Still undecided -living room/kitchen -front or back of house?

[samy23]

Im still not sure whether to look for a house with a kitchen at the front or back of the house versus the living room at the front or back.

main thougts:

It would be good to have the kitchen at the back of the house so I can watch dd in the garden while cooking/cleaning in there. But it would also be good to have the kitchen at the front of the house so I can look out over part of the neighbourhood when in there cooking/cleaning.

However, it would also be good to have the living room at the back of the house with those double patio doors, so I can see dd in the garden when I'm sitting on the sofa. Especially when we have guests round and the children want to play in the garden, we adults can then be sat on the sofas talking while still watching the children from the patio door window.

less important thoughts:

Any mess from dirty shoes doesn't really matter since some days you would be getting dirty shoes from being outside the home and coming in through the front door, or from being in the garden at the back. So both ways you need some place to put dirty shoes, and both the front and back of the house could have seperate entrances rather than straight into the kitchen/living rooms. So that really isn't an issue to me.

Another not so imporant issue is kitchen mess, because I can easily keep the door to the kitchen closed off if it's really that bad. So I don't understand why people say they would rather it be at the back of the house, just because it's at the front guests don't need to be walking through it to get to the back living room do they? there's usually a hallway instead anyway.

Really still unsure

[mattemma04]

I have kitchen in back and living room in front.Was like that in our condo too. For the most part I have liked it this way.My only 2 gripes are that the front door is located right next to a bedroom window.I would like to move the front door to the other side of the living room by the driveway. Other thing is the detatched garage blocks my view of the back yard. I like to see the kiddos outside in the fenced yard too,but due to the garage I have to go outside.

I think when you find the right house it will just click for you,and you will accept the layout.That ,or your mind will be working on how you can make the home work for you.

[hteb83]

I have the kitchen at the front and living room at the back - I like it this way, easy access to the garden, nice view from the seating area, but I don't think it would be a deal breaker if I was looking for a different house. And we do have a side door from the kitchen so can easily get into the garden for herbs / composting etc.

(I wouldn't mind having the living room at the front - I love driving past houses at Christmas time and being able to see the decorations/trees!)

[HeatherAtHome]

It's not so much the layout of the house as the layout of house, yard, sunlight, everything together that makes a difference. Are you building your house? If yes, go to site and try to imagine where you want things to go. If you're buying a house GO AND LOOK AT HOUSES. You can't plan this all out in advance. Get into those houses, see how they feel. You could find the "right" layout and have it feel all wrong just because of the way the sunlight comes in or God forbid, you're on a corner lot or something.

I think you're over thinking this.

[SeekingJoy]

We have only had (and I would only buy) kitchen at the back or side. I want the W/D near the kitchen since we only use rags and no paper products, which means lots of laundry to be hung out to dry. I like that I can bring produce straight into the kitchen to be cleaned and put away. If we are clean enough to enter through the car, we typically have been in the car and are clean enough to be in it. Multiple times a day the kids get messier than that and enter through the backdoor into the kitchen.

Honestly, the nicest layout I have seen was c-shaped. You entered into a foyer. Stairs to the right. Dining room to the left. LR ahead and to the left. Kitchen ahead and to the right. In a way, both the LR and kitchen were toward the back of the house and both had access to the backyard through a backdoor or through a screened porch.

[Graceoc]

We have both our living room and kitchen in the back of the house - and I do perfer it that way. When you walk in we have a foyer and the DR is on the right and my office is on the left...then you walk straight ahead and the LR is on the left and kitchen on the right. You can't really see into either room if you are standing at the front door - again, something I like. Our last house the kitchen was in the front, but not by the front door - you had to walk through the DR to get to it - and that was good too. I just dont' want to see the kitchen right when you walk in...mine is usually a mess LOL!

[elsie]

We have a house with the kitchen in the front. This is my first house like this and I wasn't sure how I would feel about it. I have to say I really like it. The garage opens to the kitchen so mess can be contained. The girls like to bike in the drive way and I can watch them when I make supper. We get afternoon sun in the front of the house and my little plants that sit in the window are doing well. The best part though was during the blizzard this year, sitting at my ktichen table and watching people try to drive down the street.