To ensuite or not to ensuite?

I personally hate a downstairs bedroom, especially if not a very big house and you are lacking living space. I would look at this as a 3 bed house and how I could more effectively use the space as a snug, playroom, study/ guest room and would only put in a small shower room.

I don't really get the attraction of ensuites. They seem to be a must since we have been to a lot of new builds. One in guestroom seems convenient but I don't really see them as dealbreakers. I'd rather have proper storage space.

An en suite is a godsend for families with teens. We can get ready for work without fighting for bathroom time with them. And also a menopausal 3am wee

A downstairs bathroom is a godsend if you have older family members or those with disabilities. Not having to use stairs was very important for our parents to be able to stay.

An en suite for each bedroom is excessive unless the house is very big. Better to have good sized rooms than ones with a crammed en suite crowbarred in.

For those complaining about smell - you do know you can still use the main bathroom to crap in, right? And use the en suite for showers, teeth brushing, having a wee, doing makeup etc.

Taking everything else out of the equation, how can an architect that you are employing and paying to do work on your property insist on anything OP? It's your house, your money. You need to regain the control here.

It's absolutely just the same as staying in a hotel room. You don't feel then like someone is in the same room whilst using the bathroom. I think the negativity comes from people trying to squeeze them into tiny spaces.

We used to have six beds three en suites (plus main bathroom). We converted the tiniest bedroom into a dressing room for the master so we now have 5 bedrooms in the main house:

master (bedroom 1) with separate dressing room and large en suite
bedroom 2 with large en suite
Bedroom 3 and bedroom 4 with jack and jill ensuite (we just knocked through)
Bedroom 5 was too small (4m x 4m) so just uses the main bathroom down the hallway.

I think most new houses have an ensuite in the master bedroom these days, but in every room is definitely overkill. When i see house like that i think its too much, especially if the house isn't that big! Even 2 ensuites has me thinking how would i work that with my family? Which of my kids would get it? Or would neither and make it a guest room, which seems a bit of a waste, especially when its usually in a bigger room.
We have a family bathroom and a shower room in the loft and thats fine. Ideally a toilet downstairs would be good but we don't have room.

You can get sensor night lights so the floor just glows a little.

One of the problems of staying in hotels I find, is if you go for a wee in the night you either have to do it in the dark so the light doesn't wake up the other person, or, if you put the light on an extractor fan comes on and stays on, which is also intrusive.

Also, dh and I have our own bedrooms and our own en-suites so we have none of this "I don't want to hear my dh go to the loo" business, neither do I, that's how we fix that. I love my own bathroom, it's clean and nobody else uses it.

I've been musing over the next house that DH and I will buy. It's a long way in the future as it's the house that we'll buy when we retire.

We currently have 4 bedrooms, two of which are set up as studies (no DC) and two are bedrooms. We won't need two studies when we're both retired, but do want two bedrooms plus a study. Currently we sleep separately (snoring and differing timescales) so would like to retain that option. DH uses the en-suite currently and I use the main bathroom. Again, this works for us, so I'd definitely like two bathrooms.

I've been looking at the Redrow "lifestyle" homes. Sizewise, some of them are similar size upstairs to a 4 bed home, but they're designed as 3 bedrooms with 3 en-suites and a walk in wardrobe to the master.

While we wouldn't need 3 en-suites, it does appeal to me in terms of the layout.

I agree with PP saying that it's not a great setup for young families particularly though, so could restrict the amount of people that you're marketing to.

Also, if the bedrooms that have en-suites were too small to comfortably hold a double bed, wardrobe and dresser, I'd much rather have one family bathroom between two bedrooms (you could always Jack and Jill them if that might be liked?) and make the bedrooms slightly bigger.

I'm a fan of en-suites but only if they're big enough, a tiny one squeezed into the corner of a room is horrible.

We have 6 bedrooms, 3 are large rooms with large en-suites, then there is one family bathroom and a downstairs loo. So there are 4 bathrooms and 5 loos and that works well for us. It is lovely to give guests their own bathroom.

OP, I think it depends on the size of the house in your case. If there's room for en suites and also plenty of storage then go for it.

Despite the hate for en-suites on here, most people would not consider buying a reasonably sized house without 1 or 2 en suites.
We have only an en-suite to the master bedroom. No my husband does not shit in there when I am next door. A family bathroom will always be next to another bedroom anyway. I think a second en-suite would be good if you have guests or children of different sexes.

Master and spare should have ensuite. I think family bathroom is fine for 2 bedrooms to share. Jack and Jill?

I personally think en suites are wasted on a guest room, I wouldn't want to have a bathroom that was awkwardly located for the people who live in the house

I'd try and have the downstairs bathroom not an en suite. It very much makes that room a bedroom whereas the space would be more flexible if there is a downstairs bathroom that was accessible to everyone and a room that could be a guest room or an office or playroom or snug etc etc.

Hate en suites unless the room is huge, I'd definitely rather a walk in dressing room over an en suite in a normal size UK house.

I would have one if you have regular guest bedroom as that's nice for privacy. But for family life I'd much rather a large- double sink, walk in shower, bath, space for a chair- family bathroom.

I'd rather put a shower in the downstairs w/c if there's space- very useful for post sports/ outdoors stuff/ dog etc

I agree with who would want 4 or 5 bathrooms to clean and maintain!
there are 4 bed new build homes by me that have 6 toilets!! One downstairs loo, 4 x ensuite, 1 x bigger family bathroom. Almost 25% of the floor space are bathrooms yet no storage, no loft space, no alcoves etc for wardrobes!
as a max I’d say 2 x ensuite, 1 x family bathroom and downstairs loo op

It's not though because if you don't have an en suite in a hotel, that means you'd be sharing a bathroom with strangers. Whereas in your own home it just means walking a few more steps outside your bedroom.

We have just turned two very small en suites into one large one to serve the master bedroom, there is a family bathroom and downstairs loo for a 4 bedroom house. It’s more than enough, it has made much more usable space in the back bedroom which had a tiny en suite by blocking off the doorway.

Based on the layout you have described, I would do:

Full downstairs bathroom beside but not en suite to the downstairs bedroom. Relatives have this set up and it works well - there's a spacious downstairs loo, and anyone staying in that bedroom doesn't need to bring all their stuff upstairs to shower.

Upstairs: Big family bathroom. En suite to main bedroom but only if both bedroom and en suite are a generous size. If you can put a dressing room between the bedroom and the en suit (i.e. two doors) then even better.

Its odd that a few posters are choosing to sleep in their en suite bathrooms, just how big are they?

The two bedrooms in our house that don’t have an en-suite have a jack and jill bathroom. It makes mornings so much easier, we had my mum and my husbands grandma staying over at christmas, it meant all four adults could get showered and ready at the same time, rather than having to book slots on one bathroom.

I was forced to move from a house with an en-suite (not even on my bedroom) to one with a shared bathroom.

It's annoying AF. I hear the shower crack on at 0730, I have to leave the house at 8. Incredibly frustrating stuff.

For a 3 bed, I'd do 1 en suite, 1 main bath, 4/5 bed I'd do 2 en suite, 1 main bath.

A bathroom/en suite for every 1.5 bedrooms. Approximately and space depending. It depends who you're trying to appeal to as well. Kids are ok sharing bathrooms. Guests would appreciate their own so they don't worry about getting in the way.

2 bed, 1 bath
3 bed, 2 bath
4 bed, 2-3 bath
5 bed, 3 bath

For longevity I would have a shower room downstairs (not en-suite). There may come a time or be a need for someone to be bound to ground level. I wouldn't want visitors trekking through my bedroom to use the toilet.

If there was space I'd get an en suite off the master and a separate upstairs shower room/family bathroom. I'd definitely want the option of an office room.

I recently stayed in a hotel and the en suite had a loo and shower in it .... the sink was in the bedroom. So you have a poo, then have to open the door with unwashed hands, in order to wash your hands. Such a strange way of planning a hotel room.