Firstly, will this be the main dining and living area! Have you considered the noise factor of having the laundry in the living room? My thoughts using the option posted with two separate spaces. Have the laundry an enclosed space as drawn. Open the breakfast area with removing the right hand storage, and have the bottom bench go to the corner. This gives extra room to stand and deletes the troublesome corner storage. My question is? Who will be standing in the small pantry area making their breakfast? If it is just one or two people getting ready in the morning, at different times, fair enough. But if it is a family, how will you all use the breakfast area at the same time? Why can’t you just have a pantry for storage and bench space for appliances? So, I guess, I’m recommending a combination of your two design plans. Separate enclosed laundry and open bench space with pantry cupboard storage. Are the living glass panels fixed or doors. You would have more wall space if you deleted the walk out from kitchen area.

Or this, making an enclosed laundry, changing walk out access to dining room.

Thanks for your comments. The glass panels cannot open as the pool is on the other side.. The only access is through the sliding door. There is a large adjacent loungeroom, but this combined area will be the only dining area. Yes, I agree the breakfast bar would only accommodate one person at a time, so it is not very practical. I'll have a play around with your ideas.

In your plan where does the foot beside the laundry go? And do you want a tv in the lounge area?

We will have a TV in our larger lounge area, and we may swap the dining table for the lounge. The foot in the laundry - I am presuming you mean the shelves in the pantry area. This would be food storage.

Kate?? Foot?? The door next to the laundry goes into the lounge. Note words on the second plan.

Sorry. Door beside. The laundry.

Yes, it is the front lounge room.

Another suggestion. Turn the island to be facing the pool area and walk out. Have the laundry closed off behind the kitchen area. Very rough, not to scale sketch, but hopefully you get my idea. The laundry with a door on the walkthrough to front lounge area.

Is this a new build or a renovation and is the staircase open to the family room and why is there a door between the kitchen and Living room. There also appears to be a passageway going from the stairs to the front of the house but hard to know without seeing a floorplan

This is a reno and extension of a 1950s brick house, with a new upper storey (2 bedrooms/ensuite and small study). We had a tight budget. The staircase is open to the family room. The doorway to the lounge was for flow and light but could be closed in. In an ideal world, we would have extended out the back, moved the pool, or done a knockdown rebuild, But alas, our budget would not allow further structural work, and we had to stick within our current footprint.

Keep the living room entry but make sure it has a door on it for noise control.

Laundry at back is better so you have some place to hide the mess

I like your suggestion, Oklouise. I hadn't thought of the laundry in that position. Do you think a wall between the scullery and laundry area is necessary? Only saying this as we currently have large windows on that wall.

please explain the specific location of the large windows and i would prefer the laundry and scullery separated and able to be closed off so that dirty clothes and food aren't in the same space and you could have a Solar Skylight in the laundry but there should also be ventilation to outside that could be installed through the wall between laundry and pantry and hidden inside a soffit above the pantry wall cabinets

Post a photo of the window if existing. I assume it is splashback window as your first plan had bench and overhead cabinets on that back wall

The window is shown in the last plan anna posted

Always laundry and pantry separate, in my opinion. Two completely different tasks are happening in these areas. Preparation or storage of food, and storage and cleaning using chemical products.

This opens up the family room, the laundry could be under the stairs but having a large study space this could be used for laundry and very convenient for upstairs laundry, you could even access it from the bathroom as you would use this plumbing

Having a pool ,have you allowed for wet clothes and toilet access, is the driveway down beside the kitchen, The desk behind the WIP could be for a kitchen study or even a breakfast station..

It will be interesting to see how your family uses the entrance and choice of turn left or right.

Thank you so much for all your comments and suggestions; they are truly appreciated. This is our first renovation, and we find it quite overwhelming. We really regret not employing a good designer!

Regarding the window behind the kitchen, the current window is 2.7 x 1.2m, 900mm from the ground. If we go with the original plan, this window would have to stay as we can't afford to replace it with another window. If we move the laundry and pantry, then we could afford to replace the window with a splashback window. I'll upload a picture of the space tomorrow when it's light.

We have a garage under the house, so there is no driveway next to it. It is only a pathway, and there is probably insufficient space for an external laundry. I have considered taking space from the study, though this would also limit our bedrooms—this space is the original second bedroom. We will have two upstairs and two downstairs. There would be some room under the stairs, though this was set aside for a broom closet/rain jackets, etc. Our original laundry took up most of this space.

What aspect is the rear of the house, do you have an original plan of the house on the site with dimensions, how do you access the garage, can you post a google earth shot of the house on the block.

How many will live in the house. Is it brick and tile and is the pool at the same level of the rear of the house

Here are some extra images: an old survey, a rough floor plan of the original ground floor, and a photo of our proposed kitchen space. Our house is North-West facing, and the Kitchen is North-East facing. We are a family of 4, including 2 adult students. The garage is accessed only from the outside. The house is double brick, and the new upstairs extension is timber with a Colourbond roof. The pool is at the same level as the house and very close. The land steps up at the back.

Another variation to Siriuskey design. Tuck washer dryer under stair