Building a utility room

[PragmaticWench]

We are at the planning stage of a kitchen extension with a separate utility space. What should we consider adding?

Clean washing is currently dried in a small bedroom with a heated airer and a de-humidifier but I'd love to move all of the drying to the new utility room and have the bedroom clear again. Is there an in-built de-humidifier we could install instead of the free standing one?

What else would you add or consider at the time of building?

Buy a vented tumble dryer instead?

Drying cupboard - wish we'd thought of it!

i saw an idea on pinterest of a large shelving unit with pull out wire drawers for each member of the family to put their clean clothes in so they can collect them, great idea.

We won't have space for a tumble dryer unfortunately, and if we could save more space by losing the de-humidifier that would be great.

I'm wondering what gadgets or space-saving cupboard configurations anyone has had and would recommend?

We've just bought a de-humidifier which can be plumbed in for our utility. It was on special offer from screw fix £85 maybe? Ours isn't in yet so I can't say how effective it is but maybe worth having a Google?

How about a Sheila's maid clothes horse suspended from ceiling and a really powerful extractor fan, plus radiator and window that can be opened? That's my plan!

Brilliant, love both of those ideas, thank you!

Really want to get the room working well, so need to consider electrics/plumbing/ventilation from the planning stage.

We have a tumble dryer stacked on top of the washing machine, but if you're not bothered fair enough. I can't stand washing all over the place as it dries.

We have a stacked dryer too and a Sheila maid over the chest freezer!

I wouldn't be without a dishwasher and a tumble dryer. Seriously: life is too short!

We also have one of those ladder radiators that are meant for bathrooms in ours. It's on a separate spur so can come on with the central heating or anytime by flicking the switch - which is great for drying things.

Sheila Maid and some sort of humidity-controlled extractor is the way to go. 60% of our washing is probably dried on the ceiling airer, 30% on the line and 10% tumble drier. The room never feels damp as the vent opens automatically. It hangs above the worktop with the sink and washing machine - definitely not "all over the place". Dry for free!

That said if you aren't having a tumble drier maybe consider whether there's space for one later if you change your mind.

If you are ever likely to have football boots/sports kit in your life have a sink to wash them in with a good splashback.

Our broom cupboard is a 1m Ikea Pax wardrobe shelved out with slots and hooks for ironing board, mops , cleaning stuff etc

Plenty of power sockets or an area for charging things?

I don't know what size you're thinking of, but I think having a sink in the utility room is invaluable. We've used ours for soaking stained baby clothes, washing hands when we come in from the garden, washing anything that is very dirty (ie from the garden or the garage) etc. Splashback behind it is easy to clean.

A cupboard that is wide and tall enough for the ironing board, vacuum cleaner, carpet cleaner, house sweeping brush, dustpan and brush, mopp and bucket, iron etc.

Think what you need to get out of your kitchen or under stairs cupboard etc and work out your storage around that.

What about power points? Make sure you have enough. For example, the ironing is done in our utility room, so I need a socket that is quite low. Its also handy to plug the vacuum cleaner in the utility rooom whilst I hooever just outside, so a low power point is useful for that too.

If you're not having a tumble dryer, is the room wide enough for your clothes horse, or possibly two?

Have you looked on pinterest for storage and configuration ideas? I have a load of utility room pins on mine, and I barely use pinterest.

Also have stacked washing machine & dryer, and a Sheila maid. I also have a shelf with baskets - one for each member of the family and then one for ironing and one for household crap items (towels, bedding etc). My utility room is only accessed from outside of the house (i.e. the only door is on the outside of the house) so we just leave the windows open permanently (no security issues) so no need for a dehumidifier etc. I appreciate that's not a solution for everyone.

I also saw on houzz a utility room with a set of hanging rails so that items can be put on hangers and hung up - I can do that on the Sheila maid, but it looked much neater / more organised with a hanging rail.

Ours has a tiled floor with programmable electric underfloor heating, a sash window with lockable trickle vent and a ceiling airer above the sink unit. The airer is equipped with all the matching hangers from the dry cleaners and the washing machine is a combined one with tumble dryer, which is fine for occasional use. We had all wall and base units full of crap but had to buy an additional tall cupboard to store the ironing board, vacuum etc. I'd rather have had one wall of tall units to get everything tidied away instead of worktop to clutter.

We also keep the obligatory recycling boxes in there and they take up loads of space.

I'd say good planning is essential, mine is SUCH a dumping ground.

Really handy tips, thank you. I've seen the hanging rail idea on houzz for shirts etc so will definitely incorporate one.

I'd love to move the ugly recycling out of the kitchen too, depending on space. A trickle vent on the window is another good one to include!

A drying cupboard-is that like an airing cupboard but with no hot water tank? If so how do you heat it?