Wwyd - ensuite vs cloakroom

[Curioustiger]

Quick question for all you property addicts out there. We live in a three bed house with one upstairs bathroom. The bathroom is a good size with both a shower and bath but of course two loos (at a minimum) would be better. Setting aside cost, would you rather:

• have an ensuite shower room upstairs (with a

Wc and basin as well) that takes away a little space from an otherwise good sized bedroom (taking it from a medium to small double room, iyswim)

• have a cloakroom (loo and basin) downstairs which for layout reasons will have to be sited between the kitchen and living room and therefore take away some space from the kitchen (taking it from a medium / large kitchen to a medium sized one). It would not open into the kitchen or the living room but instead into a little hallway of its own (difficult to explain but looks ok, they have this layout next door).

There is theoretically the option to have both but finances probably wouldn't allow it.

As an FYI there are two adults and two children in the house but as we are likely to move in the next ten years I am trying to canvas opinion from a wide range of people. What do you think?

Ok, sorry to drip feed but I genuinely thought of this just now. The cloakroom would be very small, basically the smallest space you can fit a loo and basin into (like an under stairs loo, if you know what I mean, as it will in fact take some of the unused under stairs space as well as a bit of kitchen). Does that make any difference or would you still say go for it?

It's very rare to have a large downstairs loo, all you need is a loo and a sink (often sinks for downstairs loos are tiny). As long as you can sit down without bashing your knees on the door or the sink it'll be fine.

Another one for the downstairs loo. They can squeeze them into tiny spaces on boats etc so I am sure it will work. Some people do like eat in kitchens though unless there is a separate dining room, so perhaps bear that in mind if you are intending to sell.
What have other people in your street done?

Still the downstairs loo.

Great when you have visitors.
Great when you are toilet training.
Great when the kids are sick.
Great when the kids are messy/dirty.
Great if anyone injures themselves/are ill and can't get up and down the stairs.

Much more use than an en suite (IMO) when you have small children.

Still the downstairs toilet here too - for all the reasons Chipping states, plus add in when you have someone working in your house.

There are quite a few people that don't like en-suites, but I've never heard of anyone not liking a downstairs toilet.

In fact, having had them in my current and previous house (one before that was a maisonette, so all ground floor) I don't think I'd buy a house that didn't either have a downstairs toilet, or at least have the potential to have one fitted (which would then be my first job on completion).

I would have a downstairs loo. It's useful for guests and easier for occupants too.

Downstairs loo. I have a downstairs bathroom, which probably knocks £20,000 off the value of the house, but I have come to love it, and at least we do have a toilet downstairs which reduces the muddy footprints coming in from the garden and up the stairs.

on the other hand, why not think about having both?

Cloakroom

I know that en suites are very much the modern thing, but I really don't see the great benefit. You have a family sized bathroom already, so there's no great gain from having another loo next door as opposed to downstairs. Having two loos is great. A separate shower is nice.

If you don't have a table in the kitchen at the moment anyway, is there any way to make the cloakroom bigger to include a shower?

I have both, but if I would to need to remove one of them, it would be the en-suite. Downstairs loos are a big plus for me, I wouldn't consider buying a house without one.

Cloakroom, no question.

I have both, too, and totally agree with arrow I'd far rather have the down-stairs loo rather than the en-suite if I had to choose.

My down-stairs loo has about quadruple the use that my en-suite gets.

Cloakroom- for us cloakroom was an essential, but en suite a luxury.

Hello, no, couldn't fit a shower downstairs as the under stairs bit cuts into the height available.

On my street there are five houses like mine in a row. I think three have just one bathroom like mine and the fourth has a downstairs loo in the same place as mine would go. Which is telling (especially as I think it was renovated as a rental investment so presumably the owner was looking for the layout that suited the most people).

Thanks so much everyone for all this feedback. I have to say I came onto the thread inclined to the ensuite so this has given me lots of food for thought. I also have had the idea from a previous poster to get an estate agent round to ask them what they think too (if only to give us a budget to work within, iyswim, as they could tell us how much value it would add).

I'd go for a downstairs loo.

We are moving and would not have bought a house without a downstairs loo but would've bought one without an en suite.

Could you put the downstairs W.C in them put an ensuite in at a later date.

My kids are 4&7 and a downstairs toilet would've been wonderful when they were little.

House = cloakroom. Bungalow=en suite. Simples.
With small kids in a house I'd def go for a cloakroom even though I personally love an ensuite.

Another vote for a downstairs loo. When we were looking for houses I had a downstairs loo on my list of must haves.

Another vote for the cloakroom. I agree with the person who said an en suite is more for houses with 4+ bedrooms.

Also I wonder if it's a kids age thing. With little kids you need the downstairs loo for all the practicalities mentioned so far. With teenagers, your en suite becomes a godsend instead of waiting for the bathroom to be free. So if your house/area is more likely to appeal to families with young kids (local schools etc), then definitely go for the cloakroom. From what you say about the other houses on the street, an en suite isn't the thing. And although I love ours in the loft extension, I really dislike en suites that are 'squeezed in'. I've seen some that just feel airless and damp, not luxurious at all!

Not sure I've got this right but isn't there some rule about having 2 sets of doors between a loo and a kitchen? Might be just in rented houses, but maybe something to think about ( and I may feasibly have made this up totally!)

I would definitely go for cloakroom over em suite, whatever the size of the cloakroom.

olivo I had an architect round last week through the shelter architect in the home scheme (you pay £45 as a donation to shelter and get a free architect's consultation, it was really good) and he said that that rule is no longer the case, as ventilation etc has been improved. However I think the principle of it not opening into the kitchen is obviously sound! In our case you would step out of the cloakroom into a very mini hall (prob a meter square or less), then either through a door or an archway into the kitchen to the right. There would be potential to include another door or archway to the living room on the left (or just have it opening onto the living room). So you could have two doors (the downside of two doors is that it would prevent light from flooding through from one room to the other which would be great when the cloakroom is not in use). The upside though is obviously less chance of noise or smells!

This layout is not ideal I know and this is probably the only factor stopping me committing 100% to the cloakroom now although I think with the weight of opinion on the thread so firmly swung in favour of it I would push on anyway.

Hopefully later on I can pop round next door and see how they've done it, I've never been in their kitchen (antisocial London you see).

Downstairs loo. I'm about to buy a house that sounds like yours. I've been looking for one with everything I want, including a downstairs loo, but failed to find it. This has everything I want except the loo, but potential to put one in the cupboard under the stairs.

For me, the 'young children running up and downstairs' phase blurred into the 'avoid teenage boys upstairs' phase and the 'stairs are difficult with my dodgy knee' phase, so two loos on two separate floors are starting to feel like a real necessity!

Loo downstairs 100%.

We have a downstairs loo. My pil always trip upstairs to use the loo.
Can kind of understand in current house as loo is green (but clean!!)But they did it in our old fancy pants cloakroom too. Drives me nuts.