To ensuite or not to ensuite?

When I had small children I would not have wanted them to have an en-suite.

@PorridgeOatsSuck
God tier just means the top of a list/ranking. Imagine a pyramid, where god tier is the highest level: we were referring to upstairs laundry room being one of the best things to have in a home.

It really doesn't have to be like that if properly designed

I have never noticed any steam or smells in our bedroom at all.

We have a 4 bedroomed house and 3DC. We have the following:

1. A shower room downstairs off the utility. It's surprisingly useful for grubby children who have been playing football as well as guests who struggle with stairs or who are on the sofa bed downstairs.
2. A main bathroom with a bath and separate shower on the first floor.
3. A toilet off the office / spare room in the attic. At some point we'll maybe put in a shower room in the attic but I'll have the entrance off the landing rather than making it an en suite so that it's more useful and closer to the bedrooms than the downstairs bathroom which is in an extension.

I personally think that an en suite is more useful for a spare room than a master bedroom so that guests can have privacy until they feel 'presentable'. But two bathrooms that are both accessible to everyone is actually the best option in a larger house because it's far more flexible. I've visited so many people who have say 'oh, you don't want to use the family bathroom, it's a complete mess with the kids, use our en suite instead' and I always think 'eugh, no thanks, I don't want to go in your bedroom'.

We're all different but thinking logically, if space is tight, an en suite for every bedroom seems overkill. For me, my must haves are garage/off road parking, en suite to master bedroom.

I'm surprised Jack & Jill bathrooms aren't more popular in this country as they Dan be a good compromise if the layout works.

I one lived in a small 2-bed flat which only had one bathroom but the bathroom had one main door into the hall and a second door into the larger of the 2 bedrooms - so it gave some of the privacy advantages of an en suite for that bedroom (the ability to go straight into the bathroom from the bedroom) without taking up more space.

Personally, I don't think one full bathroom for a 4 bedroom house is ideal.

I don't really want to have to queue for a shower

For us as a family of four, my ideal house would have - an ensuite for the master bedroom, a shared bathroom for the other bedrooms, and a downstairs toilet

I definitely wouldn't do an en suite for every bedroom but I do think you might find the house hard to sell with only one full bathroom for four bedrooms, we passed over houses like that when we were looking

I'd follow the advice of your architect, maybe phone a few estate agents and ask what people are looking for and follow the trends of the big house builders (which seems to be more en-suites at the moment). The architect wants your project to be a success and the big house builders 1)work solely for profit so will only be doing stuff if it makes them money, 2) will be your main competition when you come to sell a renovated property.

I wouldn't go by the opinions of a few jealous people on mumsnet who have convinced themselves they "don't want to sleep in a room they poo in"...I mean they have a door!!!!

My priority would be to have toilet and bathroom access on every floor, including facilities for visitors on the ground floor. As we are contemplating a move, I see a lot of floor plans on my SM feed that only have facilities on one floor; I'm used to this in my two up two down terrace that didn't cost much, but I wouldn't want to pay a huge mortgage to traipse up and downstairs every time I wanted to go!

Ensuites are nice (or not, depending on your POV) but the location of facilities is more important to many people. Also, the OP has a point about office space (and study space too; already a priority for children and teenagers, it became even more of one during lockdown.) It would be worth sacrificing an ensuite - or making one of them a Jack and Jill - in order to make a larger study bedroom.

I wouldn't want to live like I do in a hotel full time but I can put up with it for a few days here and there. At home, I'd much rather have more separation between my toilet/shower and my bed. I don't want steam to come into my bedroom and definitely no smells and that happens even if you have good ventilation. I could possibly put up with an ensuite if there is a window in there so I can air it out properly.

If it's done well and there is plenty of space in both ensuite and bedroom - lovely. If you're literally having a poo in a tiny cupboard in the corner of a cramped bedroom - no thanks.

Agree with this - God tier of an upstairs laundry room would be amazing and much better use of space.

Laundry on same level as bedrooms or storage is amazing. When I lived abroad the washing machine and dryer were in the bathroom, and that was next to the walk in closet... a mere 10secs with the basket between the two. Over ten years later I still think about how I hate the washer being in the kitchen downstairs here!

I think one for every bedroom is unnecessary but I do like having one for the master bedroom.

Properly installed and ventilated it's really absolutely nothing like having a toilet in your bedroom, I can only imagine people who feel like that never stay in hotels..

It's like sleeping in a bathroom, or taking a shit in your bedroom.

I have ensuites connected to both the master bedroom and guest room, as they both have doors on separating them from the bedroom area I don't see it as doing either of the above.

Love my ensuite, i have 4 men/boys at home and I am the only one allowed to use the ensuite (unless they need the toilet).

It's nice and pink and clean and i have my own expensive toiletries, etc in there.

We have 4 bedrooms, 1 bathroom 1 ensuite. I would love another toilet and another shower to save arguments on a morning

I think the Jack and Jill ensuites are a good way to save space.

YANBU. 4+ bed house, an en suite attached to the master bedroom, wouldn't be a terrible thing. Although I personally would not want to lying in bed listening to my OH squeeze out a poo, and smell the accompanying "fragrance". A second, non en suite, bathroom would be preferable.

Otherwise it's pointless. I've lived in a two bed flat twice, both of which had an ensuite. It seemed like a good idea at the time, but ultimately meant I had two bathrooms to clean.

If all the bedrooms had an ensuite, my kids ones would have to be locked permanently as they'd be in there twatting about. Probably wouldn't be so bad when they're in their teens, but I doubt they'd be keeping it that clean themselves.

What about when you stay in a hotel? It’s the exact same concept 😅

I like an en-suite to the primary, and possibly one more. But after that the main bathroom is fine to service the other rooms.

The en-suite should be big enough to get ready in though. Some of these ones in new builds where it’s so tight, that’s not worth it in my opinion, I’d rather a nice big wardrobe.

I think the comments about poop in the bedroom is probably more aimed at small en-suites in small bedrooms. Because this isn’t an issue in large enough spaces.

I don’t like en-suites. I’d much prefer two sizeable family bathrooms on the same floor and an office.

An office, a dressing room, and (god tier) an upstairs laundry room would all come before an ensuite to me.

An upstairs laundry and communal clothes store is actually life changing. I lived in a rental that had an upstairs kitchen. The washing machine and tumble dryer were right next to a small bedroom that led off the kitchen.

I swear that all laundry took ten minutes from loading to folding/hanging into the bedroom, which we used as a walk in wardrobe. We just picked an outfit out the night before.

Put that in and I will hunt your house down and buy it.

An en suite in every bedroom would really put me off buying a property, I can't imagine cleaning 4-5 bathrooms every week.

If the house had up to 3 bedrooms I’d expect at least one en-suite. If there were 4 or 5 bedrooms I’d expect 2 en-suites.

personally I hate cleaning the family bathroom never mind an en-suite in all the bedrooms!

id also prefer not to have a bathroom in a small children bedroom.