If you are after plans of architecturally designed homes, magazines may be your best bet (try libraries as you are unlikely to get most at the newsagent), however there are also a number of open homes and architecturally designed homes that are open to the public, including the Rose Seidler House. Also, if you are trying to get away from the kit-home look, take note of how the architects and designers use everyday material creatively in unexpected ways to achieve a highly polished look. As for your floor plans, further work is needed to the downstairs plan. I would seriously question whether you need two bathrooms downstairs. The bathroom for the guest room could be used by everyone (maybe consider setting it up as a three-way bathroom). You can remove the doors between the pantry and the butler's pantry, it is already hidden and just uses up space. As MB Design & Drafting has said, there is a lot of empty space on the downstairs plan and there is going to be an empty void around the meals area. Also of note, try to have continuity in your windows - that is, try to minimise the number of different sized windows and ensure they are standard sizes where possible (its cheaper and more cost effective to make 10 of one thing rather than 10 custom sizes); and try to ensure that the header and sills have a relationship. You have engaged an architect as you feel they are able to successfully design you ideal home. I would suggest giving the architect the ability to experiment and push your brief, otherwise you are doing yourself and them a disservice and you should have gone to a draftsperson how would have simply just drawn up your ideas as you stated them. You are on the right track, so don't give up! Often a design needs lots of discussion between the client and the architect before a great design can be achieved. Whilst it is wonderful that public forums such as this exist, ultimately the discussion needs to occur between yourselves and the architect as you are the ones who will be living there. Take time to listen to their ideas, and don't be afraid to question something you don't understand.

Both look like nice designs! If you like this style you should check out what Zanda Architectural Hardware has on offer - they've got a great range of modern door handles.

oklouise thanks for the ideas. We have actually really thought about the zoning. We want the two bedrooms on the southern side with a bathroom between for privacy. We also want the eastern lounge room to pop out as a dining room in that spot will waste a gorgeous view. We had a straight alfresco and thought it was all a bit hohum. I will attach the first and second drafts to see where we have come from. The first draft we had drawn was too boring for us ... Garry hated draft 2 as he thought it was too wide for solar access and didn't give cross ventilation (north to south or vv). It's only positive was the flow of west/east cross ventilation. Also the bathroom was too tucked away for guest use when we are using that nice alfresco area. We quickly scrapped all those ideas... LOL As I said, we like skillion roof lines and are planning on clerestory windows to maximise northern sun. Some raked ceilings will probably happen too (and definitely 9 foot ceilings in living areas). the mudroom/laundry will probably be incorporated into the hallway. Unlike some on this forum previously I don't object to entering through the laundry. It kind of gives a landing spot for groceries from the car on those cold days you don't want to leave the whole house open. The garage may actually be a carport to ensure we can have ventilation come through that way and to help us with budget.

Apologies for taking so long to come back into the conversation but I have been busy arranging my own kitchen redesign and renovation..... as you do. Thanks for supplying the overall living layout... I think. Your layout confuses me more so now than before. I could be completely wrong but I'm getting the sense that the house has probably seen a series of remodels and extensions in it's time. Each extension has probably disrupted the natural flow and layout of the previous living zones and made more problems, rather than solve them. Am I correct to think: The double doors are the front entrance? The single door next to them, leads to a bedroom or office or something similar? If my hunches are right, then The SNUG / LIBRARY This appears to give you the greatest solution to making a generous new kitchen. I go back to my first RED kitchen as the inspiration. I liked the siriuskey suggestion to have a walk-in scullery at the very end of the kitchen, so my suggestion would be to incorporate that with my red kitchen U design where the kitchen is on the opposite wall to where you currently have it. [YES, I know you would have to cut through the concrete to get the plumbing across to that side but in the overall scheme of things, you would end up so much more usable bench area and entertaining opportunities. I'm having to do just that to reconfigure my kitchen but by biting the bullet, I'm getting something that works, not something that just 'makes do'. ] Move the door to the dining room around onto the snug wall as I previously suggested and use the whole of that dining room wall to get a huge kitchen worthy of entertaining your guests. When I look at your plan, the fact that you have a lounge, a family eatery, a family room and outdoor entertainment all in close proximity - these all scream that the snug/ library is probably a very under used space. I would do away with it altogether and knock through into the lounge. You would then have a proper flow between that and your family living areas. I'm getting vibes that the lounge is another very under utilized area of your house......or at the very least an area that you have to make yourself go to .....because on the plan, it feels so isolated from the rest of the living spaces. With all of this in mind, I think the remaining snug area and [if I'm correct] the entrance could be combined to make a grand entrance. I would even go one step further and suggest that by extending the entrance into the snug space, what ever the space is beyond the single door off the current entrance, could benefit by relocating the wall closer to the double doors. I'm going to make the suggestion that, as we currently don't have a full picture of your house plans, you will probably benefit greatly by having an architect take a proper look at the layout of the house. Architects don't come cheap but in this instance, I get the feeling they will be able to resolve a lot of the inherited problems in a much better way than this forum is going to be able to do.