Must haves when house searching that I don't 'get'

[Greenlightredlight]

All open plan.
Why? Much nicer to have separate rooms where people can do their own thing, and to not have cooking smells invading the whole downstairs.

Kitchen Islands.
Usually just become dumping grounds for loads of rubbish and take up loads of floor space.

Millions of ensuites. Just more toilets to fucking clean! In new builds they seem to have to squeeze them in even if it makes the bedroom tiny! Makes no sense to me. Rather have the space in the bedroom.

What shape should a living room be, if not rectangular?

Oh, anyone, as a potential gardener, needs a south facing garden

Actually I agree with the previous poster. Which ever way your garden faces, you get sun during the day for a lengthy period and during long hot days, some shade at some point does the garden a world of good. Last summer was not a unique event in history.

Clearly much depends on the size of the garden, but there is no doubt there is benefits in not having a south facing garden when it comes to long hot spells and potential hose pipe bans.

Square Trills. I hate long rectangular sitting rooms. They just look like corridors.

I would not like an open plan kitchen either.
My kitchen is like a bomb site when I make a meal . Who would want to see that?

I'm also not keen on those offices under the stairs that were seen as a very clever use of space a few years ago.

I love our island. I stood on one side of it cooking yesterday while DD1 sat on the other doing her homework. Excellent use of time . I do fight an ongoing battle against DH's piles of shite on it but if I take care of it every evening, it stays civilised.

Don't like open plan though - our kitchen/diner is, which does mean I need to give some thought to what I serve for anyone coming for dinner as last minute prep can result in a mess - but we then have a separate living room which is lovely.

I think ensuites work well if they were included in the original plans for the house - so they are a sensible size/shape and, crucially, they must have a window. Ensuites that have been added at a later date are often unsuccessful - strange shape, odd, cramped layout and no window. Also the remaining part of the bedroom is often a strange shape.