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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to state bathrooms and kitchens look dead odd on the fromt of a house?

56 replies

ChaosTrulyReigns · 26/08/2013 22:27

No one wants to see your nekkid silohuette or your turkey pan soaking.

True.

And opaque glass (i know, I know) looks like a strangeness on the front.

OP posts:
diddl · 27/08/2013 08:24

"or your turkey pan soaking." is that a euphemism?Grin

Our kitchen is at the front, sitting room at the back leading onto the garden.

Pretty standard here.

unlucky83 · 27/08/2013 08:49

Now I consider my new house to be a bad design because the bathroom is at the back.
But then you can't see the front of the house from the road -hidden behind another house - need to go down a short drive...is slightly overlooked at front from house further up hill

(just realised that sounds like a massive country house or something - it isn't - smallish 3 bed detached...)
There is a fantastic view to back of house -
Living/dinning room length of house - patio doors to view and back garden, kitchen at back too -nice view for washing up...all good
But the bathroom at the back too is just wrong -

Why have two beds at the front with no view... and one bedroom, the 'study' (box room) and bathroom with a great view...
I had clear glass put in the bathroom window - no danger of anyone seeing in because on a hill etc - so you can only admire the view when brushing teeth etc or for DP whilst weeing!

Blueandwhitelover · 27/08/2013 09:35

Kitchen and bathroom at the front here, I prefer it, Back garden is totally enclosed so don't even have to shut the curtains at night. Front of house is pedestrianised and high up (steps) so when we are at the table noone can see in but I have views over the moors (in the distance) from my kitchen window when washing up.

BalloonSlayer · 27/08/2013 09:39

I'd LOVE a kitchen at the front.

< Imagines self washing up and spying on the neighbours at the same time >

carabos · 27/08/2013 10:20

My DSis lives in a former corporation house which she has refurbed throughout - great house, nice size, three good bedrooms, big rooms downstairs, garden front and back.

She has turned the house round iyswim and made what used to be the front sitting room into a kitchen / diner (north facing). What used to be the kitchen is now the sitting room and she has added a conservatory to that, which in turn leads out onto a decked area and into the south facing back garden. So, now all the rooms that she wants to sit in are south facing and private, the front garden and drive are pretty open to the street, but her DS has an enclosed, fairly generous space to play at the back - he's 10.

I think this layout works really well for her and her family.

JessePinkmansBitch · 27/08/2013 12:17

My kitchen and bathroom are at the front too. Blinds on the bathroom windows (why wouldn't you) so no problem of seeing me or anyone else nekkid. And yes I like washing the dishes and having a nose out the front.

echt · 27/08/2013 12:23

My kitchen is at the front, with corner windows looking onto drive/street, and another set looking into the courtyard front garden.
We're raised above street level by about a metre and so look along neighbours' trees. The whole front garden is enclosed by trees so lots of privacy.

Lovely.

LookingThroughTheFog · 27/08/2013 12:23

You've reminded me that I need to get some frosted window film for our bathroom window. It's clear glass at the moment, which was fine as long as we had no neighbours who could see in. Now we have new houses next door, and their back yards look directly into our bathroom.

OneLittleToddleTerror · 27/08/2013 12:30

No, it's not strange. No one likes to see you watching your telly in your living room either.

I hate how houses in the UK have no proper front garden. No one is supposed to see your house from the street. That's just how it should be. I've lived in houses with the master bedroom at the front. All you see is your own hedge, and all people see from the street is also your hedge.

Problem solved.

PS. The houses are in NZ Grin

OneLittleToddleTerror · 27/08/2013 12:32

I have two people at my work who are neighbours. Apparently one of them loves to watch his large telly in his pyjamas Hmm

Definitely not better than the kitchen.

Pobblewhohasnotoes · 27/08/2013 13:01

My kitchen is at the front. No-one can see into my living room, it's lovely. It opens out into the garden instead, much better.

What a weird thread. Why would I care?

DidoTheDodo · 27/08/2013 13:05

it's a longer walk round the back to hang your washing out. Unless you hang that out at the front too?

CatAmongThePigeons · 27/08/2013 13:07

My current main bathroom is at the front. We have a blind down when it is in use, the neighbours at the back have their bathroom at the back and do not use a blind. I can see all of the dad when hes jiggling and flexing.

Regardless of where the bathroom is, if you have neighbours at the back, please use a bloody blind.

Dancergirl · 27/08/2013 13:19

I'm with nannynog - our kitchen is at the front too. We live in a cul-de-sac so don't get many people just walking past. I love it - both my sink and hob are under the front window so I can cook and look out the window and see what's going on.

Lovely to have a lounge at the back too overlooking the garden.

unlucky83 · 27/08/2013 15:02

I have a friend with a nice biggish Victorian house -does have a smallish front garden but used for car parking so can't have a hedge etc...
She was thinking about a layout rejig and having kitchen at front -but her neighbour has a similar house and it just looks... wrong...I don't know... big bay window to a kitchen ....
Anyway after reading this thread I have been thinking about it - and guess it really depends on which is more important your comfort and outlook or outside appearance...
They have a great view (as do most houses here) but from the back - so from the kitchen, utility room, bathroom and one bedroom - and the basement but that doesn't have a window! ...a bit of a waste - living room, dining room, other 3 beds look out onto a boring road...so maybe it would be worth a rejig...
Another house is upside down - living areas upstairs and bedrooms downstairs -because they only get the view from upstairs (in fact they have built an extension with big balcony attached to their kitchen -so outside space with a view) - I can see why - but think carrying shopping upstairs/rubbish/washing downstairs etc would be too much of a PIA for me...

mathanxiety · 27/08/2013 15:32

Seaweedy, yes, prestige doesn't attach to the kitchen or the bathroom..

valiumredhead · 27/08/2013 15:36

My kitchen is at the front a AND back of the houseGrin

timidviper · 27/08/2013 15:39

I remember hearing a programme on Woman's Hour years ago about female architects and how they saw homes differently to men. One of the comments about home design was that kitchens at the front of the house were popular with SAHMs as you could see the street, callers approaching, etc and they were not so isolating as when at the rear.

AmazingBouncingFerret · 27/08/2013 15:47

There are some houses on the street I grew up that have kitchen's at the front of the house. One lady who lived in one put nets at a halfway level in her window, so she could still see out but nobody could see in!

My parents house is what was intended to be two maisonettes, so the original downstairs kitchen is at the front but they turned that into a utility room and made a much larger kitchen at the back. I used to enjoy washing my paintbrushes in the window of the utility room and spotting all the old ladies at the bus stop outside trying to have a nosy inside!

VelvetSpoon · 27/08/2013 15:51

The house I grew up in had the kitchen and bathroom facing the street - although our houses were weird and from the street you walked through our 'back' garden to get to the kitchen, we did have a proper front door on the other side of the house, but this was only accessible via a walkway and no-one ever used theirs!

In the house I live in now, both kitchen and lounge are at the back of the house (which I like), and bathrooms at the side and the back.

I don't mind either room being at the front, although there is something uncomfortable about a groundfloor bathroom at the front of a house!

SarahAndFuck · 27/08/2013 16:05

Big bay window in the kitchen would be nice for a big table unlucky.

We used to live above the pub my parents ran. It had been converted and extended from a big Victorian house, so we had bay windows all over the place, including the kitchen. Was lovely to sit in the window around the table, watching the dog stroll along the windowsill outside because our garden was on the roof.

Our old house was a kitchen and (upstairs) bathroom to the front house, new house is kitchen and bathroom to the back. I've liked them both really.

Dancergirl · 27/08/2013 16:09

it's a longer walk round the back to hang your washing out. Unless you hang that out at the front too?

Luckily we've got a utility room (converted from garage) that's got a back/side door for hanging out washing.

See, I would hate to lug rubbish through the house to the bins at the front with a back kitchen!

nickelbabe · 27/08/2013 16:15

our kitchen is on the front of the house.
it looks okay.
but it is the only room on the front

nickelbabe · 27/08/2013 16:17

besides which, you can have a nosy at people in the street while you're washing up.

agree with bathrooms though.

MrsOakenshield · 27/08/2013 16:20

back bedrooms and living rooms, overlooking the garden, are far more sensible than front ones overlooking the street.

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