Can you post the elevation views?

Going left to right on your plan

The 3’8” deep closet in the game room is too narrow for a walk in. Make it a reach in.

The bow window seat seems like it would be weird on the exterior.

The closet in the guest room is also way to narrow to be a walk in closet. The hanging area is not shown to scale on any closet.

Simplify the ceiling heights, there are way too many. Having one will save you money on construction.

The living room has a lot of wasted space, try making scale model of furniture and arranging it.

Whats the point of that small sitting room?

The four doors in the office will make that room unusable because you won’t be able to arrange furniture easily.. And it is weird you walk through there to get to the bedroom.

I also could not disagree more with Patrick that a straight roofline is boring. Needless Gables and bumpouts do not make good or interesting architecture

The best houses are only 1-2 rooms deep.

The best house allow for windows on 2 walls in all pubic rooms and bedrooms.

The best houses do not put things like clothes closets, mechanical rooms, closets and utility rooms on outside walls. The best houses save those outside walls for public rooms and bathrooms.

The best houses do not need to have odd angled rooms.

The best houses do not have kitchens with no windows, meaning no natural light.

Im sorry i don’t remember your

ast version, but there is very little about this version that will live well

Why the angled garage?

You can do MUCH better. Here are all the things that are wrong...

- The ginormous angled garage is horrible. You're on 2 acres. Build a normal sized attached garage, then a detached garage/workshop.

- The angled mudroom is a bad, tiny afterthought.

- The location of the laundry and mudroom. You must pass right through the heart of the kitchen with all of your clean/dirty underwear, and every time you come/go from the garage.

- Accessing bedroom 4 by having to pass through a separate game room.

- Accessing the master bedroom by having to pass through the office.

- Having a tiny "sitting room" completely open to and directly next to a huge family room. What will you ever use this space for?

- Building a big custom home, and having a tiny 8x8 "study room"?

- The "spicy kitchen" gets a prominent place overlooking the backyard/patio, while the actual kitchen gets stuck in the middle of the house. Why??

- House is lacking practical storage. 4 bathrooms & bedrooms, yet only 1 small linen closet? No coat closet by either of the main doors, the only one being in the game room??

@Indecisiveness wrote: I also could not disagree more with Patrick that a straight roofline is boring. Needless Gables and bumpouts do not make good or interesting architecture.

(I offered my thought in the absence of the OP's side elevations, but I think what I saying is likely good advice for any home).

Perhaps I can change your mind (and the OP's) if I illustrate what I'm suggesting.

This is an issue that came up during my design review. I will share the original proposal for my left elevation, the review committee's response, and my rough solution (which still needs a railing, thicker posts and other details still being worked)

LEFT ELEVATION ORIGINAL PROPOSAL

LEFT ELEVATION DESIGN REVIEW COMMITTEE RESPOSE (WITH NOTES BELOW)

LEFT ELEVATION DRAFT SOLUTION

My point is that if the side of a home is flat with a long straight roof line, in many cases it'll be less interesting than a design that puts the same effort into all elevations as is put into the front. I suspect that we can all agree that no one wants a front elevation that's flat.

Gables and bump outs are often necessary to elevate a design, provide attractive, four-sided architecture that improves the overall streetscape and the neighborhood. IMO, it's a worthwhile investment for a well-done custom home.

In my example above, the side elevation once fully developed with additional deep-set windows, thicker porch posts, railing detail, expressed chimney stack and stone that appropriately terminates, will be a vast improvement over the original concept.

I ditto all the other concerns but will add that I think the coffee bar placement is not ideal at all.

Because you have two main pathways in the living room (one to the office/master bedroom and one to the secondary bedrooms), your usable area is greatly diminished. You need to think about furniture placement.

While walking through a kitchen to get to a garage, laundry, etc. isn't always horrible, your setup is. I have a 6 ft path through my kitchen but it's a straight shot and it's not between my prep space and my cooking area. Having to go around obstacles is really poorly thought out.

Do you really need a sitting room? In my experience, very FEW people actually sit in them. They are often wasted square footage.

I don't love the angled garage at all. Could you do a porte-cochère and detach a couple of the garages and workshop? Someone on here recently posted their completed house and it had a four car garage but had been done really well. I wish I remembered the poster's name.....can anyone help? It seems like they'd built on a farm in Alabama (maybe?) and they'd used trees from their land for flooring.......

Perhaps I can change your mind (and the OP's) if I illustrate what I'm suggesting.

I don't think you're changing anyone's mind with these illustrations.

SashaDog's comment that "a straight roofline doesn't mean boring" and "Needless Gables and bumpouts do not make good or interesting architecture" is 100% spot on.

The changes you're discussing (deep set windows, thicker posts, railing detail, chimney stack, stone terminations) have NOTHING to do with the roofline.

Besides, some random "design review committee" saying "roof eave is too long and continuous" doesn't make their suggestion correct/better.

@Patrick A To me, your revised elevation is a cluster of components thrown at the side of the house by people who don’t understand architecture. Not that I understand it nearly as well as many people here here, but Im starting to learn why things are bad. Yours could use improvement, you should create a new post with your plans for comment.

Also, here’s a funny website that explains what makes good and bad architecture

https://mcmansionhell.com/101

Small criticism of the J&J bathroom with the toilet and shower in a separate room without a sink. That handle on the door will be touched by someone coming out of the shower and not necessarily going straight to a sink to wash their hands. Kind of yucky.

My comment refers to the the overall design not just the roofline. The OP is building a custom home and my interest is in offering suggestions improving that design based on my experience as one going through a rigorous process as we speak. We each approach our responses in a different way based on our personal experience. I don't see elements in a vacuum and understand that some may disagree with me, but I just don't understand why some folks see bump-out or other features that add texture, shadow and depth to a custom home on two acres visible from all sides as something negative. Again, the OP didn't share side elevations. So, I shared mine to illustrate the point that I was trying to make in the interest of community benefit.

Besides, some random "design review committee" saying "roof eave is too long and continuous" doesn't make their suggestion correct/better.

But their suggestion is an improvement. That's the point.

@Indecisiveness

I'm familiar with Mcmansion Hell and will share my developed plan in its own thread for an appropriate beat down once I get the latest iteration from the architect and I honestly look forward to everyone's input. FWIW, mcmansions are not allowed where my home will be constructed and I think you'll discover that your comment describing my plan as a "cluster of components" based on one elevation is premature, but again, I hope you'll chime in on my design once I post it because I'm open to all good suggestions. I've dished out my share of criticism and will invite critical eyes to my plan in due time (hopefully in the next 10 days).

With that said, I don't want to hijack the OP's thread.

My comment refers to the the overall design not just the roofline.

That makes no sense. You were rebutting a comment that had nothing to do with "overall design", but was very specifically discussing rooflines. Here is the quote...

"@SashaDog wrote: I also could not disagree more with Patrick that a straight roofline is boring. Needless Gables and bumpouts do not make good or interesting architecture.

But their suggestion is an improvement. That's the point.

No, it is not the point. You were trying to disprove Sasha's point that needless gables/bumpouts do not make good/interesting architecture, which you failed to do.

If a floorplan requires a bumpout, then of course that bumpout it needs some type of roof (shed, gable, hip, ect). But if a design/floorplan doesn't require such a bumpout, then you shouldn't needlessly stick one on, because of the incorrect notion that "a straight roofline is boring."

<sigh> ok...you may disregard my comments if you like. It's the point that I was trying to make in my example. I'm not really trying to be contentious only to illustrate my point about the roofline and make a few other suggestions for the OP. I didn't say it was necessary and even qualified my comment saying that the OP didn't share elevations. My comment was a general one in the absence of elevations. (You seem to want to butt heads for some reason because you disagree with me). You can take my suggestion or or leave it. It's academic.

Again, the focus should be on the OP's plan and not on some tangent about my roofline philosophy. Please, I invite you to enthusiastically criticize my design once I post it. As it stands, I'm actually incorporating suggestions that I took away when I posted my original floorplan.

The floor plan of your home was drawn with a bumpout, which obviously necessitates a roof of some kind.

Actually, that's not true. If you had read the accompanying note, you would have seen that DRC was concerned that the roofline appeared too long and suggested that we add a gable. So, I expanded upon that suggestion and asked the architect to add a porch that could be accessed from both the laundry room and the adjacent secondary bedroom.

The floor plan of your home was drawn with a bumpout, which obviously necessitates a roof of some kind. If there were no bumpout needed in your design, then you shouldn't just slap one onto the house for the hell of it.

This is what you were suggesting the OP do, which I think most everyone would agree is bad advice...

"The west elevation is a straight line suggesting that you'll have a long (boring) roofline that could (should) be interrupted by a gable or a bump-out of some sort to make the elevation interesting."

At least Patrick has taken his valuable time to comment on other folks projects. So often here we get the poster who is falling all over themselves when it comes to their own project and "values the community" but can never seem to find the time to help someone else out in the "community". And those are the folks who typically treat the regulars here like this is some kind of paid job, especially when they don't like the feedback.

@booty bums: I wasn't suggesting (or at least my intent was not to suggest) that a a gable be slapped on. The intent, at least in my mind was, that if the OP shared the side elevations, to explore ways to potentially improve the side elevation(s) to ensure the home looks good from all sides because all too often side elevations are ignored and folks get homes that are pretty in the front with mundane side elevations. My comment was based solely on the floorplan in the absence of the side elevation. It may need nothing, but it's hard to tell when there's only a floor plan.

The closet is missing in the foyer... a nice garage you can run a repair shop out of it, master bedroom entry through the office... Why? Master Bed walking closet inside the bathroom...why?

It's a long haul to drag the laundry back and forth.

It looks like a shelf plan which needs some redesigning.

Good luck

In the northern hemisphere, if you can put your garage on the north side of your home, then the three other sides that can get plenty of natural sunlight -- the rising sun in the east and the setting sun in the west and the southern exposure getting most of the natural sunlight and the right trees planted in the right spaces could let in more light and warmth in winter while shading the windows in the heat of summer. While having a dark room for a game/movie room could be a good idea, for the rest of the bedroom and living areas of the house, you need the natural light to create a much more upbeat and welcoming vibe.

The view you do and do not have -- and the degree of privacy you do or do not have -- and, most importantly, the slope of your lot matters, too. If you have a level lot in a "subdivision", then the most ideal place for your garage is likely the north end of the lot, giving you sunlight on the other three sides. If that is the case, you could add a single car garage and/or even carport (that could even double as a covered porch) to your actual home and create a separate garage building.

You could add a separate elongated (garage) building on the north end of your lot with four garage door OPENINGS -- two on each end -- sized the equivalent of a large four car garage but not all used as that; instead, use west/driveway end as a two car garage and use the east end for your shop/storage ... and, potentially, a lot more:

Add small/short high uniformly spaced sliding windows with screens on the northern long side of the garage building to enable you to have some natural light and fresh air for your garage and shop. Since they'll be on the opposite side of your lot facing away from your home, such windows will be more secure than larger windows and yet not create a horrible view of your home the neighbors north of you will see.

On the east end of the building -- leaving the car/truck parking spaces on the west as deep as you need them -- you can then create your workshop and storage spaces -- and, perhaps, more.

You can put windows in the large openings on the east end (or even a sliding glass patio door). Remember that what windows you put on the south side of the garage building facing your home would, to a large degree, enable you to create the view from the north side of your home -- rather than looking at the back yard of a neighbor.

Adding a full bath (shower) and a "bonus" room to the garage building could enable you to use your garage building as a pool house or guest house -- and might be where you'd want your second "spice" /canning kitchen, especially if you decided to put your indoor outdoor entertainment porch against the east end of the long side of the garage building.

You could add a sheltered walk path between the two buildings.

Definitely not a fan of an angled room or rooms or garage. It is far preferable to have a squared corner -- right angle -- enabling multiple gable ends for your roof so yo can have a well insulated attic with air circulation. Even if you choose not to have a separate garage building, consider creating a right angle instead and/or connecting your garage to your home with a screened porch or sun room between the home and garage rather than using the awkward angle.

If you put the equivalent of an efficiency apartment kitchen and a pool room bath in the east end of your garage building, you could make the bonus room large enough so you could use the bonus room in the east end of your building as your gaming/movie room -- something that might be worth considering if you have teens in your house so you both get privacy (and some noise level control) -- even while large windows in the bonus/gaming room could ensure there isn't "too much" privacy.

And with the equivalent of an "apartment" in the east end of the garage building, you could choose to add your covered indoor/outdoor shelter with fireplace/grill as a connecting building -- or center building connected to both home and garage with covered walkways.

Hard to know how some aspects of the house will work for you. For example, the windowless office that is sort of the hallway to the bedroom. That's OK if it is just a place to store paper files. But if it's a place that someone will be using during daylight hours, it should have a window. Heck, if it was switched with the walk in closet it could have windows on 2 sides.

Your house doesn't have a lot of hallways, which makes the rooms look larger than they really are. You still need space to move through these rooms, and you can't place furniture there. I'd use a program to add the furniture that you think the room would have, to understand whether the traffic paths are good.

Seems to me that your spicy kitchen is causing problems. I'd prioritize light into the main kitchen cooking area over just about anything. I suggest that both kitchens have a window. For example, could you move the kitchen to where the spicy kitchen is, and move the spicy kitchen to the front of the house or to the side where the entry is from the garage?

I was born in Richardson, TX. That angled garage is a recipe for bumper cars when an ice storm hits. No J&J bathroom. The angles No. I would swap the game room with Bedroom 4. spicy kitchen? Master closet door should open in the bedroom not the bathroom. The left side of the plan needs work.

I actually like the angled garage. I think it's a whole lotta garage (it's 3x the size of my whole house), but I like the angle element.

I'm not sure about the "spicy kitchen" thing, perhaps because I'd hate it. Every time you want something from the fridge you have to go out a door, through the hallway, through another door and all the way to the other side of a long counter. Oops, you forgot the can of tomatoes. Out you go, to the pantry with paprika all over your hands; door handle #1, door handle #2. And then back again. Oopsie, you left the potatoes you just peeled next to the real kitchen's kitchen sink...

Plus, say you cook your fish in the "spicy kitchen". You've got to get your hot pan of aromatic catfish, all steamy and flavorful, and you're walking it, protected from the hot handles by oven mitts, then you're going to open the door, how? Open the hallway door, how? And where's the potent aroma going? Everywhere! Well, the "spicy kitchen" has not done a whole lot for you.

Bottom line: This concept and layout seem not at all efficient to me nor do I think they will get you what you want, namely keeping heavy aromas out of your house. Plus, bringing hot dishes back and forth is a recipe for a terrible burn accident.

In addition to all that.... then another inhabitant comes along and innocently reaches for the two door handles that are now peppered with paprika, butter, curry, and breadcrumbs, and maybe they put their hands on the wall as they go down the hallway, and maybe they get a layer of that glop on the garage door, which you're just gonna love when you're making a mad dash for your car in your business suit....

I would put that large covered patio area exactly back to back with the garage, so you can have more light in the kitchen area.

The master walk-in is in the best space in the house and the "grand central" multi-trafficked office that is the approach to the master.... Those need a re-think IMO.

I tried extracting the requirements you have for a house out of your plan and creating a layout that flows better than your current design. The layout I came up with is by no means perfect, but it might give you some ideas about how to address some of the deficiencies in your current layout.

Requirements:

• master bedroom with 4 piece ensuite and 14' of closet space
• 3 secondary bedroom, one with 3 piece ensuite
• open living area
• games room
• stair to bonus room
• powder room
• large open kitchen with island seating
• smaller spicy kitchen for messy cooking
• pantry
• large attached garage and shop
• around 3600 square feet living space + garage.

Deficiencies addressed:

• open kitchen has lots of natural light
• spicy kitchen is convenient to open kitchen and pantry and has a window
• fridge is convenient to both kitchens
• pantry shares access space with spicy kitchen which allows the same amount of storage in less space since you don't need 2 rooms
• mudroom does not route traffic through the kitchen
• mudroom has lots of storage and a bench
• powder room is private but convenient to public areas and garage
• laundry room is convenient to the bedrooms where most of the laundry is generated.
• public areas are on one side of the house and private areas are on the other
• side-load garage does not overwhelm the front elevation
• garage can be extended even further back without affect the curb appeal of the house
• shop area is accessible from driveway and from back yard
• closets are placed between rooms instead of outside walls so that they provide sound insulation and don't block the placement of windows
• natural traffic pattern won't interfere with furniture placement or work spaces

I did not include a sitting area or an office. If you'd like an office, I'd probably put it either attached to the master or next to the games room in front of the garage

/updated pic to remove some lines that were pretending to be walls

Jennifer K that's an interesting plan. Personally I like it better than the original.

I'd describe it as "old fashioned" because of some things. Not sure if these are things that are important to the original poster.

No walk-in closets. Although there is the same amount of hanging space in your plan.

Kitchen separate from living area by a wall and hallway - not open concept

Master suite smaller than seen in today's plans

Master suite on the same side of house as other bedrooms

I’m intrigued by the side entrance, and I’m rather liking it. Looks like it would serve well as an entrance for the kids coming home from the bus stop or from playing basketball or street hockey in the driveway, with cubbies there, then past but not through the kitchen, to their study and bedrooms, or pause to greet anyone who is in the game room (watching tv, working on a project, etc). And the ideal staging area for the preparations for summer camp or college.

And yet, it could also be a nice in-law suite, providing a separate space but not isolated, or totally closed off from, the rest of the family.

Although, the Bedroom’s sole window looking out on the broad driveway and garage doors makes me think it’s more of a maid’s room.

@partim, thanks! Just a note: the skinny lines aren't walls, they're meant to show the edge of a zone. So the kitchen, dining and living rooms are all one big space.

I'm really liking @Jennifer K plan. It seems to solve so many issues, especially in the kitchen area. The verandahs would still have to be thought through..

There's probably a way to make the master bigger.

Where did Aitch Lee go?

Hello All,
Sorry for the delay. We had a family emergency last few days so I did not have a chance to respond.
Thank you very much  for all the comments. It’s always good to know others’ perspective. Here is my response based on what I can remember. My apology if I missed yours.
Overall – the design has a “virtual” hallway/walkway from left to right. There is also a virtual hallway to the master bedroom. The hallway can be shared within rooms in the public area. The dining room for example. It’s only 8.5’ wide. However, we can arrange the furniture all the way out the edge of the room and use the hallway as the clearance for the room. 8.5’ wide sounds small but it’s actually 12’ wide because of the hallway next to it.
Garage – why angled? we looked at a few houses with angled garages and we like it. It’s different, and easier to turn into garage with 45 degrees compared to 90 degrees (opinion). Also the turn radius required for 45  is less than 90 so the driveway can be closer to the house i.e. less concrete, less $$. The 2 next to the house is hers and storage (mower, atv, bicycles, other toys), the furthest one is for boat, and the next to the boat is my truck and a working bay. Pull the truck out, open both doors to create a breezeway, let the south wind blow through to help with the TX heat in summers. The shop is for tool boxes, work benches, and others. That was the needs/wants for that big garage. It would be very helpful if you can tell us why you don’t like angled garage. Cost more to build? Not safety structural wide? “Why angled garage?” is not helpful at all.
Bed 4 – yes it’s a guess room. Agree that it’s not a perfect location; next to noisy garage and laundry. It might not be used as a bedroom that often so we trade that with the gameroom which will be used all the time. Bed 4 is now planned for the kids to practice music and making noise.
Gameroom – We will use this room a lot as well as the side entrance. 90% of the visitors (friends and relatives) will use this entrance, so Gameroom will be like a living room/activity room. The stairs going up the bonus room, which will be a “mancave”, yes, the cave is upstairs. I can sneak buddies in this way, go up and there we go for a poker night or a cowboys game that hardly disturb anyone. This is why the coats closet is on this entrance. Bay windows is for seating and sun bath in summer. That’s the purpose.
No closet in the foyer – this is true, however, we do have one on the side entrance. we think that’s ok as long as it’s in the public area. And as mentioned above, the foyer will not be used much.
Spicy kitchen – looks like an issue with many people. Agree that we need to move it somewhere and push the kitchen back for more natural light.
Entering the kitchen from garage is what we wanted (mainly  hers). Convenience way to unload groceries. hope thats better of we move the laundry elsewhere.
The laundry room – we’re thinking about move this room to the bedrooms side. Maybe right behind the family room that can be accessed from both sides.
Family room – waste space? I believe some of the space can be optimized. It looks and sounds big, but there are 2-3.5’ walkways on both side of the room. If we take out a walkway to the patio (between kitchen and this room), the useable area for furniture (without clearance) is 16’x 16’ , which I believe it’s a decent size and good enough for the house.
Sitting room – yes agree that It’s a little small. The intent of this room is for a piano and 2 couches. With a virtual walkway next to it, so furniture can be pushed out a little if needed and hope that it’s not TOO small.
Office – the more we think about it, the more we agree that it’s odd. The intent was just a space that we can have a desk in there for office, also a treadmill or a total gym for exercise. convinience for both family room (kids can use it) and for master bed. That’s why we put it there. Anyhow, we plan to exchange this with the master WIC as someone have suggested. and have exercise equipment somewhere.
Shared bath 2 – the door knob in the toilet without a sink gets yucky. Never though about this. we’re family and we’re ok to share all of this and live with it. The matter of the fact, the door knob is not the first one we touch because we have to pull up the pants before we can walk. 😊
 
Study room is just for the kids and office supplies, computer, printer. So we think 8x8.5 is adequate.
 
Elevation design on all sides of the house. We never thought about this. we just focus on the front any some on the back but not at all on the sides. There will be about 30-40 ft room of land left on the sides of the house. And we plan on having some sort of privacy screen (evergreen bushes/trees) and landscape to block all the junks that the neighbors have. With these factors, we’re not sure if the boring straight roof line matters much. On the driveway side, however, we might do something with the side porch.
 
Special thanks to Jennifer K for the floor plan. I like it but there are a few things that might not work for us. Master unit needs to be separated from the secondary beds. WIC is a must. A decent space for storage. Plus when we through in a large covered patio, its’ hard to design the public rooms next to it to have good natural light, unless we do a detached covered patio.
Hope I covered all. Again, thank you.

we looked at a few houses with angled garages and we like it. It’s different, and easier to turn into... Also the turn radius is less than .... less concrete, less $$... The 2 next to the house is hers and storage (mower, atv, bicycles, other toys), the furthest one is for boat, and the next to the boat is my truck and a working bay. The shop is for tool boxes, work benches, and others. It would be very helpful if you can tell us why you don’t like angled garage. Cost more to build? Not safety structural wide? “Why angled garage?” is not helpful at all.

There is a lot to respond to in your post, but I'll just pick one topic, the garage.

1) You are on TWO ACRES. There is no reason to crowd all of these disparate functions/needs into one giant mess. An attached garage has turned into an equipment locker+vehicle storage+boat storage+ workshop.

2) It it simply looks bad. It is a massive appendage growing from the side of the house. You haven't shared elevations, but I guarantee it won't look good, especially with 3 mismatched garage door sizes staring at you.

3) It isn't a good design. The 45 degree tilt makes the garage and house function poorly. Your triangular-shaped "workshop", flanked by vehicles on both sides, is a poor use of space. Have you every seen a triangle workshop? It also causes issues in the house, because now your mudroom and laundry room are oddly proportioned to compensate for the angled walls.

Build a normal sized attached garage, then a detached garage/workshop/storage space.

It will look and function much better.

2 acres or 200 ft sounds lot, but it's not that big. to have a straight attached garage, the 90 degree turn requires 30- 40 ft distance from the house. A oversized detached garage for 2 and a workshop, with some space from the house, there might not be any land left to the border. would detached garage still show the mismatches garage doors?
the triangle workshop is not actually a work space. its just for storage mainly. tools, benches. the bay with doors both end is a work place.. anyway, we need to more thought about it. hope that after we move the laundry, it has less oddly angled walls in that area.

booty bums makes good points about the angled garage look like an appendage. The angles just simply make the spaces inefficient.

What do you elevations look like? I cannot imagine how the massive amount of roof will look.

Are you working with an architect? You need someone on your team that can help you maximize your site plan.

2 acres or 200 ft sounds lot, but it's not that big. to have a straight attached garage, the 90 degree turn requires 30- 40 ft distance from the house. A oversized detached garage for 2 and a workshop, with some space from the house, there might not be any land left to the border. would detached garage still show the mismatches garage doors?
the triangle workshop is not actually a work space. its just for storage mainly. tools, benches. anyway, we need to more thought about it. hope that after we move the laundry, it has less oddly angled walls in that area.

How would you possibly use the triangle space for storage? It is mostly just a lot of open, oddly shaped floor space with vehicle parking on either side. Aside from the small amount of space on the back wall, the vast majority of it will be wasted square footage.

Even if you move the laundry, you're still be left with room(s) that are oddly shaped an inefficient, due to the garage being on a 45.

You can absolutely fit a home and a detached garage on a 2 acre lot.

Either do a side load attached garage, with a side load detached garage on the other side (no garage doors facing road)

Or front load attached garage, with a side load detached garage.

@booty bums

You can absolutely fit a home and a detached garage on a 2 acre lot.

Do we know the shape of the lot, setbacks etc?

Flattening out some of the bumpouts will provide a more symmetrical appearance, simplify the roof and reduce construction costs.

Do we know the shape of the lot, setbacks etc?

Yes, we know the shape and size of the lot, as it is explicitly spelled out in the first post...

"it will be on a 2 acre lot (200' W x 400' L)"

Surely you're not trying to argue that a home and detached garage can't be designed to fit on such a lot?

The OP's current design is a 3600 sq ft home with 2514 sq ft of (inefficient) garage space, which projects a good 40+ ft off the side of the house.

I'm quite shuddering at the poster (there's at least one) opining on someone else's needs and aesthetics and labeling them "good" or "bad" as though those are generally agreed-upon criteria. (To be truthful, I see mostly "bad" mentioned.)

For instance, @Aitch Lee has both aesthetic and functional needs for a garage shaped as designed. There's no "good" or "bad" to this! Anyone who is saying so, IMO, is wanting to impose their personal wish list onto someone else's well-thought through plan.

I, for one, think @Aitch Lee presents a full aesthetic and functional rationale for the garage design. It sounds great to me, because it suits him/her. In my personal opinion, it will look nice, too, everyone else's judgments be blowed.

I'm quite shuddering at the poster opining on someone else's needs and aesthetics and labeling them "good" or "bad" ..

For instance, @Aitch Lee has both aesthetic and functional needs for a garage shaped as designed. There's no "good" or "bad" to this!

I, for one, think @Aitch Lee presents a full aesthetic and functional rationale for the garage design. It sounds great to me, because it suits him/her. In my personal opinion, it will look nice, too, everyone else's judgments be blowed.

What are you talking about? Did you even read the first post?

The OP is specifically asking for input about the garage...

"One specific question that we would like to ask the community is the garage. Should we do attached 2-car garage and then a detached shop/garage instead of this design."

And he explicitly asked for people to share their opinions...

"Please give us your feedback, comments, and suggestions if you would."

The OP is clearly not confident or set on the "aesthetic and functional rationale" for the garage design. THAT IS WHY HE POSTED HERE...TO GET ALTERNATIVE OPINIONS.

Yet you're suggesting everyone ignore the OP's request for "feedback/comments/suggestions" and simply tell him the current design is OK? Even when he is questioning whether to change the design to an attached+detached garage?

Ok, I had sometimes today and made a new version. Please review and let us know what you think about it. I am sure it can be designed better.

No more angled garage.

Move Spicy kitchen and push the main kitchen back

Move laundry

swap game room with bed 4

Bed 4 has its own outdoor patio

Move Office

Move bath 4 and have a door accessed from patio

Note that we don't include a covered patio, which is what we would like to ask for suggestions. we like to have it next to the house cover the whole area from garage to the office, but then the living room and kitchen will not be that bright. So How do we design a covered patio for this home?

And, the second image is what we had plan for the garage/shop. please comment on that also and let us know if you have any suggestions that might work better or look nicer. Many thanks

I still don't understand WTH a spicy kitchen is? What is its purpose and why do you need it separate from the main kitchen?

I like this version MUCH better. However, I would combine the laundry and the storage area and make it so that you can enter the laundry area from both the master side and the kids' bedroom side for convenience. You can still have storage cabinets, etc. in the same space.

Why is there a wall next to the toilet in the shared kids' bath?

What is the little space above the master tub with a window? Could you move the toilet to that location and incorporate the toilet space into the master closet?

What are the walls to the left and right of the dining triple window for?

Consider making your attached garage larger. You might end up needing support columns in the center so a large door may or may not be feasible. It'll depend on how the roof is framed and supported as to which direction your ceiling trusses will run.

I would turn the kitchen island so that it's parallel with your cooktop.

I also like this version better. I’d put the cooktop and fridge behind the island with a prep sink in the island. Then hopefully the cook will be protected from mudroom traffic.

And make mudroom wider if possible.

@shead A spicy kitchen is sometimes called a wok kitchen. It's meant to keep high heat, high grease cooking isolated from the rest of the house.

Thanks, Jennifer K, for the explanation. i suppose I’d have to know the OP’s cooking style to judge whether it’s truly something to be used frequently or just a novelty item. A powerful exhaust with makeup air seems critical if it warrants its own separate room.

@shead It's hard to understand and explain the differences between the cultures. we cook a lot with lots of stinky seafood. Frying a fish is an example to use the spicy kitchen. Yes, there will be a good exhaust fan in there. Also, we do our own broth for soups ( chicken, beef bones, pork bones) with pressure cooker and slow cooker. these cookers, table top oven, and air fry will be in this spicy kitchen as well. So it's a place to keep and organize all the unpleasant cooking smell and messy so the house maintain fresh and clean. Dirty kitchen is what we call but spicy sounds better.. :)

The walls in the bathrooms are for walk-in showers.

Walls next to triple windows in dinning room were left unattended. I used to have a small closet one side and a shelving on the other side, but decided to remove them but forgot to remove the walls

@emilyam819 Mudroom needs at least 0.5' wider indeed.

@Aitch Lee, I get it now :) So kinda like a scullery kitchen? We keep our appliances on the counter in our pantry out of sight. We fry a lot of fish but DH uses a deep fryer outside to do that. Pan searing and other frying is just done in our regular kitchen with the exhaust on high.