Would you swap a 2nd toilet for a small utility?

[Opos]

Moving soon and the kitchen is about the same size as mine now but we have under counter space for dishwasher, fridge, freezer, washer, dryer.

New place only has undercounter space for one plumbed in appliance, so it's going to be my beloved dishwasher.
Going to have to get a tall fridge freezer for next to cupboards.

Theres no other room in the kitchen for any other large appliances.

There's a downstairs loo that could fit a stacked washer/dryer and some utility shelves of we remove the toilet.

The only other combo is to have washer dryer in the kitchen and the fridge and freezer in the dining room but I really don't want to do that.

We have a downstairs loo in this house now and I never use it. DH mostly uses it at night when he can't be bothered to go upstairs and the kids use it occasionally when someone is in the bathroom upstairs. The kids are all Highschool age so not toddlers.

I feel like it would be a much better use of space to have a little utility rather than just a toilet but I'm thinking about those moments of emergency when someone's in the bath, 😂

But they are rare and I really don't want appliances in my dining room.

Plus there's already a water supply into the room so should be an easy job.

I always think it’s madness that they put in a downstairs toilet in some of the tiny two bed houses when there is barely enough space for everything else. Thinking of something like the Persimmon open plan two beds. Can understand it in bigger homes that will have more occupants. I live in an older house with just one toilet (although it is separate from the bathroom) and not had problems that justify needing another. I’d choose to have a utility room fitted as that’s what Is on my own wish list.

A five bedroom house with a kitchen that has no space for all white goods? And no utility room?
How architects get away with it is ridiculous.

I wouldn’t ever buy a house with more than two bedrooms and only one toilet and I know plenty of people who feel similarly. So I would keep the loo if you were going to sell anytime in the foreseeable future.

If it’s a “forever” home, do what suits you.

I'd convert to a utility room. It's a space that is used all the time particularly for an older family where you know bathroom demand, and it's daft to keep an ineffective space purely for some hypothetical pukeageddon incident and meanwhile struggling daily with appliences that make life easier.

Can you just go with the “unhygienic” plan of putting in the washer dryer and leaving the loo as is for a while?

You will have access to your white goods but will have made no permanent changes. Once you have got used to living in the house you can make a longer term decision. You may also have a bit more spare money to make structural changes like doors etc to achieve what would work the best

OP, if your new house has two receptions and 5 bedrooms, surely the washer/dryer can be stacked in the smallest bedroom or near the dining table? My sister moved into a house with a TINY kitchen - just space for a few cupboards, fridge/freezer and washing machine. She 'needed' the dryer so has it beside the dining table. Works for her!

If you can't afford it now, possibly consider the option of remodelling down the line to add in a small utility and open out the kitchen.

When we lived in the US, we had a 2 bed 'townhouse' which had a washer and dryer (both top loaders, not stacked) in an upstairs cupboard designed for the purpose. That seemed odd for about a nanosecond - but it actually made a lot of sense, no carrying laundry baskets up and down stairs.

If it's possible to find space upstairs and put in plumbing for the washer then this could be a good option.

OP can you post the floorplans of your new house and specify how many of the bedrooms will be in regular, daily use? Sounds to me as though reconfiguration may be needed and it's really difficult to advise on the basis of the info you're providing in response to other posts.

As someone currently looking to buy a family home, a downstairs loo is a massive selling point. Wouldn’t be bothered by a utility

No way would I be getting rid of a downstairs toilet, not a chance in hell!!
I'd be building a utility room on the back and reconfiguring the kitchen to what would work for me

However If it's that much of an issue why buy a house that isn't suitable for your needs? 😳

Hi YourWinter, yes we had a plumber in to take out the loo but it was peanuts - it cost £60 about 15 years ago. So it's really not a major job. We had the whole kitchen floor tiled after that, but you could get in a bit of laminate yourself, I'm sure. It doesn't suit everyone, but we made it easy to put it back to a loo.

I'm not buying it. It's a housing association property that I'm doing a mutual exchange on.

But I didn't want to say that as I'll have a million people jumping on me about removing the toilet and how ill lose my house if they find out. It's not my home etc.

Despite the house that I'm in now having multiple changes made by us and in the exchange survey last month the housing association has said they not bothered about the things we've removed as long as it's returned to its original state when we leave. Which we are now doing. We removed the bath to just have a shower room and they said it looked lovely but we will have to put a bath back in the corner. No issue.

Hence the plan to leave the pipes in and capping it all off so that in the future we could put a toilet back in the new place (same housing association)

That's why I can't do any real structural work.

puts hard hat on for influx of 'you can't do this' comments 😂

Wow that’s much better than I’d expected! Thank you so much for replying!

So I've just been informed that the ceiling is in fact sloped as it's under the stairs, I couldn't see this in photos, it was just the floor space in frame.

So it wouldn't work anyways.

No way would I get rid of the toilet. Devalues the house too I would imagine - I would never buy a house without an extra toilet downstairs.

It would be replaceable. They cap off the plumbing.

Doesn't matter now, it wouldn't fit anyways.

Can you take out a kitchen cupboard, put the washing machine in there and put the tumble dryer in a bedroom. I have my washing machine in the kitchen and the tumble dryer in the garage. I did consider putting it in a bedroom

I've a large storage cupboard with window next to the bathroom. Going to ask BIL if it's possible to run pipes to next door to fit them in there.

This sounds like a great soluation OP!!

Exactly. But if I had one I wouldn't give it up for anything!

But millions of smaller homes and flats on,y have a single loo and cope fine.

I'm sure they do (or they might not), but why go from two to one in a 5 bedroom house? I don't know how old the DC are, but they might soon be of an age where they want to spend ages in the bathroom.

Storage cupboard conversion sounds like a great idea. I used to have a house with the washer and dryer stacked in a cupboard off a small room next to the kitchen. Worked very well for us.

How old are your children? With little kids they wander in to use the loo when you’re in the shower, or you do a wee when they’re in the bath. When you have teenagers it’s all locked doors and loooooong showers. My menopausal bladder would not cope!

I am staggered how many people would remove a 2nd toilet. I doubt I’ll be happy with only 1 even when it’s just DH and me!

Where I live it’s completely normal to have a second toilet in the laundry. I don’t see how it’s more unhygienic than having your toothbrush in there? Never in a million years would I sacrifice a toilet for ‘folding space’. Madness!

What?

unhygenic?? Don't be daft. Loads of houses have a loo/utility space.

it sounds like the house is too small for your large family, keep looking??

I had an accident 18 months ago and wouldn't have been able to come home without a downstairs toilet. I was 52 at the time. I've also, this past few months, had a bowel & bladder issue, where waiting was not an option, I could not have got upstairs.

in the past kids broken legs, DH's bike/cycling injuries, downstairs loo has been a life saver!

no one NEEDS a dishwasher. Get the minions doing them.

but yeah, house sounds too small for a large family, I'd keep looking.

No I’d definitely rather have the toilet