Do you ever feel 客厅厨房 too dark in the afternoon?
While, I do have experience living in both SE and NW facing houses. For SE facing houses, kitchen, dinning and family rooms can be dark in the afternoon. For NW facing houses, those rooms are bright (hardly need to turn on any light until 9pm) when you actually use them most. There's a bit 西晒 for sure, but in average summer days (like this week), with cellular blinds you won't feel too hot at all (sunlight only starts to come in after 6-7pm, when you already feel cool outside ). I would say the benefit of brightness and good sunset view really makes 西晒 a much lesser concern.
IMHO, 西晒 is a much worse issue in China because those high rise apartment units have no 屋檐 to block direct sunlights before 6-7pm, and cement walls got heated very fast in direct sunlight. Here in Ottawa, unless you go to bed early before sunset, the extra warmness caused by 西晒 will hardly affect your living comfort much. Not only the wooden houses are generally cooler, but most houses need to use air conditioner in summer anyway for moisture control.
Actually the most favorable house facing for local people is West. It makes much sense since that general facing will let your house and backyard receive most sunlight in non-winter afternoon. If you consider the fact that most houses will actually have some of their sunlight blocked by neighbours (for townhouses it's worse), a facing that gives your house most sunlight (even at the cost of 西晒) really should be desirable. On the other hand, although SE facing houses receive more sunlight in a full day (especially in winter), their kitchens, dining rooms, and family rooms probably won't receive same amount of sun light when they are used most often after work.
