esselte said:

I’m thinking of designing and building a new house and wanted to lean on the experience of those here who have done this before.

1. Should the Butler’s Pantry connect directly to the Chef’s Kitchen or is it OK to have a bit of separation between them? How much larger should the Chef’s Kitchen be compared to the Family Kitchen?

2. There will be a functional Car Garage with turntable for the Limo and also a Car Gallery for the sports cars and vintage cars. Is it better to combine the two into one room, or should I keep them distinct?

3. Is there an “ideal” ratio of Powder Rooms to Bathrooms?

4. Indoor and outdoor pools? Or just stick with a heated outdoor one? Or indoor with a retractable roof?

5. In the sauna area can the cold plunge pool also be used as a hot plunge pool, or do they need to be separate units?

6. Is a one lane bowling alley OK, or should I try to squeeze in extra lanes? I’m worried that one lane only will feel a bit claustrophobic, being so long and narrow. Also, can bowling alleys be built to double as an indoor shooting range?

7. I’m considering only having one elevator, centrally located. Will this handle the traffic OK, or is it better to have separate elevators for each wing of the house? Is there a way to incorporate escalators into the interior design which looks classy?

8. How large do the House Staff and Chauffeurs Quarters really need to be? Do they need windows?

9. Is the down-wash from helicopters landing on the pad going to cause damage to the gardens? Is there a particular type of landscaping I should be considering which would give maximum resilience?

10. Regarding the home theater, does the IMAX corporation do residential installs?

11. Is it OK to combine the drawing room, morning room and smoking room into one, or will that just make me look cheap?

12. Be honest, do you often find yourself wishing the private art gallery had a little more wall space?

13. There will probably be 2 or 3 separate guest houses. But what if my guests want to have guests stay over? How hard is it to incorporate extra guest suites into the guest houses without the whole thing starting to look like a hotel?

Please let me know if you think there is anything I’ve missed. Just trying to get the fundamentals clear in my head before I start designing.

I cannot assist. I suggest you talk to Mr D J Trump or one of his associates.