If you have a utility room, what's its best feature?

[BernadetteRostankowskiWolowitz]

We have a utility room but it's in the same condition it was when we bought the house (poor and unloved) so this year is the year it gets its face-lift.

What is the best thing about your utility?

Ours currently houses:-
The fridge freezer
The washing machine
The tumble dryer
The boiler
The cat litter trays
A bin
A small amount of storage for loo rolls etc.

It's also the room which we access the outside space (can't really call it a garden!!) and the bathroom. So it's used as a walk through room a lot.

I want to get this right as I don't want to have to begrudge missing something.

I have one of these pullout clothes driers above the radiator and it's brilliant!

https://www.gardentrading.co.uk/products/extending-clothes-dryer-charcoal.html?gclid=Cj0KCQiA9YugBhCZARIsAACXxeKmhG-NieCkl6Lr6N9nH4xkIOvvlOn9De0C1fQM6CN6SCkSPeO4kcaAttvEALwwcB

And a nice tall cupboard forthe ironing board, Hoover and mops

Ceiling airers

We don't have one but my parents have a rail for hanging wet clothes so they dry. It's too crowded for my liking so I'd have it in a more open space in the room.

They have large fridge, washer, dryer, sink, cupboards and a huge double larder. It is also a walk through between the kitchen and the boot room.

A utility is the one thing I wish we had.

Muddy boot storage

Wine Fridge

The cat litter tray. And the cats, when they're being particularly irritating.

A pulley.

Ooh we’re planning ours now 😍

For us the most important feature will be SPACE as we will most likely keep pushchair, school bags etc in there. So we are getting fold-down surfaces from ikea along one wall, washer and tumble along the other (doors on the other 2 walls - one external door and one sliding door to the kitchen). And perhaps a Sheila Maid.

Lots of hooks and rails for hanging clothes on hanger. Lakeland heated airer. Lots of cupboard space for cleaning and laundry products.

Mine is quite small and has a run of units along one wall - boiler, sink, washing machine, tumble drier, fridge-freezer with a couple of double wall units either side of the window above the sink.
Not really any room for any specialfeatures.

I am 😮 at that pull out airer, I got a similar (although less naice and a bit smaller) one for £19 a few months ago. Mine is in the airing cupboard though, not the utility.

We had a small utility in our old house. This time, we're changing our old kitchen into one. It's going to be a good size for a utility so plenty of space to hang clothes! Also it will be a bit of a boot room/shoe storage and coat area.

This being Australia, it's called the laundry so has the washing machine, lots of storage and a clothes rail for clothes waiting to be ironed/go upstairs. Like every Aussie laundry I've ever seen it fails the acid test of being able to leave the ironing board up all the time.

Best thing? Ducted heating, so in the winter months, all washing dries quickly, so no need for a tumble drier. I only run the heating in the morning for an hour and it's sufficient. For this alone it's priceless. It means I never have to look at drying washing.

I should have said it fails the test because it's an awkward shape; long and narrow.

A sink!

We're looking to move at the moment & most of the houses don't have a sink in the utility room!

This is all good info! Coats and boots is a no as its at the rear of the house and we use the front door all the time. Long thin house so makes no sense going all the way to the back indoors with shoes and coats.

Love the idea of the tall cupboard for the vacuum/ironing board etc and the pull out rails.

@redpinkyellow what will you use a utility sink for? Wondering if I’m missing something obvious as we are planning utility at the mo. Muddy boots etc will be done outside as don’t want mud inside. Haven’t found soaking clothes annoying in our current situation (everything in tiny kitchen). But think we’ll put the plumbing in for a sink in case we want one later on!

You can’t even barely see the sink in my mum’s utility as she doesn’t use it and the surface is just covered in stuff so think she’d have liked extra workspace 😄

I know it’s dated but I have a drawer that you pull out to form an ironing board (yep I am an ironer) 😅

the carpenter said it was years since he did this but I use it every single day and have a hook for my iron and a rail to store the uniforms etc

Water tank, butler sink, tumble dryer, washing machine, bit of storage space for the cats' things, hoover, mop, brooms, general cleaning stuff. It's adjacent to the boot room which is the best ever thing and also has doors across the place where all the hooks are for coats/jackets. We use the boot room door for all coming and going.

We have a butler sink and a cupboard (tall) that holds a Kallax unit with room for all of my baking stuff and the cupboard stores the mop bucket and supplies for the stove (Coal and so on)

Nothing.

I absolutely despise the utility room in our 1990s build house. Have had quotes to knock it out because we'd have a decent kitchen/diner without it but it needs an RSJ and I can't find anyone who wants the work on such a piddly job at the moment.

Pointless waste of space.

www.castinstyle.co.uk/product.php/3415/7-lath-victorian-kitchen-maid-reg-pulley-clothes-airer
My favourite thing, feel like a real
grown up 🤣

@Paturday
For hand wash? emptying the tray in condenser dryer, washing hands, water for iron, lots of things.

Ah yes, emptying the tumble dryer. That’s probably the only reason for us. Probably worth it. I don’t iron 😄

Sink. For washing/cleaning - shoes, paintbrushes, dog stuff, garden stuff, pre-soaking washing.