If I was looking to reduce this plan in order to spend less money, then I would cut out the "spare" kitchen and 2nd island. I understand the appeal of a wok/work kitchen, but it truly is a luxury item for those with space and budget to fit them in. I use the side burner on my outdoor grill to fry/saute messy stuff.

Lots of hallway space that could be reduced or eliminated. Reduce the size of some of the rooms. Smaller pantry. Take out the hallway that runs through mudroom and laundry.

What is your goal? What does your architect say? Is this the first draft with all your wants and it ended up much bigger than you thought, size and budget wise?

Thank you Chispa! Yes, this the first draft with all our wants, but including the second floor and basement, we are at 6800 sqft under AC (ouch)!! We ideally would like to stay at 5500 and have budgeted for that as well.

I see you are planning for ADA-compatible (not compliant?) bathroom, but it seems to me that the entrance to that bedroom is not wheelchair friendly. The turn into it seems too tight, and I wonder if a reach-in closet is more accessible?

I have to agree with Chispa, there is a lot of wasted space in the main Kitchen, let alone the "spare Kitchen". That's the first place I would cut back on.

If you're worried about the FOGSS (fumes, odors, grease, smoke, steam) from high-heat/high-oil/high-odor cooking, be sure you have very good ventilation over the range. Get a hood 12" wider than the cooking surface (so it extends 6" beyond each side of the range), at least 24" deep, and a fan with high cfms (> 1000cfms).

I would also rearrange the Kitchen because it's not making a good use of the available space.

The person that designed the house is best qualified to reduce the square footage. They should know you well enough to be able to know where to cut. If not, find a local architect that can design a home that meets your needs and fits your site.

Thanks everyone!! This our first time building from scratch, so had no clue about the sqft challenges! It seems like we need to go back to the drawing board and have the architect reconfigure this floorplan.

Do you need four burners in each kitchen? And two islands in the main? But the oven in the pantry? And a 20’-long pantry? Do you do catering?

It may be helpful to convey to the architect your budget or target square footage.

The architect is aware of the sqft we want as well as budget, but I guess he wanted to show us what it looked like with all our wants? Not sure.

I agree, the pantry is very large and no, I don't need it that big. That entire middle area is way to big for my liking, so we may just need to redo this altogether.

If you need to cut more than 10% of the square footage, you need a completely new design. Talk to your architect again. It's a waste of your money to pay the architect to develop designs so far beyond your stated budget and size requirements.

I think you don’t need a full redesign but a tighten up. Our first draft of our new home was almost 800 square feet bigger than we wanted and we ended up getting it down to what we wanted without much fuss.

If your current architect cannot meet your needs, don't hesitate to find another one. Try not to worry about the sunk costs of the current plan. Our last architect (an actual architect, not a draftsman or designer) walked our lot, knew our size preference and desire to have the largest possible backyard. He presented a plan that was 35% larger than our max SF and was so wide that we would have lost over half of our backyard due to its width requiring the house to sit back twice as far from the street as any of our neighbors' homes. It had little that we requested and too much that we did not want. The second house plan, while slightly smaller, appeared to be all about looking impressive while ignoring the realities of our climate and the house's orientation. We cut our ties and our losses as soon as we saw it. He's done lovely work for other clients, but for whatever reason did not work out for us.

Friends had a similar experience a few years ago when planning to scrape and rebuild their lake house. Their architect had already billed $25K before they realized they'd never be on the same page. He designed houses that looked too much like their upscale suburban home and nothing like the casual and easy to maintain lake cottage they desired. They now have a comfortable lake cottage that can withstand large weekend parties hosted by their adult children and is also a great refuge for the two of them.

Perhaps starting over with a new architect would be the way to go. Don't show him the current plan, but instead explain what you need and want, prioritizing the needs, as well as your budget limits. Good luck!

Thank you everyone! We spoke to our builder and he feels we do need to scale down in order to stay within our budget. We have some ideas after staring at the plans all day and will present it to our architect. If that doesn't work, then going with the idea getting a new architect may be the answer.

The other option is we wait to finish our basement. If we do this and scale back in some areas, we will be well below 5500 sqft.

Basements don’t cost a lot when you build new. They are well worth doing when you build. They need to have all the plumbing done for future and framed etc anyway. So your aren’t paying for much more to add drywall, paint and flooring. Yes I realize there is actually more but it’s such an easy thing to get done

You haven't said anything about your family, so I assume you need a MIL room with garage and prayer room. Consider that a future buyer may have different needs, so design your prayer room so it could be a bedroom, office or craft room for someone else.

You show several walk-in closets, even in the hallway. They take up space, because they require empty area in which to stand. Reach-in closets are more space efficient. Along the same lines, pantry cabinets are more space efficient than a walk-in pantry.

If your builder is already telling you this will run over budget, figure it will cost even more than that by the time you are done.

I'll give your architect the benefit of the doubt. You said 1st draft of your desires, and as a newbie to this process we don't know how much "hand-holding" he has to give you about design or non-chalantly bring your wants back to earth. Your plan is basically there in that there is not much difference in adjacencies of a typical house. CAD drawings with dimensions and hatched walls is misleading, as it seems very "final," yet you are still in a preliminary phase called "schematic design." Keep refining/learning what you want/like and figuring out how to verbalize that with the architect.

I don’t really had advice but your floorplan reminded me a little bit of mine - we have a prayer room too! :) we ended up designing a one story home with 4 bedrooms (mom and mil on one side, husband kid and I on the other). I originally had a double island situation too but we ended up being able to work that out and keep a walk in pantry. Take your time with the design process!

Add windows, especially in the prayer room; you'll want to see someone else's creation than man's.

Great comments and suggestions all around. To begin with, consider the arrangement of the space as shown below. This layout puts the single garage in the front so it does not compete with the entrance; and moves the family room and kitchen to the left so that the kitchen is lined with the dining room and the stairs have one less wall exposed to the elements. I hope this helps.

This is the revised first floor we got back from our Architect. He still needs to add the 2nd master/in law suite behind the family room/fireplace. The mess kitchen will be constructed in the future, for now we will leave it as a walk in pantry area. Any suggestions you guys have for changes?

@Apexa Patel, Hi, could you upload a higher definition or resolution image? The one in your post is poor quality.

@Apexa Patel, also, in order to produce a viable floor plan, it is essential to know more about the site, your wants in regards to the connection to the outdoors, etc.

Here is are most updated plan. I'm very confused on what to do with that hallway between prayer room and dining room. Any suggestions, will it look too odd? Our purpose was so the space can feel more open and airy.

As a quick fix, I just stuck the entry closet there, which allows a bigger Flexroom closet next to the bathroom or option for tub in there. Also I'm not sure why the Foyer/Flexroom wall is offset like that to begin with. Maybe the "hallway" fix can be part of a reworking of the Dining room, stair, and Laundry.

What I'm leading to is a few things: that mole stuck on the side of house, the 2nd Master Bath. It should be worked into the main footprint or enlarged to a proportionate bumpout. Also, you may prefer it, but it seems the Laundry having its own separate prominent entry directly into the Kitchen is not a choice many people would make, functionally or aesthetically. Also, the garage concrete foundation wall is unnecessarily jogging (in BLUE what I think they would build), you can overhang some floor portions, but try not to. The Great Room seems a bit on the small side in comparison to the rest of the house. So all these things together, maybe the Dining winds up sliding down towards the Prayer, or Laundry/Garage simplification somehow rearranges things, and the "hallway" goes away.

Mirroring garage entry is a big switch. I take it a tight, flat, suburban lot?

We have a sloped lot and some tree on the right that need to be saved so we had to switch the garage to the other side.

Do you mind that your dining table has no windows near it? I consider that a dining room should have one of the highest priorities to a great view, since you are just sitting around while eating and can actually enjoy it.

In our current home we have expansive views in all directions (we are on a country acreage), but the view from the dining table is the one I see the most. When I am in the living room or library I am reading, on the computer, playing board games, having a conversation etc... so I am not actually looking out of the window. At meals we have the time to let our eyes wander to the outdoors and enjoy our gardens!

It is also really nice for all of the main rooms to have light on two sides of every room. Humans naturally gravitate to well-lit spaces, and light on two sides makes a room MUCH more enjoyable. I would make sure all of the main rooms have light on two sides. In your last floor plan your pantry (or second kitchen, I can't quite see your floorplan) has a lovely double sided exposure, while your living space will have to make do with a single wall of windows. Single exposures are much less enjoyable to be in.

It looks like you are building a high-end home, and I think you can do much better than this. Consider your view and the exposure of each room. Think about the time of day you want to be in each room and how much light you want. Think about the internal views within your home. What style of home are you building? Are you referencing any specific style of architecture?

In our current home, we have a library with windows on three sides (since it projects off of the back of the home), and although the room is small, we use the room all of the time. Our huge living room with its wall of windows sits empty because the library has such beautiful light at every time of day! Window placement is one of the most critical features to the enjoyment of a home, and you want to make sure you consider this first and foremost. Go to your site and stand on a ladder at the floor height of your projected home. What views do you want to see? What views do you hate? What is the light like at different times of day?

With careful thought you can build a work of art as a home.

I recommend the following books:

A Pattern Language by Christopher Alexander

Get your House Right: Architectural Elements to Use and Avoid by Marriane Cusato

I wish you the best in your home design journey! Houses are so fun and it is such a delight to design a custom one. It takes time to get it right and you should not rush.

@Apexa Patel, Hi there. I would like to make several suggestions but I am unable to make out the details on the image provided. Would it be possible to upload the plan on a higher resolution format. Thanks in advance.

Felix, for some reason it's not uploading to full resolution.

Would you mind sending me the file to felixpradas@hotmail.com. Maybe, that way I will get better resolution. Cheers!

I wanted to apologize if my previous comment came off at all negative.

Building a house is hard work and you are doing the right thing by getting input from all of the lovely people on here! I can see that you have worked hard at coming up with a home that meets your needs, and hopefully by considering some of the other elements you can get an absolutely beautiful home that fits your family.

@Apexa Patel, Hi there. Please consider this rearrangement of your latest floor plan. It reduces the footprint, aligns the front entrance spaces, and eliminates some unnecessary walls around the mudroom an pantry/scullery kitchen areas. I moved your dining into the living space so it can share the views to the rear and take the place of pride it deserves.

I left your master bath as a bump out since this helps to add more light and also bumped out your master bedroom slightly into the back yard. I hope this helps.

@Apexa Patel, Hi. Please consider this additional arrangement of the floor plan.

By the way, are you aware that the height between the ground level and the upper floor is 12'6" (if we go by the number of steps on the stairs)? This means the ceiling is at least 11'. This is a very elegant height but also carries a significant cost in materials and doors and windows (which have to be designed carefully to balance the tall walls). I am looking forward to seeing the end result. Cheers!

Thank you so much Felix!

Here is another arrangement of the master bath, relocating the toilet to increase the sense of privacy. Cheers!

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.

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 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 dining areas.

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

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.

CP do you just copy and paste your same comment over and over? I bet you already did on this thread weeks ago.