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]

I wouldn’t buy a house like that, no. If it works for you then do it, and just change it if you decide to sell.

What do you plan to put against the wall with the toilet door?

Kitchen cabinets and a counter? Sofas? Bookshelves?

Might be ok if you have bookshelves or other type of Ikea cabinet doors on that wall so that the toiler door blends in.

Oops forgot to add pic sorry.

True! I wonder if there will be a passage or if the front door opens into this room.

In my understanding, you are not supposed to have a toilet open directly into a kitchen area, unless regs have changed. When my parents built a kitchen extension there had to be a ventilated area between the WC and the kitchen. You need to check this carefully, if it doesn't meet bulding regs/planning laws it would be impossible to sell.

Went for dinner at a friends house who had this set up and it’s just so awkward popping into the loo. Everyone’s having dinner and chatting and you’re on the other side of a flimsy door about a foot away doing your business. Very cringey no matter what the purpose of your visit !

We did similar but followed the wall all the way down making an L shaped kitchen/diner and then a toilet and utility.

I think ideally id prefer another door between the toilet and dining area because if you are sat in there you can obviously hear. BUT we needed the space, we wanted to keep a downstairs toilet so guests didn’t have to go upstairs. We have 3 other bathrooms in the house though so if a prospective buyer didn’t like it they could easily make it into a cupboard and still have plenty of toilet options in the house.

No I wouldn't. Definitely not.

When we renovated our house one of our reasons was to put in a downstairs loo. The architect put it pretty much where you have - right between the kitchen and the dining room. I was like wtf? As was my builder (he was better than any architect). At the builder's suggestion they moved it so it was outside the kitchen and we put a walk in pantry behind it.

Probably wouldn’t bother me as it’s not in the lounge.

Me: Can I use the bathroom, please?
Friend: Of course, it's right there.
Me: Erm. Can I use the one upstairs?
Friend: Noooooooo!
Everyone else: Awkward silence...

We all know how, (only on MN admittedly), people aren't allowed to go upstairs, never mind use someone's bathroom!

😬😂😬

Can you share the whole downstairs floor plan @lostinspace00? There might be other options for your layout change.

Are You sure you can knock both those walls down? Aren’t they holding up the upstairs?

No way. You’d essentially be putting a ‘toilet box’ in the middle of the room. It would be incredibly awkward. It’s almost putting the user on show. Perhaps you could add a fanfare that plays whenever the door is opened?

Boot room or something as others have suggested. Even though everyone would still know where someone is going, that little be extra hiddenness would create a massive amount more privacy psychologically.

Well this is depressing as I just had a text off the builder saying he will start next week.

so to summarise

Keep it as it is, its lovely - you could go big with the doors, get lovely arch ones, or glass ones and have the loo on one side and shower on the other

Or have the loo on one side and your washer dryer on the opposite

I'd be amazed if that's all they hear

I'm interested in where the stairs are 😂

Could you build a utility room around it somehow?

I don't understand what the purpose of the finished room will be. I've used the loo in people's utility rooms that have a random toilet. If the utility room is large I have felt a bit exposed. You say the toilet is a shower too, it's a small bathroom? I don't get it. Doesn't sound appealing to me.

Loads of homes in the UK have bathrooms directly off the kitchen. It's very normal.

And have your local council agreed the plans? My local council back in the day would always insist on two doors between the kitchen and toilet.

It would be against building regulations! You can’t have a toilet opening onto a kitchen. Has to be two doors (like it seems to be at present).

yep

we got told that recently - we've got a door taken off our dinning room (which is knocked through to the kitchen now) only temporarily to get stuff through easier and the building reg bloke clarified that its def going back on ....

i want it left off

It's not against regulations. Loads of homes have toilets directly off the kitchen (we do, for example). Our bathroom is directly off the rear of our kitchen.

Some suggestions from ai

But why don’t you want to remove the loo? I don’t get it. No, I wouldn’t view it.