Hi. I think you seriously need a local professional to help you with this, but for the meanwhile, I'd like to check what you mean by "first floor". Where I live, I call the floor that is level with the ground the "ground floor" and the next one up is the "first floor". In the US, I think, the floor which is level with the ground is called the "first floor" and the next one up is the "second floor". It might help if you reposted the floor plans marking your floors with an X so that anyone on Houzz who might be able to help you will be sure of what you are talking about. Good luck!

cool --but you can see the entire floor has been raised--do you have the ceiling height? a closet 'step up' would be less of a structural commitment, OR a buildup under builtin furniture--like bookcases flanking a fireplace, also some great ideas on HOUZZ i'd never have thought of. sorry i'm not tech-ie enough to paste the site:) of course if you go 'structural' --all walls and ceilings are fair game as well. remember that ease of access [or lack thereof] can affect stealth mode greatly--as in your pic: every time you step onto the 'box' in your pic you would hear a 'different' sound.

I am so happy to see you here! I will have to go back and see if i can retrieve my posts... thought I would make them into a little book for my daughter, with photos. Quick run-down on the bathroom (not travels, no time) - The kitchen has a rather elegant sliding door with beveled glass panels. Painted white, since this was the original colour. GD's new bathroom has the doors I had picked earlier; i thought of polishing them but decided sprayed automobile paint (on a resin primer) would wear better. Especially since it is such a small bathroom, and she is so splashy. I have this finish in my kitchen and it has lasted 15 years now. A tad chipped here and there, but only needs a wipe down once a week. Same finish for the balcony doors, also split like the bathroom. We have a new wardrobe, a study table with built-in shelves, and a small chest of drawers for her odds and ends. I want to re-tile the tiny balcony, more as a little statement. Currently we are looking at Portuguese tiles, though I did think a mosaic with a funky cat might be nice. Let me see the costing. The room will be painted a neutral adobe, with bright white woodwork and an off-white ceiling. This means she can go wild with cushions and covers. Other changes in the flat; We have changed the glass in the master bedroom and living room from small cramped panes to a single pane for each section with a 1" bevel all round. Doubles the cost of the glass, but looks so elegant! The air-conditioning is being re-located. The compressors were all mounted in the bedroom and living room balconies, which looked terrible and meant the balconies (very narrow, only 30" deep) couldn't be used for anything. Not even plants. So they are being moved so that the compressors can be mounted at the rear of the building. two down, one to go. Now we can put in some nice plants, fishtail palms etc. The kitchen counter on one side came out intact and will be reused elsewhere. I am planning overhead storage, cupboards, and a draining cupboard for plates and glasses. Right now there is no dish washer, though a place is earmarked, but for now I will put in a cupboard with steel racks for cups, glasses and plates, all hidden behind pressed glass doors. This is all in the planning stage.... Pictures in a little while, they are mostly on my ipad and don't transfer well to the mac. They come without numbers... so I have to rename the or something. Somebody tell me how to do this!

What do you need to store in the kitchen proper? You already have crockery storage and food storage elsewhere. Just tally what you actually need to store and provide space for that. You may not need all built-in cabinets; shelves, hooks, or pegboards may do as well. And yes, the utility room is very tight....it look like just a 24 in (600 mm) wide passage? I'd scrap the sink rather than squeeze it in so tight. Do you really need separate spaces for utility, kitchen and store? If you combined these all and planned them carefully, you could have a large, very functional kitchen, at least by US standards. (Not being familiar with exact kitchen norms in India, I can't fully comment on the tradeoffs.)