I'm getting a new laundry/utility room. What are your must haves?

[Keenoonvino]

We are doing work on our house and part of it is extending our tiny utility room to make it bigger and incorporate a boot room. I need to think of designs/layouts for this and wonder what your must haves are?

For example - would a stacking washer/dryer be a better use of space than next to each other with surface room on top and then cupboards above that?

We've got enough space for hanging area for coats, a small bench for putting on shoes, a sink area and a floor to ceiling cupboard. But this is across both the utility and boot area.

What would be best going where? Is there anything you wish you had or couldn't live without?

Mine is more of a kitchen overflow than a properly designed utility room, I would love to get it renovated into something more organised and add a downstairs loo/shower room at the back. I have the tumble dryer and washing machine stacked to save space, we also have the dishwasher in there and a big larder freezer - the matching fridge is in the kitchen, I much prefer it to having a fridge freezer in the kitchen and an overflow/drinks fridge in the utility room, which is the set up we had before.

Lots of storage cupboards for hiding random junk and cleaning stuff would be great, as would space to fold/stack laundry.

Things I love in my (big) utility room...

*One wall is all wardrobes. Everyone has their own (ikea pax) wardrobe- then when I'm picking up everyone else's shit, as I do on a continual basis, I have somewhere to dump it. Then everyone gets told to sort out their wardrobe. There's also a wardrobe for out of season coats for everyone. And we have another wardrobe for the stuff that has no other place to go- presents bought in advance, tablecloths, chargers that we aren't using but might still need, lightbulbs and batteries etc etc.

• An ikea hanging rack for washing- this gets used year round. I hardly ever use my tumble dryer, apart from for towels. In winter, everything gets dried on it. In summer, I use it on rainy days.
• Sink- for pre-soaking clothes, for shitty shoes etc

I have my washing machine and tumble dryer side by side and next to the sink so there's a run of sink-counter top. The theory was that I'd fold washing here but I always end up folding it while watching tv and the counter has become a magnet for clutter.

One thing I wish I had was a space beside the washing machine where I could slot in the laundry basket that holds the dirty washing. I hate having it in the middle of the floor.

I don't have a bench for putting on shoes- we use the ikea footstool which is also needed in the utility room to access high shelves.

If you're short of space for a ceiling hanging rack, ikea do a wall mounted rack that folds down when you're not using it.

Another thing I wish I had was a sensor light that switches on and off automatically. I have no window in my utility room and it's a pain trying to turn on or off the light with a load of washing in your arms.

we were told that a laundry room upstairs is a bad idea- i think its becasue of the noise of washing machines etc.
we have a laundry chute - its the best thing ever!

i would add more hanging space- hanging wet things (eg delicates that can't be tumbled dried) is a pain

I'd have tons of wall-mounted, fold-away drying racks like these: www.ikea.com/gb/en/catalog/products/10177178/

Cost £20, fold away to nothing and you leave them up on the wall. My friend has these and they are brilliant.

if you are going to drape or hang wet washing, include an extractor fan. Modern ones with ball-bearing motors can be very quiet and durable.