Start with posting the ENTIRE floor plan

Start with relocating that half bath to the outsized mud area.

Bottom line? The house plan that holds the kitchen isn't right.

First things first.

Just a couple of things. The mud room is huge. There may be a better use of that space.

Seating so close to the range is not ideal when the range oven door is opened. If the powder room cannot be relocated, i’d at least move the door to the foyer. No one wants to see a toilet from the great room..

I deleted my posting as I found your first post and many things have already been discussed.

https://www.houzz.com/discussions/6329423/main-floor-layout-feedback-custom-walkout-bungalow#n=38

The mudroom is huge-shorten up this whole plan unless you want 10 kids since that is what that area looks like it will hold.

Hate that small powder room at the front door with an arch for no reason into a small hall for no reason.

The pantry cutting into the flow of the kitchen-useless.

A kitchen that size with the stove and fridge on the same wall never mind seating in the kitchen prep area. NOPE

Your back to the rest of the house when at the kitchen sink because you want to have a sink at the window and you entertain-again NOPE.

Too many flaws in this whole plan.

A 252 sq ft master suite with a 147 sq ft closet and a hall bathroom that is too cramped for the rest of the house. OH MY. I will stop now. Ditch the plan and start over.

Bad use of space...: ) and you really don't want to have the powder view from a great room. Pardon the quickie, go back to the architect.

ohhhhhhh OOPS. Amend.

Just saw entire plan.

No stools sitting in theactual work area so none at the end of the island. I neverwanttowalk past the rnage to go from fridge to sink All base cabinets should be drawers when possible and wider drawers on either side of the range for pots and pans . Appliances are chosen and on hand before designing the kitchen, those should all be bought for how you cook and store food. Stya with plain old stainless to allow you to get the best from each maker. The reason I say have the appliances on hand is thta those really drive the design . I dislike walk in pantries they waste space and true pullouts are much more efficent at storage. What you need is an independant KD you will make the most of that quite large space . Bigger is not always better in a kitchen. I agree the PR needs to come off the foyer not the great room Post a to scale plan with all measurements clearly marked of at least the kitchen , mud room and dining space . Since the design is not hampered by anything major just the floor plan nothing else . Show windows of they are already part of the plan .Try not to have applainces in corners if possible . My fave for layout with great storage is often a wall designated for fridge and true pullout pantries and if enough space the wall ovens Make sure when giving us the floor plan you include the sizes of the appliances for sure. That way at least you get lots of the free advice offered here so you go armed with some idea of what is important to you.

It’s not all that important to have the sink under a window. That’s a holdover from times past when homes didn’t have dishwashers and required standing at the sink for long periods of time washing/drying dishes. I haven’t had a window there for several homes - I wouldn’t sacrifice a well-planned kitchen for that.

Holy moly AMEND:

Just saw entire plan. Start over. Where the heck is the laundry as you plan four kids? Out in the garage?

Start over. The kitchen is the least of the issues.

I don't understand, when given the wide open opportunity for a two story home ? The oft repeated "sacrificial story" lost to vaulted great rooms and stuffing multiple bedrooms, and a primary suite on the first floor. You need a do over on this. May looms.

Start with the concept that a ten foot ceiling in a great room is more than enough. Nine everywhere else, and 8 on a second floor. Four kids?

You put a powder room in the MUD. For the last brush of teeth, before the darn school bus.

Linda, are you planning to homeschool your children and use that mud room as a school storage space? If not, I think you can reduce your mud room and create another room in that area or a large storage closet. In my dream home, there would be a climate-controlled storage closet large enough to store an artifical Christmas tree and all of our decorations. I think I would need a space measuring about 4 feet by 5 feet to accomplish that. Even larger if you have a lot of temperature sensitive decorations. There are no basements where I live and attics are too hot for storing delicate things.

I think a window over the sink is absolutely optima but agree that facing your guests is a real plusl. The window and the sink are the focal point of most kitchens, but even a large window will work wonders along that wall, or two smaller windows flankiing a range.

I agree with the many posts suggesting an re-imagining of the entire floorplan, the bathroom and closet in the master suite are really over the top. What about a small study/office/sitting area in the master suite instead so you have a quiet place of your own? Or a workout area instead of a bowling alley closet? I'd also recommend a closet for you and a closet for your husband. Two master bathroom closets are just wonderful, as would be a linen closet. We want to help you... It's going to be great!I

Did you already post this on the “building a home” forum? if not, go there post haste.

i will also say that this is an exciting time and the design phase should be a pleasant experience. Its okay to break up with whoever this design professional is.

Anyone willing to draw up a plan with a toilet opening onto a great room needs to be fired imo.

PS I love kitchen-in-the-front floorplans and think yiure on the right track there for sure.

Put the bedrooms on a second floor and get a really great house.

Don't waste 400 plus square feet on a vault you will have to heat and cool, cut blinding light with window treatments.

You can still have beams! You can have a lot of things : )

Including the opportunity to have an actual adult evening with kids safely above - snoring as you host the grownups who got their baby sitters.

One floor living has pro's, but not when it isn't really big enough for all you want You spend a ton on roof line and still fall short of the needs for a big family.

@JAN MOYER

I agree we need to revamp the entire floor plan however, I REALLY like that drawing you did. That is such a better use of the mudroom space.

I am located in Canada, and (to my dismay) we pretty much have to do a basement. Where we live, we have to dig such a deep foundation that it would be ridiculous not to incoporate that into living space. Our house is also being built on quite a slope, so it will be a very airy walkout basement.

Here is a snap of our full layout so you don't have to flip between threads, but I do have a laundry room in the bedroom wing of the house. I have horses & dogs so the space in the garage is just a spot for an industrial W&D for washing animal blankets and other things I want to keep out of my primary W&D.

I am just chatting with the designer now, I think I will incoporate your idea in our mudroom and swap the master bedroom with the ensuite/WIC. We will see what it looks like with those adjustments.... I am willing to completely rework the house, but we have to keep it as a bungalow/ranch style house.

Why did you start a new thread when the first one has had tons of comments and suggestions?

It was not my intention to start a duplicate thread… Someone had suggested to post the kitchen specifically in the kitchen forum.

I think I did that wrong!

It doesn't matter, really. The two threads or one, because in this case?

Maybe just post in both of your threads :

"Okay, hearing all of you loud and clear! Will take some time to think, go back to the architect and consider everything pointed out in both threads, both places"

Good Plan.......: ) ( above comment ) At least you won't have wasted all that space in mud, and solves the bad powder room view issue.!

While I understand the excitement of a new build/design with an architect, there are literally thousands of house plans THAT WORK. When we custom-built our current (and last) house, I went through hundreds of home plans (in books then, on line now) and found a half dozen that would suit our building lot and our requirements. THEN I went to an architect with those designs in hand. What we ended up with was something we’ve never regretted…a “stock” plan tweaked (smaller primary bath, larger walk-in closet; bigger dining room; garden level basement on one side) to suit our needs. No one needs to ‘start from scratch’ these days. There are only so many ways to lay out rectangles to suit every day living.

Linida, one more thing: if you hope to have a large family, think about incorporating a nursery alcove in your master bedroom. A corner that would fit a dresser/changing table and a bassinett. Nothing huge, just a way to keep your babies close for those first few weeks. Down the road, it could be a sitting area. You could do this by cutting your laundry room in half (rotate the washer and dryer to face the hall) and using the back half as a little alcove.

The view of the toilet from the great room is the least of your worries.

Ok, I know this is TMI, so those who don’t like to read about bodily functions can skip this comment. 😝 I am just imagining certain scenarios.

Will the bathroom be sound proof? I don’t really want to hear anyone’s, (in my case my G’ma’s 🤭) muffled tooting noises. When you gotta go, you gotta go, right?

Think about the lovely smells that will float out as the door opens. Quick, everyone run for the backyard!

Even if they quickly shut the door, now the next person has to endure that. Well, I guess they could open the window and hope it airs out.

If the window is open, I would hope no one is standing on the front porch because then they get to hear them tinkle and flush or those other embarrassing noises.

Here is another thing I can easy imagine with the four kids. So lets say you are having one of your frequent parties. People are hanging out in the great room. You are cooking up a storm in the kitchen. You suddenly hear over all the commotion your adorable toddler still somewhat in potty training mode yelling, ”Mommmmeeee! I did a dooooodeee! Come wipe my tuuuuushie!”

Sheloveslayouts said, “Anyone willing to draw up a plan with a toilet opening onto a great room needs to be fired imo.” Totally!

Now don’t get me started on the kitchen design….

Has he or she ever cooked a meal? Have they ever seen a large L-shaped perimeter kitchen with an island before? Who puts the fridge and stove crammed together on the smallest section of countertop which has seating behind it and is a walkway? Why just ignore all that nice connected counter space in the huge L perimeter? No common sense here.

If I were you, as much as I would hate losing money, I’d run away and cut my losses. You deserve a home that you will enjoy for many, many years to come and make beautiful memories you’ll cherish. This is more like that home that you cuss out daily because of the poor design and that you want to remoldel, not a brand new build.

Odd. I am curious if my comment above posted. I can see it but it didn’t bump up to the top or show my user photo as the last comment. Maybe it didn’t like a word that I used? I changed it to tooting. 😬

@rebunky, your comment posted. 😊

With a desire to have 4 children, you might want to consider a full sized all-refrigerator and all-freezer.

I agree with @winterwynd - go find a basic floor plan you like and can tweak. A friend of mine just showed me two floor plans for a new house, which we spent 2 hours working on. Then she will go to her architect. She loves the minor-on-paper but huge-to-her changes. Both layouts were similar (she has already spent a lot of time perusing floor plans on multiple websites). Her basic “must haves” are now solidly laid out, since the online ones are pretty darn good.

No need to start from scratch.

I think the good news is you have lots of space to make a large AND functional kitchen. I'd work out the bigger room placement issues then the kitchen can be adjusted to work well.

I wish people would scroll an entire thread before they comment.

The op had already agreed that a move of powder room to mud area made much more sense, far from the madding crowd in a great room via a hasty sketch in red......prior to the "tooting" addition.

As to ditching this architect or any other for an online plan? This architect is already familiar with a deep dig lot, views, the entire site. It's not an unequivocal vote for all architects, or for giving any free reign - but no house on any site is a simple as cobbling together rectangles , or tweaking what may not work on your site, your setbacks, lot lines at ALL.

Few homes are better than one created with a team: architect, builder, kd, interior designer, and the future owner. Site considered, interior exterior marriage.