Upstairs living/kitchen/diner - would you?

[Cherrypips]

So, I’ve been getting great feedback from my new build queries - thanks all!
So, now the latest curve-ball suggested by my architect is to consider having the kitchen and living area upstairs.
The house will back into an up-and-coming historic square that is slowly being rejuvenated with cafes, boutique hotel, brewery, museum and arty studios. A fantastic space that is the reason we bought the house in the first place.
Out front is a big leafy park.

I can see his reasoning as it would give a great view out to the square. A downstairs living/kitchen area would open to a pretty south facing garden (but relatively small) with a big stone wall - still nice, just not a ‘special’ view.

Now, I am planning this house with a view to it being perfect for us into our later years ... ground floor master, easy maintenance etc - and not once I had I thought I’d want the hassle that might come from upstairs living!

I know a good architect’s job is to make the most of a project, but he is making my life a torture by making me reconsider so many of my priorities! I feel like I’m going backwards in this whole project and it’s really frustrating me....

Any insights/considerations welcomed - thank you.

Do you have/intend to have children? If so, living/kitchen downstairs - is there room to have a small lounge upstairs in this scenario? If dc are not in tbe picture, then living/kirchen upstairs sounds great.

My grandparents lived their later years (Grandpa to 88, Grandma to 92) in a house with the living room upstairs and the bedrooms on the floor above. The stairs were managed with stair lifts, and the living area was mostly open-plan, which made it easier. They remained pretty mobile, needing no more than a walking stick, so it worked well for them.

Thecat - We are working on downsizing so dd will be off to uni in a couple of years. I was thinking of an upstairs snug with a view asI don’t want a separate ‘good’ room. Of course, there could be grandkids in a number of years which is a whole new dilemma!

Shrubbery- funny enough, the architect mention putting in wiring for a stairlift if I was concerned about mobility!

I'd at least want an upstairs snug in your case then OP. But that's because I bloody love people watching and would happily spend hours nosing out on to a square full of activity from a comfy chair.

I’d go for it. Agree with your architect

If the bedrooms would have to be on the ground floor, then no. I can't stand not being able to open bedroom windows at night, and in many urban areas it'd be an open invitation to burglars. I don't mean opening just a crack, either, certainly not in summer.

Do you have any floor plans or photos? It sounds like a fab project! We have lovely views that get better the higher up the house you go so we have ended up with living on the ground floor (original plan upstairs but just couldn’t do it in the end) master bedroom on the second and we then put a mezanine floor above, in the roof, that is a separate lounge for me and my husband to retreat too. We use it now when kids have friends round but I think we would use this even when the kids have left because being at the top of the house it’s lovely and warm in the winter as all the heat has risen.

Oh crikey this is really difficult. I’d want both!- upstairs ‘wow’ views sounds lovely but if you entertain a fair bit would you want to have garden access or not? If not much then I think upstairs living would be great but maybe a ‘garden room’ downstairs so you don’t have to go through bedrooms to get to the garden. If you like entertaining in the garden the. snug upstairs sounds great like a great idea. Does your walled garden make the downstairs rooms darker? If so I’d be inclined to live upstairs. Another option would be to have outdoor stair access from upstairs living to your garden - just so guests aren’t traipsing through your bedrooms.

I love upside down houses, often a large, open plan living space on 1 st floor- especially if has great views have been some of the most lovely, exciting/sun spaces I've seen in homes. Just feels more exciting!

Can you put a terrace on so you have outside space straight off of the living areas? If so I would go for it!!

Practical issues shout - no no no!
The dog is in and out continually, carrying shopping bags upstairs, carrying the bins downstairs.... maybe a terrace with steps would sort out these problems though.
Oh, sleepless nights here we come!

I'd have the living area downstairs and the bedrooms upstairs.

Sorry I think lovely in theory but the practical issues as you say (dog, bins, shopping etc) would put me off in reality.

Plus the bedrooms might be noisy from all those cafes and bars if downstairs. Though sounds like you will have master bedroom downstairs in either option? Have you got a soundproofing plan?

Plus it would make eating outside a palaver, or even just wandering outside while you wait for the potatoes to cook. You'd use the garden much less I suspect which would be sad.

I think an upstairs snug would be a good idea, or a balcony/windowseat off a landing.

Don’t do a “snug” anything. They tend to be tiny useless spaces that are more like cupboards. Have decent bedrooms and dual use one of them. If you don’t gave guests all the time, why have a great view from a room you hardly use? Madness. Use it as a second lounge with occasional sleeping if needed.

No! Don't do it!

Because of the way the ground slopes away, although we walk into the front of our house at ground level, by the time you get to the back, the kitchen has the effect of being on the first floor (even though you've stayed on the level from the front door). It is such a pain when you want to have a BBQ or any eating in the garden. You feel it particularly at tidying away time.
That's even before you get to the thought of lugging in shopping / taking rubbish and recycling out, etc.
I think it's a really impractical idea to have a kitchen on a first floor.

Kitchen - ground
Lounge - 1st floor

I’m going to stick to my original plan and have a ground floor kitchen/family room with an upstairs snug/living room.
I enjoy wandering out from the sunroom into the garden too much!
Thanks for your replies and comments!

Mind you, that’s why the whole project is taking so long to get off the ground - “why don’t you think about.....?”
I am so easily swayed but need to get back to sticking with what I want!

Bubbles - had thought of lounge/occasional sleeping area too , that will be the most practical, especially as our youngest will be heading off in a couple of years and 3 proper bedrooms will be more than adequate.