Must haves when house searching that I don't 'get'

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All open plan.
Why? Much nicer to have separate rooms where people can do their own thing, and to not have cooking smells invading the whole downstairs.

Kitchen Islands.
Usually just become dumping grounds for loads of rubbish and take up loads of floor space.

Living in London, all of our houses are basically Victorian terraces, and I hate them (even though I have lived in the ground floor of one for 16 years!). I don't like narrow rooms one behind the other with no view of the garden unless you are in the back room. I also don't like long thin gardens. I absolutely yearn for a lovely traditional 1920-1950 house with more of a boxy floorplan, with a nice wide square garden.

I'm not keen on :
en suite bathrooms (I'd be happy to have just one proper family bathroom on main bedroom floor, and maybe an ensuite if the loft has been coverted.)
massive block paved front garden
Wet rooms
Kitchen islands and breakfast bars.

I could not imagine a house without a garden .I want to move to a bigger one
Nothings beats a summer nigjt sitting out on your patio with a summer gin cocktail all your plants in the pots and hanging baskets and your tea light lamps in the tree perfect

A must have for me is what we have - a large open plan kitchen but a separate sitting room too. I love an island - with seating around it - it's where everyone congregates. We also have a large table in the kitchen.

A house without a utility would be a massive no for me. I am dealing with a new housing development through work. They are townhouses and on the market for around 1 million, but have no utility room! No way.

High ceilings. A massive pain in the arse for lightbulbs and Xmas!

We have a breakfast bar and it is a complete dumping ground? But before we moved here, the kitchen table ended up as a dumping ground so it’s an improvement - at least my kitchen table is nice and bare. In big American McMansion type homes, they have “drop zones” - kind of mini room/hallway with a worktop for dumping all your stuff, usually between the garage door and the kitchen. I aspire to one of those!

I do like open plan. I'm don't really like kitchen islands.

Things I really dislike are - houses with obvious extensions, bathrooms downstairs, en suites or too many bathrooms, top cupboards in kitchens, plastic windows, plastic doors, grey décor, very formal dinning rooms, thin walls, conservatories made of plastic, mock Tudor, pebble dash, over manicured gardens. I could go on.

I dislike most houses in the UK.

House hunting at the moment, recently saw a lovely Edwardian house we would of bought there and then, why not....the stairs, it was like climbing the north face of the Eiger! I could imagine coming down them one morning half asleep and ending up in a heap at the bottom of them, legs, hips broken!

It’s all very well when house hunting to have a wish list but at the end of the day it’s all down to supply (what’s on the market) and the supply of money you have (never enough).

Having bought and sold around a dozen times now I have managed to get my wish list - they’ve just never all been in the same property though!

I do like my conservatory I have though even though it’s hot/cold but it’s lovely Spring and Autumn. I like open plan for lounge/diner. I love big kitchens but at the end of the day I have to clean it!

Can I just add what I do like is a CLEAN house, some of them we’ve viewed should come with a health warning!

HATE open plan too. But saying that, we’re lucky as we have a orangery attached to the kitchen that we use as a dining room, and that also has room for a sofa, so we get the good bits of open plan (chatting to guests when you’re cooking, child doing homework on the table while you get dinner on etc) but the good bits of separate rooms too, as we can have a separate sitting room so can go in there to escape from the washing up! We have a playroom too and when DS is older, I’m going to make that into the snug, so either we can retreat there when he has friends round, or we can banish him there if he wants to play on his games console.

Open plan is so environment unfriendly. I cook a lot ,
and don't want the smells invading the whole house.
A real home is welcoming, not a showcase to brag about what you can afford.

l've got a pull out larder cupboard. l was thrilled when l viewed the house. l've always wanted one!

I like a decent hall way with the rooms leading off it. Rooms that lead off other rooms can become thoroughfares. I also love the privacy of my en suite

It took me until 55 to get my perfect house. Has many aspects mentioned here.

Xenia!

As I live and breathe.

Do what Hully. Where have you been?

I definitely think you need the kitchen dinner separated from the living area and hall, then you keep all the cooking smells contained.

Need to downsize and finding it very hard to find a smaller house for my budget with seperate rooms downstairs so that OH can have a bedroom downstairs, that is also accessible for his wheelchair. Ideally downstairs bathroom too - that seems to be easier to find round here.

I would rather have open kitchen than be stuck in kitchen by myself.

How badly does your kitchen smell?

When I was very small we lived in a 1930s house with a small kitchen at the back of the house, linked by a tiny serving hatch to a cosy breakfast room. Across both rooms was a large enclosed verandah where we children could play safely within sight of my mother. I would love that arrangement now.

I would love:
A utility/ laundry room
A secret room entered through a bookcase!
A window seat or nook to curl up with a book on rainy days
A veranda
Storage/ attic room

I don’t have a conservatory or wooden garden terracing and thought I’d like both. Notes taken and stored on their flaws.

En suite - I would have preferred walk in cupboard as, with the double bed, the bedroom is a squeeze and I have a tiny wardrobe which is buckling under the strain.
However, I have developed an IBD and, believe me, my en suite has been a god send. On my bad days, I scarcely make the ten steps from bed to toilet.

I viewed a flat in a converted Georgian terrace a while ago. Much desired part of town. From the street, it was perfect. Inside, I wanted to weep. All the original features had been ripped out. Floor to high ceiling blandness; wall mounted 1970s gas fires; mfi style kitchen units; weetabix strength plywood doors.

Boot room - being a city dweller I was a bit was thinking people had their football pitches

I pass the new buildings between Battersea and Vauxhall on the train every morning and what I don't get is the layout of a lot of them.

They are "open plan" which in that case only means that someone has stuck some kitchen units on a living room wall. So they've scrapped the kitchen, but have not added any space to the living room to compensate. It also looks as if someone had used kitchen units for living room furniture.

I currently live in a flat where there is a door way between the living room and the kitchen but sans door, as that would take a lot of space from the tiny kitchen. However, I can close the door to the hall way when I'm cooking.

I quite like big kitchens and islands, but I would always prefer to have the hob in the island. That way if friends are over it would be quite social and I wouldn't have to turn my back on them.

I don't quite get the need for en-suites, if there is another bathroom on the floor. However, I can understand en-suites in, for example, if there is only one bedroom in the loft after a conversion.

I must have ensuite as i sleep naked and always need loo at least 3 times during night
i like a spare room for guest/storage. I also like downstairs loo to save running up and down during the day. I would not buy house without any of these.

I quite like big kitchens and islands, but I would always prefer to have the hob in the island. That way if friends are over it would be quite social and I wouldn't have to turn my back on them

You see I'd hate that, I have a big island as said, it has eight high back heavy stools round it, and could take more. My friends congregate there, even when I'd rather they sat in the living room. This morning I cooked a full English for six whilst they sat there chatting. I'd really hate to have been doing it on thr island in the middle of them like it was a cookery show.

Fascinating thread, might placemark as a checklist when I next sell !

I love en suites, we have two plus the main bathroom. One for us and one off the guest room. Both have windows, and no steam travels into the bedrooms. That way our sons can use the main bathroom, and I don’t stagger out of bed in the morning and sit on wee on the seat 🤢

Upvc windows in old houses.

Went to view a house recently and only had the old pictures of it. The estate agents told me it had been done up to a high standard.
In the old pictures it had gorgeous large original wooden sashes windows.... when we got there they had ripped them out and replaced them with white plastic one where only one small panel opened. Looked ridiculous on this beautiful Victorian house.

I like an en suite. They come into their own when you have visitors, when I like to emerge in the morning fully dressed and made up. We have an en suite for visitors too and everyone who stays seems to love it as there’s no trying to work out if the bathroom is free etc.