bucket, pull it out and see what size hole was left. That is the hole you will leave where you work when you die.

She was 100% right. Look around at those who have died or retired from your workplace. How long did it take for the company to recover from the loss?

My dad did not change his ways and continued to work crazy hours. He had another major heart attack while at work at age 70 and passed away.

He was replaced by another doctor at the hospital where he worked within a week.

My mother and his children were devastated. My mom never got over the loss and died 5 years later. The oldest grandchildren remember my dad, but most were too young or not even born when dad died. They never got to know the best grandpa in the world.

I didn't learn from watching my dad - thought I was different. Ha ha - jokes on me.

I did change my behavior after my first heart attack. If I only 10-15 years left I am not giving one minute more to my workplace than necessary to keep my job and earn my paycheck.

My advice to you is instead of laying in bed working on your laptop spend quality time with your spouse and family.

If you can afford to build a 5,000 sq ft house, you should build whatever you works for you and not worry about what other people think or want.

It could also be argued that an upstairs laundry room is more convenient, because most of the laundry comes from, and returns to, the bedrooms and bathrooms.

"I've only lived in a condo and rarely entertain. I probably only need 3,300 at most.

I figure since I am building, why not build as big as possible since that will be the trend?"

I am going to ask you to think about things again.

When I looked for a new home I measured every cupboard and drawer in my kitchen, every linear foot of hanging space in my wardrobes, every cupboard and drawer in my bathrooms and every room in my home.

I then went through my house and noted what I loved about each room, what worked in each room, what was wasted space in each room and what failed to meet my needs in each room (Remember - I am a data analyst).

Then I made my list of criteria for the "perfect home".

I was planning on building, but visited tons of homes that were new builds and existing homes on the market. I knew about 3 years in advance of my move that I was going to move, so I had time to educate myself and find ideas that I might not have thought of on my own.

I happened to visit a home that was a custom build in 1970 and it checked every box (even had a large office with no windows - required by my company for work at home staff - computer cannot be viewable from any window and must not be in a common or shared area of the home.)

But my point is that you may be able to afford a 5000 sq ft home, but if it is not needed it will increase the initial cost, it will increase the cost to furnish, it will increase maintenance costs, cost to insure and property tax. Someone also has to clean this space - if you hire someone, that too will cost more. Is this the best use of your money? Could you have less and retire earlier? Will it bring you more joy than spending that money on family vacations?

Trends don't matter. We live in our homes, not on the glossy pages of some magazine. What works for the designers may not work for you or your family. What works for your sister or brother or best friend may not work for you and your family. The only important piece of this puzzle is what will be best for your family.

My sister had a couple that cleaned her home for years. They drove a beater car, lived in a modest home and raised 2 children and somehow were able to afford to send both through college. Then they came to my sister and told her that they were going to stop cleaning homes at the end of the year. They were still relatively young - late 40s, early 50s. She asked what they were going to do instead of cleaning homes. They told her they were building their forever home, retiring and traveling. They had saved over 1.5 million dollars and no longer needed to work. Only wish I had had some of their foresight.

CON- Having food readily available upstairs - Having to go downstairs for something to eat often means you don't bother. Could help you put on unwanted weight.

It seems very unsanitary to me to have food in the the same small area as dirty laundry.

While people do have laundry areas in their kitchens, the kitchen is a much larger area.

As to building a large home because you can afford it, please think very carefully about building on two floors.

If this is a home you will want to live in forever, I promise you, there will come a time when you won't want to climb those stairs several times a day. For many reasons.

if you can afford to build a custom home, you can afford to build a home that is all on one floor and then you can get a slightly larger lot to accommodate this and you don't need to worry about double kitchens.

You can decide if you want your children's bedrooms near yours or not.

Build in extra supports so that if you want to add grab bars later on you can.

@loobab - For all we know, the OP may be 30 years old, and prefers a two story home. There are many ways to accommodate aging in place. One doesn't need a single story home. Many people chose to have a first floor master in addition to a second story. Others prefer all bedrooms upstairs. My sister has a master both up and down. Different strokes for different folks.

Do what you feel is best for you and yours!

What are you going to store in the cabinets in your second floor laundry. I store extra toilet paper, paper towels, light bulbs, laundry detergent and all of my cleaning supplies in my first floor laundry room. I have a huge linen closet in my upstairs master bath and I'm able to store extras for all of the upstairs bedrooms.

In my 4000 sq foot house, do I need a mini kitchen upstairs - hmmm....not really, however, if it was 5000 sq, I might do it!......Best Wishes!

In 5,000 sf, I would do a master up/laundry up; master down/laundry down. The downstairs master can be for guests. Then do the kids beds/baths upstairs. This way, you can age into the home if need be down the road.

I have lived in a 3000 sf for 32 years. (In North York too, coincidentally not far from you at York Mills/Leslie.) Raised 3 children here. We've never even finished our basement and found our space just right. It's a bit big for us now that we're empty nesters but I like the space when people come back home for the holidays, (well pre-covid anyway).

Since you're in the early stages, I suggest you read 2 books. Susan Susanka's The Not So Big House. It will help you build a house that is good to live in. It's about how we live in a house - it's not about small houses at all, despite the somewhat misleading title. The second one is A Pattern Language by Christopher Alexander. Hard to describe that one but it's good.

The homes we live in affect how we interact with our families and how we live our lives. If you never lived in a house, even as a child, the books will explain why your family might dislike living in such a large house. Bigger is definitely not always better, even if money is not a consideration which it sounds like it isn't for you.

Rick M, you've posted some other questions about building/living in a large home. I suggest that you find a large airbnb in your area and rent that for a week. Also go to see as many model homes and open houses as you can.

One thing that kept my grandmother healthy into her mid 90s was walking and having to go up/down stairs. Leave the snacks in the kitchen!