Fawcett Homes: The Commack | architect Eglis Hermanovski | photos Grayson Tewksburry

WHICH ARE the three most important areas which affect the popularity of a house? A recent survey of bankers and officials of other lending institutions revealed that these areas are the kitchen, bathroom and basement. These experts should know. They are the ones who must decide how large a mortgage to lend on a house, and they base their decision on what they think the house will sell for on the market.

Since in most cases it is the woman who makes the final decision on where the family should live, it's logical that she wants the most attractive kitchen she can find. After all, she spends most of her day there, and she wants to work in a room that is large, light, and fully equipped with modern appliances and convenient work space.

As for bathrooms, most buyers now expect to find that effective use is made of new materials. In the past dozen years, the styling of bathroom fixtures has been updated tremendously. For example, consider the widespread introduction of dressing tables with built-in wash basins. Another trend is the use of colored fixtures. Modern bathrooms also make more and better use of tile and of long-wearing washable paints and wallpapers.

The preference for a basement is also understandable. Americans today have more goods than ever before (more sports equipment such as rowboats, skis, bicycles; more lawn furniture, etc.) and they need a place to store them. They also have more time for leisure. (The work week is getting shorter and shorter.) And so they can use the basement to work at spare time hobbies such as woodworking and photography.

In the Commack, you get the "big three" features that have proved most popular with new home-seekers. In addition, you get the most popular style of house-the all-on-one-floor ranch house. The Commack is long and low and provides the look of luxury at low cost. It has three bedrooms; a long living-dining room unit which extends from the front of the house to the back; a separate area for TV viewing; a kitchen with the convenient L- shaped arrangement that is accessible to the center hall, the dining room and the rear; and a bathroom with a truly glamorous built-in vanity that runs along an en- tire wall.

The garage is attached to the house. It is set forward a few feet to provide a break in the roof line and to add a note of inter- est to the essentially simple exterior. Since two of its walls are shared with the house, the garage will be much warmer in winter than one with three or four sides exposed to the elements.

Designer Hermanovski has specified a hip roof. As your eye travels along the unbroken roof line, you get the impression that the house is larger than it actually is. The use of all-white shingles helps that optical illusion along, as does the wide roof overhang on all four sides. The overhang also provides an interesting shadow effect and prevents the sun's rays from hitting window areas directly. The sliding glass windows of the bedrooms are set high in the wall for privacy. It's probable that the summer sun will strike them for relatively short periods of the day.