Would you buy a house with a toilet in an open-plan room?

[lostinspace00]

Hope to find some sensible opinions here before I (possibly) waste loads of money (and so sorry i just posted this on an existing thread by mistake).

My house has a separate dining room and kitchen with a hallway between the two leading to a toilet. I want to knock the walls down to create one large room but keep the toilet as it’s very useful. To cover all bases:
1 no I can’t afford to put the toilet anywhere else it would make the job too expensive

1. I want to keep the toilet (it’s a shower too) rather than get rid of it as it’s useful.

would you buy a house with a toilet in the middle of a big open plan room?

I’ve created some excellent architectural designs to show you what I mean (by excellent I mean a bit shit)

Thank you to anyone who can be bothered to respond

[image removed by MNHQ at OP's request]

My friend has a downstairs toilet / shower room and it leads directly from the kitchen diner . It’s a recent extension too .

Agree with everyone else

A standalone washroom in the middle of a kitchen diner - F NO!

Combined into a boot room/utility so you lose a bit of wall space but add privacy and useful storage- that would be a plus.

No I wouldn't view it i am afraid, it would be very odd.

Absolutely not. No privacy for the toilet user, no separation between the smells of the kitchen, a bathroom and the living room.... Deeply unpleasant and not attractive.

Would be worth looking to make the loo part of a utility room with a second door opening into kitchen area - that creates the privacy and storage / washing machine space but also allows for a larger open living area?

Tucked away in the corner, or as pp suggested made part of a utility area I probably wouldn't rule it out completely. An enclosed toilet cubicle between the kitchen and dining room would be too odd for me to consider looking at.

It would be a no from me too. Someone poops inside there and the smell wafts out when they open the door while others are eating/cooking etc. No

We are mid reconfiguring our 200 year old cottage that was last renovated in 1965. It had the old two doors between kitchen and toilet set up plus a utility, so three small spaces (lobby, toilet, utility) off a long thin galley kitchen.

We've opened up the space, leaving a small lootility and swapped the kitchen with the former living room so the kitchen is now elsewhere and the lootility opens off the 'snug'. Imo, it still doesn't work so we're planning to relocate the toilet and washing machine etc to part of the integral garage. Much better place for it imo!

So, no, for me a toilet slap bang in the middle of a large kitchen/kitchen diner doesn't work - but I think some of the suggestions above re making a larger lootility space, where the door opens into the utility end might.

God no. It might work for you practically. But you’ll have no hope of ever selling the place

No - absolutely not. I don't like open plan kitchen plus anything particularly because of cooking smells, even less with a toilet plonked in the middle!

I wouldn't. It sounds really odd. You would never manage to have effective sound proofing - sitting in the lounge listening to someone emptying their bowels doesn't do it for me...

I lived in a flat that had the toilet erupting into an open plan kitchen diner. It was grim grim grim. When it was just me at home, it was fine. As soon as a second person arrived it was not nice listening to and smelling what happened in that box. And actually, come to think of it, I think it was against planning regs because there has to be more than a single door between a kitchen and a toilet? This was many years ago though.

Honestly, no i wouldn't buy.

It’s an awful idea

My youngest DC would love that but mostly because she always needs a mid meal poo and hates to miss out on whatever is going on. She's 5.

If that's your only option, I'd get rid of the loo altogether.

Why do people just make things up...?

Is nobody reading the full thread? There's been several posts stating that this Building Regs rule changed decades ago!

Oh no, can you imagine being a visitor at a house like this and needing the loo, even for a wee? And getting up and everyone watching you disappear in there. Just no!😬

Totally agree. I have no idea why they changed it but I wouldn't buy anywhere without 2 doors between a loo and a kitchen.

I was flat hunting about 10 years ago and lots had a loo opening right off the living room. I wouldn't touch them.

You could just go upstairs!

But I take your point, I might feel awkward going upstairs too.

It's not OK. There should be 2 doors between a WC and a kitchen.

I am going to ask an obvious question - are you re-designing this space because this is what's working for you right this moment or are you redesigning it for the future buyer? Because if the former, then surely the most important thing is that this new design is working for you. If it's the latter, perhaps it's best not to make any alterations, sell the house on and look for something which fits your needs better.

It wouldn't completely put me off if I otherwise liked the house and that was the only issue but I would prefer it not be like that. Could you just shorten the hallway a bit so there is another door between the loo and the big open room - either literally just a door so most of the room is still one, or a bit bigger so it becomes a mini utility, with just a doors width gap between the two rooms.

That way you get the best of both worlds - technically 1 big room and get rid of the wasted hallway space but privacy for the toilet, a bit of storage for coats or shoes or a vacuum cleaner, and can be easily split again if new owners prefer 2 separate rooms.

That’s out of date

First thing to check is whether the middle two walls are structural, as they may well be. A random long hallway like that without a staircase in it makes very little sense otherwise.

If it is not structural, or you are happy to do something like supporting beams and archways (not a structural engineer, no idea if this is a realistic/affordable solution!) I think I would probably look at opening up the large space but adding a smaller room on one side, like the blue box here, perhaps as a walk-in pantry or utility room? I think it would make the toilet room look less strange because it won't just look like it is stuck onto the wall.

It makes sense for a WC to open into a dining room, as handy for guests/parties.

Cos that will just scream “I need a poo!”