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.

Two washing machines is the best feature of ours
In an ideal world I would have a second dishwasher in there

The pulley maid. It's the best gadget in the entire houses

Called the Tilly Room in our house as youngest couldn't say Utility at the time we did house extension and gained one. Coat rack, shoe rack, washing machine and never used dryer (as I'm lucky enough to have a pulley clothes dryer on our boiler house which is brilliant). Also old chest freezer which refuses to die, now 38 years old. Also old fridge and wall shelves which used to be bookshelves so store loads. Oh, and kitchen wall cupboard for First Aid and medicines. Dog sleeps in Tilly Room too! Love it!

@BernadetteRostankowskiWolowitz
A large style office , Planning a world wide network of operatives for British intelligence

Mine is tiny - space for a washing machine, sink with a cupboard below, and a tumble drier. I have a couple of shelves for laundry detergent etc, and that’s about it.
I do love it though, and the best feature is the door - it’s so nice not having the noise of the washing machine in the kitchen!

I had a second hand kitchen fitted in mine, so for me it's the cupboard/ drawer space and the sink.

We use the trough/sink the most. Then the washing machine. I like the storage under the sink, the storage on the wall and the fact that it has a clothes airer and space for everything that the laundry needs as well as cat food, a door that closes cat in at night if need be, a first aid box, cleaning product storage etc. I try to be very frugal with what I store in that room to keep it super purposeful with space to DO active neccessities of life - laundry, washing hands, cutting flowers, dressing wounds, drying and ironing.

ours had a laundry chute from upstairs- so that all dirty clothes just came down to a cupboard next to the washing machine...

Heated drying rack, we leave it up all the time as even when the heat is not needed it is a stable flat area for drying items that can stretch.
Normal drying rack.
Small sink with floor space under - some plants waiting to go outdoors are there now.
Cupboard storage over the washing machine.
Have not got a good solution for the ironing board.

I like the countertop the best, 3 units wide so there's plenty of room for folding clothes.

Yesterday I painted it what turns out to be a fairly violent aquamarine colour so not really Instagram worthy but it is certainly brighter than the grubby white it was before.

I'm going to add a wall rail for hangers to go on and it already has a pull out washing line thing which is really useful.

Two washing machines, so if it's a nice day I can get the washing done and outside to dry.

A laundry chute from the dressing room upstairs that feeds into a cupboard via a "chimney"

For me, the things I love about our utility room:

Stainless steel catering sink with draining boards on both sides (wide and deep enough to let you soak oven trays) and shelves above
Larder cupboard with solid bottom shelves so you can easily access frequently used things (and not have things fall down the gaps in wire shelves)
Tall cupboard for ironing board, mops etc
Cupboards up to ceiling
Space for stepladders to be able to access things at the top of those cupboards up to the ceiling
Multiple sockets
Space for laundry baskets

We’ve also got space for 6ft fridge and freezer and 3 cat litter trays which you may or may not need

Things I’d add/do differently
Ceiling pulley for drying clothes - currently use a fold up airer but it is in the walkway to the back door and you have to dodge round it (admittedly we might have to duck under if we put the pulley in place 😀)
Motion sensor to turn lights on and off as you walk in and out
Rail for hanging ironed clothes
Stacking washing machine/tumble drier with vent through wall

On the wall outside my utility room (so in the garden) we have a shower hose thingy. It’s a godsend for getting football and walking boots clean plus we live by the sea so we hose the dog and children down before coming in the house.

The previous owners installed it and we thought it was a bit daft when we saw it. Now it all makes sense!!!

I really regret not doing this when I had the chance.

I figured if I made it fun for the family they might put their laundry in the wash.

So much for that theory.

@SeatonCarew 😂😂

We have one, but I’ve been thinking for ages about what I would change when we eventually redo it. It has been the same since we moved in 13 years ago and identified it as a priority 🤦🏻‍♀️

What I like about it:

*sink (small, but v useful for cleaning the odd pair of muddy shoes, soaking anything that is stained, cleaning paintbrushes after diy, emptying condenser dryer, emptying and filling iron)

• worksurface for two big ironing baskets, one with clothes ready to be put away when full, and one with clothes waiting to be ironed

• cupboard space for shoe cleaning kit, all laundry stuff, all cleaning stuff, two medical box type things, kids painting stuff

• space on the floor for five pairs of wellies upside down on a stand

• hooks for sports bags - swimming bags, sports kits, picnic bag etc

what I don’t like about it:

• not enough tall and deep cupboards for the big stuff. The ironing board, mop and bucket, upright carpet cleaner, spare bucket etc is all on the floor stacked up or flopping over and always seem to be in the way.

@Paturday

If you get them to plumb the tumble dryer in (easy if they're doing the washing machine), you won't need to empty it. We still have a sink in ours, though 😄

Wine fridge, extra freezer, extra dishwasher, extra full sized oven. Tall cupboards for cleaning supplies, as previously mentioned. A couple of deep open shelves over the wall with the sink, great for keeping extra boxes of cereal, paper towels, etc. Since ours is off the kitchen we put a Quooker Cube in and keep tea making supplies and coffee machine in there.

Oh, forgot to say, underfloor heating - clothes dry incredibly quickly. We put in an extraction fan in case damp became an issue, but haven't needed to use it.

We call ours a boot room but I love it and wouldn't buy a house without one now, or a porch for that matter!

Our utility/ boot room houses all wellies and waterproofs (outdoor family), tumble dryer, washing machine, ceiling airer (love this!) And a dehumidifier so washing dries quickly. Also cupboards along the length above the washing machine for random crap bits and bobs like toolbox, instructions for things, bird food, toilet roll etc.

Like others have said - the #1 Pulley Maid ceiling airer - we have had a tumble dryer since the last one broke in 2005. The boiler and a radiator keep it relatively warm, along with heat from the big fridge freezer - we have some hooks to hang damp coats and a place to put wellies etc. The washing machine is in there too - we can close the door to it so the sound from it is minimised.

#2 we have a North facing windowsill and this is the ideal place, with the little bit of extra warmth and perhaps moisture from drying clothes, for our orchids - we have 6 orchids here and one of more are in flower virtually all year round.

#3 this is the space where I have my breadmaker and a shelf for all my flour and seeds etc.

#4 I have a set of wire baskets in a unit that was probably meant to be in an IKEA wardrobe. I keep some hand tools, gardening things, secateurs, gloves, twine, etc here for convenience.

I wouldn't buy a house that didn't have a utility or at least the space for one.

haven't had a tumble drier...

Sorry to hijack with another question, but does anyone know where I could buy a standalone storage cupboard big enough for the ironing board, broom and mop? They are just out in my utility room as the cabinets are small ones!

Ikea

Industrial style lockers - we each have one and all shoes go in there.