What do you store in your utility room?

[ReluctantFishLady]

I'm moving into a new house and was over there cleaning the utility room there today. I've never had a proper utility room before, I've had a small space that contains washed and dryer with a bit of shelf space above it, but that's about it.

New house has a sink and fitted cupboards and it occurred to me I've no real idea what people actually store in their utility rooms so I thought I would ask here.

Also if you have a utility sink cupboard and kitchen sink cupboard where do you keep your cleaning products?

Laundry detergent etc
Cleaning stuff for house - sprays , bottles, spares of some etc
A shelf with all our medicines
Spares of things like soap, toothpaste, shampoo etc
Sewing box
Shoe cleaning stuff
Iron and ironing board
Dog towels
Mop and bucket, brush etc
We have room for some storage so also have spare toilet rolls, kitchen rolls. and light bulbs

Kitchen sink only has fairy liquid, soap and counter spray. Plus dishwasher tablets etc

Duchess clearly lives in my utility and knows exactly what I have in mine also!

I also keep spare batteries and bin liners in the cupboards, but otherwise, Duchess nailed it! 😁

I have a couple of shelves in there that store all the shit I don’t really need and can’t find another place for. So there is dog stuff, alcohol, DC paints and brushes, buckets, ear defenders, baskets with bits and bobs from flat pack furniture, sealant etc.. then have a mini fridge for drinks, a high shelf with emergency water. Vacuum, ironing board etc. And dog crate.

Thank you this all makes sense. I love the idea of not having the kitchen sink cupboard stuffed full of everything actually. I do currently have medicine, boxes of light bulbs, random house things in a kitchen cupboard so will make sure they go over to the utility room. Not looking forward to decluttering those for the move!

Let me think...

Laundry products
Cleaning stuff
Mop and bucket
Iron and ironing board

In the cupboards/drawer:
Basic tools like, eg screwdrivers, hammer, picture hanging hooks, measuring tape etc
Spare tins of food - tomatoes, chickpeas, black beans, tuna etc
Dog and cat's flea meds and dog's heartworm meds
Slowcooker and icecream maker
Torches and matches
'Nice' dinner service
Paper plates and plastic cutlery
Light bulbs and batteries
Spare aluminum foil, freezer bags and cling film

Eh........ that's it, I think...

Same as @CC4712 and my utility room is small. Spare kitchen roll and toilet roll, plant feed, dust pan and brush, mop, additional kettle and drinks (overspill booze, water and other soft drinks. Very useful space.

Ours is biggish, could be a home office, really.
We keep it unheated, so...

Larder, overflow food, especially anything might go off if not cold.

Washing machine, dirty clothes, detergent, laundry baskets, iron, ironing board, pegs.

Lots of packaging/parcels for sending parcels/fragiles (I sell for charity). 2 big drawers of stuff I sell for charity (there is a lot more upstairs, too).

Spare binders, plastic envelopes, empty box files.

My skates, wrist & knee guards, spare skate stuff.

Spare shoes, hiking boots, spare waterproofs.

Swim kit, gloves, hats, sorted by sizes (kid, adult) & type (cycling, wooly). Sun hats, beach shoes.

Spare recycling, rags, items I am trying to give away.

Candles (we get power outages often), straps, lanyards, string, curtain rings, paper maps, product receipts & warrantees

Some spare ... car bits, some spare chairs, spare soaps.

DS's smelly 3d printer went in there when we had that.

I'd add occasional use kitchen stuff to the pretty consistent list that's appearing so far, and using the work surface for anything you don't want cluttering kitchen counters. So things like toasted sandwich maker, maybe the blender, the giant roasting tin that doesn't get used super often, slow cooker, things like serving platters. Either on the work surface or in cupboards depending how much space there is and how often you use the things.

When I lived in my previous house that had a smaller kitchen I used to keep my baking stuff in the utility room.
Nowadays I keep cleaning stuff, laundry stuff, and bags for life.

Lightbulbs
Tea towels
DIY stuff
The sick bowl
Batteries
Spares of loo roll, tissues, etc
Laundry paraphernalia obviously
Walking shoes, wellies, wet weather gear
The microwave
Vases
LFT tests
Medicine
All the household bumph, basically

Mine is quite small, has boiler, double sink cupboard, washer, dryer, fridge freezer + 2 double wall cupboards.

Under the sink has a small tool box, a junk box (like the junk drawer) and some cleaning spray.

Wall cupboards have laundry stuff, robomop & pads, steam mop pads, shoe cleaning box, dog stuff, some gardening stuff, bin bags etc.

Mainly things others have said as well as my bags for life and the small handheld hoover.

Have just had mine pulled out but it had a double cupboard under the sink so kept washing powder etc vases, paint and painting stuff plus dog and cat food. New utility room will have a tall larder cupboard plus three base cupboards (fridge freezer is moving into kitchen and tumble drier is being stacked on washing machine) base cupboards will have a bin drawer in one, dog and cat food in another plus the paint. Larder will have washing stuff, cleaning stuff, all spare picnic stuff/camping stuff, vases and no doubt whatever other stuff I can find to shove in there!

Depending on the length of the room and height of the ceiling, get a pulley 👌

Laundry stuff, and the dog’s stuff. The bin/recycling and plastic bags.

My utility room is quite big, so I store the DC’s clothes that are going to be handed down. They are boxed up and easy to access, rather than the attic. It’s always dry in there, with the tumble drier and windows open, so the clothes stay in good condition. It’s an excellent place to hang winter coats in summer time etc.

Ours is quite small, so can’t store as much as I’d like.

washer, dryer

sink with cupboard under to store buckets, bin bags, shoe cleaning kit

pull out cupboard for laundry detergents etc

tall cupboard for hoover, mops, ironing board, feather dusters, brooms, power mop, boxes of pegs

overhead cupboard for cleaning products/ cloths

car litter tray also in there

clothes sit on the worktop waiting to be put away/ ironed, and there’s a wall mounted surer

Persil/aerial
The steam mop and shark and the cleaner's bucket of cleaning stuffs
Contains the tumbler w/m, water tank, a shower, butler sink
All the cat paraphernalia: food, bowls, litter, etc
Shoe cleaning stuff because it's next to the boot room.

Fridge freezer
washing machine &dryer
dog food
dog’s leads etc
dog walking boots/jacket (ours not his!)
cleaning/laundry supplies
mop/brush etc
tools/picture hooks etc
vases
light bulbs/batteries etc
stationery/sellotape
vases
clean washing till it gets distributed
Shoe cleaning box

Basically all the useful small stuff that isn't food-related as previously mentioned and is used often.

Laundry airer.

Drawer of gardening gloves, secateurs, string, hose fittings that go missing if left outside.

Houseplant supplies

Currently decorating so paint, rollers, dust sheets etc

A step stool

Rechargeable stick hoover, but not the roomba as that lives in the hall

So much stuff in our utility, and it’s only small. Apart from washing machine and tumble dryer…

Laundry detergents etc
tea towels and cleaning cloths
bags for life
cordless vacuum
mop
vases, so many vases
trays
crockery that’s used only occasionally
large ovenware
extra wine glasses
christmas crockery/tea towels etc
cookery books
microwave
nespresso machine
extra ‘pantry’ items like flour, tinned foods, jars
coats
dog towels

Our utility room has a washer and dryer but no sink. The countertop surface is great for folding laundry and, very rare, ironing.

There's a full height cupboard with:

hoover
Dustpan & brush
Mop
Broom
Washing up powder

batteries, string, parcel tape, pegs, gift bags, vases.

Ours is pretty small but a very useful space.
it has the coat rack and an overflow shoe rack.
washing machine and tumble dryer,
cupboards with things like laundry/stain removing stuff, spares of kitchen roll, dishwasher tablets and rinse aid, washing up liquid and general cleaning supplies, light bulbs. The hoover is plugged into the charger in a tall cupboard, there’s also the iron and ironing board, broom and dustpan and brush, box with hats/scarves/gloves, window karcher thing, shoe cleaning box (this is the most unused box ever 😂), shopping bags, floor steamer.
on top of the head height cupboards is the sandwich toaster and pasta maker. There’s a sink in there for soaking any laundry for pretreating clothes or washing out paintbrushes, just messy stuff.
Bloody love having this room, it helps keep my kitchen clear and uncluttered!

Mine isn't a proper utility room, it was a narrow room split into 2 L shapes, one part for a shower and the other for a washing machine. It's quite small but I have deep shelves above the washing machine which I use for storing batteries and light bulbs, an extension of my kitchen food cupboards, alcohol for cooking, laundry detergent and small food waste bins. On the opposite wall my ironing board and iron and on the back of the door to the kitchen a pocket thing for cloths, cat brushes, bin bags and other random cleaning things. The kitchen bin is also in there.