Posted By arkie6 on 01/09/2010 1:37 PM
A few comments on your plan:
Overall, I like the layout since the back faces south.
I don't see a tub in the master bathroom. This could really limit your potential buyers if you ever had to sell the home.
Is that a window over your masterbath sink area?
As previously stated, you need more space between your kitchen sink and dishwasher. Think about where the door of the dishwasher will be when it is open.
I would want some counter space next to the refrigerator. If you want to pour a glass of milk or juice, where are you going to set the glass? I would eliminate the opening from the kitchen to the living room. Put ~6' of wall there and locate the fridge along that wall with more counter space so that you can move the dishwasher to the left ~2'. I like the doorway from the kitchen to the hallway and would keep it. It provides direct access from the garage to the kitchen.
1/2 bath door facing kitchen. I would rotate that room 90 deg CCW so that the door is facing the mudroom.
Pocket doors. Why? Where you have them located you could easily put in a regular door. I much prefer to open/close a regular swing door than to mess with a pocket door.
I would make the stairs in the house go down to the basement and the stairs in the garage go up to the attic space. If you ever wanted to finish the basement and make it into livable space, I would prefer to access it via the house rather than the garage. And the attic space over the garage is generally more accommodating for a storage area since there will likely be no or much less insulation up there compared to the main part of the house. Having the attic access stairs close to that area would be better in my opinion.
Assuming you will have forced air heating or cooling, where do you plan to put your HVAC return?
excellent questions. we had some of the same for the draftsman, and are having some changes made. We went back & forth about the location & entrance for both the 1/2 bath & the laundry. We're actually going to flip those around. The master closet will get a little smaller to accomodate the laundry in that location, and I think that the rear entrance through the garage will become a little bigger. The door to the 1/2 bath will be on the left side as you come in through the garage, so that you won't be looking into the bathroom from the kitchen. That whole rear entry will be shifted over, so that as you come in from the garage you have a straight shot into the kitchen.
I'm not too concerned about no tub in the master. It's what we wanted. We didn't want to waste money & square footage on a tub that we know we will never use. As far as retail, in this area we actually see quite a few masters with shower only, so I don't think it will hurt us too much if we sell. It's something to think about (resale) but we do plan to be here a long time so it's not the most important factor.
I agree about the counter space by the fridge. I think I mentioned it in an earlier post, but the plan is to close off that doorway from the hall, rather than close it off from the living room. Some of the appliances will be rearranged too. there are a few things (like that) that we didn't discuss with the draftsman, so he took some license with it. We talked through it & he is making changes.
A couple people commented about the location of the dishwasher. I've seen this island/sink/dishwasher layout in several homes we've toured, but I've obviously never lived in one. It's a valid point & something to think about. We may end up moving that.
Pocket doors - another where he took some license. We told him we don't want them.