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've seen a house that had something similar and they'd managed to have the door into the loo/shower coming off the hall, then used some of the rest of the space for a utility area (basically a large cupboard with washer, dryer, room for vacuum cleaner and ironing board etc and shelves above) and a large walk in pantry. It makes the kitchen/diner smaller and possibly L shaped.

Not sure what the scale is in your case and if this would be possible? I would only do it if you could get the door into the loo coming off the hall, definitely not if it's coming directly off the kitchen/diner.

With a toilet right in the middle of a room like that? I don't believe you.
Off the kitchen, maybe. But not surrounded on 3 sides by living space. No. Thats not common. I've seen ALOT of houses, never seen anything like this.

Absolutely not - I wouldn't be keen even if it was extended to be a proper utility room

Sorry, I was referring to toilets being directly off the kitchen or living room - both of which are common in terraces where space is limited.

Our only toilet is directly off our kitchen, for example. I know a few clients who have toilets directly off the living area too. It's not as odd as this thread would make out.

There are 2 places it can go in the hall:

1. Move the front door to where the hall window is, brick up the old door and put the toilet where it says “porch”. OR
2. Block the apparent door from the dining room into the hall and put the toilet under the stairs.

It’s not a good idea to redo a house with no downstairs toilet as you will lose the cost of putting one in off the asking price when you sell.

Also it’s a pia to live with.

Worth getting the layout right now.

No I would not. It is horrifying enough hearing EVERYTHING FIL does in the downstairs loo which is NOT in the middle of our kitchen/dining room. I could not subject myself to that. Plus I wouldn’t ever use it if anyone else was in the house so I wouldn’t want it configured like that. Most people don’t relish an instant building job when they move in. Plus if they are going to change the floor plan to incorporate the loo into a utility, it’s such a pain if someone has recently fitted a new kitchen. Saying that, if you have no intention of moving in 5/10 years, it doesn’t matter.

Nope, sorry

Where are the toilet flushings going in these 2 scenarios? Is the magic compost fairy spiriting them away every time?

Or are you suggesting OP jackhammers a 2ft trench across the middle of her dining room to connect to the existing soil pipe at 12 o'clock on the current floor plan?

This house looks like it's had enough half-arsed additions done to it in the first place (it looks a lot like the kitchen/diner space is an extension, and tackling the issue of changing the orientation of the staircase when that was done would have given several far more functional options on the floorplan at that stage. OP is trying to make the best of what she's (presumably) inherited layout wise. But running new utilities to reach the front door is unlikely to be a budget option!

It wouldn’t be my first choice but unless you are very rich and very lucky you always have to make some compromises when you buy a house.

I thought you had to keep 2 doors between a toilet and a kitchen due to building regs? I could definitely be wrong, though. Maybe ask the Planning Dept.

I would not want a toilet opening straight onto a kitchen or dining room. It would put me off buying, yes.

This thread is what I needed to hear today. We have a toilet bisecting our kitchen and it's awful.

Our guests hate audibly using the toilet when they visit, then making eye contact with us as they walk out the door while we're all sat at the table.

It's vile so we're getting rid of it and opening our kitchen up into a big rectangle space without the shitty little toilet in the middle. Can't wait to be rid of it!

Googled quickly about 2 doors - 2 doors are still a requirement in Scotland but not elsewhere.

As long as it complies with building regulations and is well sound-proofed I do not see an issue. You could make feature corners on either side, such as cupboards or a reading nook.
Let's face it, there is not going to be anyone in there defecating all day, every day.
I do wonder about people on here with such odd attitudes to normal, bodily functions.

Apart from it looking completely daft and horrifying guests the above should help you make your mind up.

I can see why you would want to remove those walls as the downstairs loo is not in a practical space.

Which of the two rooms is lacking the space most?
Could you remove one of the two walls and the toilet making either the dining room or the kitchen bigger but leaving them as two separate rooms.

I don't think that making massive open plans rooms gives people as much space as they imagine, yes you removal a wall but they aren't usually that thick now and you still need the room to walk around furniture. You also suffer from the lack of walls to put things against. The thing that is taking the most space currently is the corridor to the toilet. If you could live without the toilet I would remove it and move that space into the kitchen if you like cooking and the dining room if you like entertaining. We mostly don't look at houses that are open plan.

The house across the road from me, built in 2014, has a loo in the kitchen .
One door into it from the kitchen. It was the main reason we didn't go for that house. But it sold.

Could you make it a little bigger so you have a shower/utility room maybe with a big extras cupboard for laundry detergent, cat food etc? Then it would be a winner and not as obvious as just a toilet in the middle

I think you used to have to have two doors between a kitchen and a loo but I think the regulations have now changed. I think it's just the placement of it doesn't do anything else that might be awkward.

We have a downstairs toilet next to the kitchen which opened onto a utility room. When we were planning the kitchen extension it involved taking down the utility room wall and this meant the toilet opening into the kitchen. We were told that this was allowed, providing the toilet room contained a washbasin and an extractor fan.

No, I would not. We viewed a lovely house in the right location for us, perfect in every way except that the toilet opened directly into the kitchen diner. It was towards the top of our budget at the time so we couldn't afford to change it. We didn't buy and have no regrets

Open plan shitter
Put the hashtag into Instagram lol hilarious

Presuming there will be walls, it’s a non-issue.

however since people are odd, what I would do is build a storage room and have an entrance at the back into the toilet area. So adding some separation and gaining some
storage space at the same time.

Fair enough. I must be out of date. Or I misremembered, either is possible.

I’m f you are not moving and it doesn’t bother you, you could do the work and then just remove the toilet and make it into a cupboard/ pantry if you decide to sell