Interior designer Chris Carroll tells Yahoo Lifestyle why a major part of the houses’ design “doesn’t work well”.

The Block fans have called out what they see as a massive mistake with all five of the houses this year. Photo: Nine

The Block fans have called out what they see as a massive mistake with all five of the houses this year. Photo: Nine

The Block fans and interior designer Chris Carroll have been left at a loss over one major part of the houses’ designs this year. It’s the first year where all the houses and floor plans are the same, sitting on exactly 346sqm.

At the beginning of the season, host Scott Cam said that the identical nature of the houses would mean that the teams are “under more pressure than ever” to make winning decisions. But viewers think the architects have made a huge mistake this year regarding the placement of the main bedroom next to the kitchen.

Speaking to Yahoo Lifestyle, Chris, director of TLC Interiors, said, “The architect’s original layout, it must be said, doesn’t work very well for livability. Nobody wants a main bedroom off a kitchen. I’m at a loss as to why it was done this way. We can’t blame the teams for that one.”

These images were originally published on nine.com.au/TheBlock. Photo: Channel 9

These images were originally published on nine.com.au/TheBlock. Photo: Channel 9

These images were originally published on nine.com.au/TheBlock. Photo: Channel 9

The Block’s Britt and Taz’s kitchen reveal

These images were originally published on nine.com.au/TheBlock. Photo: Channel 9

‘The judges got it wrong’

Meanwhile, although three houses changed the layout of the kitchen and received enormous praise from the judges, Chris doesn’t agree that they made the right decision.

“The judges got it wrong when they said that the best orientation was in the kitchens from Robby & Mat, Britt & Taz, and Sonny and Alicia,” he adds. “Laying the room out this way makes the kitchen feel long and narrow. You want to be in the kitchen looking over your dining and living rooms, not at a mass of sheer curtains. And when family and friends are dining, one side of the dining table has their back to the view.

“In Britt and Taz’s kitchen, especially, the walkway between the island and the wall feels like a long gauntlet. It was too long an island.”

Viewers call out architect’s original design

And viewers agree, with one Reddit user writing, “Every year the judges and Scotty yap on about the architects knowing best blah blah blah. What idiot architect puts a main bedroom right next to the kitchen?”

“It makes the house a no for me. But that’s any house, not just The Block. Having the laundry through the pantry is also a no,” another added. “Any access to the laundry should not be near food prep spaces. For me, the kitchen shouldn’t be a roundabout for access to other parts of the house. I am absolutely a fan of the boys’ secret door to the main; it could use a tweak to close the gap, but I love it.”

“Surely they deliberately do dodgy designs to leave room for at least some of the contestants to make improvements?” a third joked. “I would definitely not leave the main leading onto the kitchen like that. Horrible.”

“[Architect Julian Brenchley] has done some absolutely idiotic designs over the years, but a main bedroom off the kitchen is right up there,” someone else added.

“The layout is woeful – bedroom off the kitchen is just ridiculous, and that mud room/laundry layout is equally stupid,” yet another said. “As a buyer I’d walk right out of a house with either of those blatant design fails.”