Utility room conumdrum (with diagram!!)

[Badweekjustgotworse]

We're doing a renovation and extension and adding a small utility to the side of the house. It's small and I think the architect has underestimated the space we actually need, but we've already got planning permission and Can't afford to make it any bigger as we're already stretched beyond our comfort zone on the finances.

The room is 1.8 wide by 2.4.

We need to house a machining, tumble dryer, gas boiler, tall unit for keeping Hoover and brush etc, as many more cupboards as we can squeeze in for general storage as the house is short on storage overall. Ideally I'd love a tall unit for coats and shoes too so that I'm not tripping over them at the front door (which is what happens in our current house and I feckin HATE with a passion)

To complicate matters our architect has put in a beautiful floor to ceiling window on one of the short walls, faced by the glazed back door and one long wall has the door to the living room on it.

I've played about with changing the windows to maximise storage (diagrams 1, 2 and 3) but DH hates all my suggestions and wants to keep the (beautiful but akward) long window. Only way I can make that work is to loose the sink and ALL worksurface. Is it madness to have a utility with no sink? (diagram 4!)

Ours now has a large sink with window above it a drainer, with cupboards under and a stacked washer dryer. Works great if Dh would keep his shit off the draining board making it all messy.

Defiinitely Option 1. I don't like the small windows in 2-4 The one with the full length window looks very elegant - perfect for a dressing room but completely impractical for a laundry room!

1

Discussions are ongoing. He loves the bloody long window!
I've been messing around and come up with this. Thoughts?

There's a bit of dead space under the boiler in the corner, but that doesn't bother me really

When the boiler is serviced, the fitter has to stand in front of it and slide the cover forwards to remove it. She then has to wield wrenches and other tools, and insert a probe into the flue that probably comes out of the top.

When it gets replaced, two people have to stand in front of it and lift it off the wall together.

Your diagram doesn't leave enough room.

piglet that's odd. I'll check with our plumber. My dm has roughly the same placement for her boiler in her kitchen and no issues from the plumbers when they installed it or with subsequent call outs. I'll take it under consideration though

Right this isn't getting to LTB stage... he's refusing to shift of that shitting long window

It's just so disrespectful! Has he mentioned he's paying for it again?!

Oh no !!!

Thing is (annoyingly) I can see where he's coming from.

The wall with the shitting long window (herein referred to as SLW) faces the road on the side of the house and is part of the new extension. If there's no window in that wall he thinks the house 'will look shit' - his words.

A window will definitely look better than a flat wall hence my latest version as a compromise, but the long window is just an architectural flourish we don't have the room for imo.

I'm actually quietly cursing the architect for putting it in the plans in the first place without thinking througg the layout and storage issues properly. (knobber)

Your new sketch is nice - where are you going to keep your laundry baskets when not in use/got folded things in waiting to be put away?

In ours, we decided to forgo tall cupboards (which I'd initially really wanted) in favour of extra worktop space to store laundry baskets, large butler sink and space for food mixer, carpet stain remover thingy etc. Plus we use the counter on the other side of the l-shape to house the calendar, paperwork that needs actioning, school bags etc which get accessed daily. I then have the ironing board, steam mop and broom wall mounted adjacent to the door.

sherlocks all good questions, if dh has his way I'll not even have the worktop space proposed in my last sketch!

The house is lacking in general storage as it is and when I pointed this out to him yesterday he said that's what he thinks the spare bedroom is for (smacks head on wall) great... so the room I thought was going to be a lovely guest bedroom is actually just going to be the general dumping room that I'll have to traipse up to every time I want to get anything useful from, joy.

ill be damned before I end up storing the Fing ironing board upstairs in the spare trim so everyone I have to do the ironing I have to traipse up and down the stairs with piles of laundry

pocketniffler not yet, god help him if he does...

Just to add a spanner to the works we have a utility the same size as yours with a wooden door. We have no windows at all and have put shoe racks in front of the solid wooden door. It means we have lots more cupboard space and a kitchen worktop and sink. We don't miss natural light as we don't spend much time in there. We do have a bright light though.
I wouldn't bother with the big windows but the little one above the sink is a nice bonus.

OK so keep the SLW and have a massive built in cupboard in front of it.

Waste of money but if he's only concerned with how it looks from outside then he won't mind.

Our utility is between the kitchen and garage and doesn't have a window. I've never thought of it as odd at all.

Would you entertain not having a window or perhaps having one high up or a swanky lol get tunnel or something like that?

deux the thought had crossed my mind except I was thinking of sandwiching him between the back of the cupboard and SLW

That's brilliant. . Much easier than under the patio.

If the window is just for the sake of external appearances then why can't it just be fully opaque for the bottom half (or all of it)? Then you can have a cupboard in front of it.

Also, if the internal walls are stud walls you may be able to insert some of the cupboards into the space between the studs, giving you a bit more room?

How about a slw made out of glass bricks with whatever you want on the inside? Or a wisteria or something in the outside?

I'm sure it looks lovely on the plans by I don't think anyone has ever looked at a house and thought "ooh look at that lovely long window behind the bins, with the ironing board propped up against it, isn't it stylish?"

I like Option 2 if that helps.

pocketniffler gah! Just totally snorted at that. I did say something similar to him yesterday but he accused me of being melodramatic, pfftt, he hasn't seen melodramatic yet!

intransige the utility will be added onto the already existing exterior wall so no stud wall space sadly.

Do any of you think anyone has ever ended up in relate counselling because of a fecking utility room layout, or will badweekdh and I be the first? Serious question...