- Any wood fired heating we have would be purely run with wood from our farm, as opposed to buying anthracite. We would really like to have woodfire doing at least two jobs, i.e. cooking and heating/heating and hot water/cooking and hot water (as we are under the impression that solar hot water would not be enough in winter??). There's nothing like lighting a woodfire to keep your house warm, except for the great big hole in the insulation that it causes. As beautiful as they are (and I'm a massive fan of open/wood fires), they are pretty bad when it comes to ceiling penetrations. A lot of insulation is lost by having an open fire, a wood heater not so much, but still bad enough. For heating, the best advice I can give is this. You need a battery storage system! Then whatever type of heating you go for, you won't run out of energy for your cooking, cooling or anything else you won't to run at the same time. I believe this is a necessity, not to mention a very smart investment. If you want to be off grid, then be completely off grid. I personally don't believe in still being connected to the grid and having the energy your home creates, sold back to you for an absolute pittance. If you invest in a good battery set up, it'll last you up to 15 years and you'll have never have to worry about heating or cooling. I visited a house about 12 months ago that was off grid for power. They purchased an induction cooktop and electric oven, that way the idn't have to worry about refilling gas bottles or having a gas bill come in either. They didn't have the smartest idea when it came to lights as they were still using halogen's, but even still, their battery system never went under 80%. Even during winter, with two teenagers, and a couple of plasma tv's, playstations and all other sorts of electrical goods that they used. They were never too careful so as to make sure they had power in reserve. They just lived life and if they needed to make adjustments, then they could've done. But they didn't need to. That was all done with a 5.5Kw/H system. You'd be surprised how well solar hot water works. It just depends on the type of system you get. Again with battery backup, you won't need to worry. - We are planning to insulate the slab, but have not gotten as far as deciding what product we would use, are there several different products like the one you described? We do plan to have polished concrete flooring throughout the entire house – with the possible exception of bedrooms on the south, if absolutely necessary they will have carpet. I know it's probably more expensive, but I would recommend the Kingspan K3 Floorboards. It is a brilliant product and I recommend it to be used in all my jobs. The effect it has on an energy rating is massive. Depending on the layout and orientation of the house, just by adding slab insulation, I have noticed an increase of almost a full star difference in the rating. So that's from 6 star compliance, to 7 star above average. Here is the product site: https://www.kingspan.com/au/en-au/products-brands/insulation/insulation-boards/kooltherm-k3-floorboard - We will also be aiming to have the optimal amount of glazing for solar gain (and prevention of heat loss). I still haven’t worked out why I can’t upload a picture of our plans, but will do ASAP as we would love to hear feedback on our plan. As for the layout, you just need be mindful of window sizes and orientation. If you have the time before you build to play around with a few different variations of your plans, it might be a good idea, as just by changing a couple of small things, it can give you large benefits. One of the main focuses I have with my business is to help people such as yourself utilise the energy rating software to make small changes at the design stage, instead of just using such a powerful tool at the building permit stage. By then it's too late to make any significant changes. Just keep that in mind. It's a small price to pay to know that your house is going to be as energy efficient as it can be. If you want to, feel free to email me the plans and I can give them a quick look for you. Just to give you some quick advice on them. Giuliano green design & consulting

I think the fridge is in a great spot - you need it to be near the walkway so people can grab something from the fridge, without invading your space. I totally agree with keeping the services out of the island bench. I would allow 800mm between the stove and sink as you are always jumping between the two when cooking and it will minimise the amount of water getting spilt on the floor. You should make sure the dishwasher is on the far side of the sink to avoid clashing between any one stacking/unpacking dishwasher and someone cooking. If you put the sink in the pantry with all you dishes it can be really inconvenient for a family that is trying to interact with the kids. I like a pantry for storage and running a mixmaster to muffle noise in the living space. If you can place the dishwasher on the bench behind the pantry that will help. Allow 1200 mm between the bench and the opposite bench/cupboard.

"Have read so much conflicting stuff..." I sympathise. I once visited a builders display home that had received some kind of 'tick of approval' for its allergy friendly design. It had in-floor heating described as specially chosen to avoid blowing dust around, and it had ducted aircon, so in the warmer months dust was blowing around anyway, I never really got an answer to that? Additionally, later I read that aircon ducts that are not used in winter can be dirtier than ducting used year round and should be closed off when not in use. I remember something about an upgrade we could have had to the air intake filter (yeah, not cheap) but this house was built a while back so what's available nowadays has no doubt evolved even further. Good luck with the research, and remember to distinguish between information and marketing.

Yes, but are you using the gap where rangehood was to centre, or the centre of the cook top. If you have cabinetry along the wall then you can hide the fact that the extractor fan/rangehood is not centre of the cook top. Or that is how it appears in your photos.