Lootility vs downstairs shower + washing machine in kitchen

[tentative3]

We currently have a 27 foot long kitchen/diner with a tiny utility on one side and on the other a dated loo and shower. The shower is never used. You'd have to traipse downstairs, through the living room and then through the kitchen to the far end to use the shower. It's not well separated from the rest of the room either, with a sliding door and is next to the french doors which are the only access to the garden.

We are losing the utility. That is unavoidable for various reasons which I'd rather not go into. So we initially thought we would rip the shower out and replace with washing machine, retaining the loo. This would mean one bathroom for a 4 bed house. The house is listed and quirky, which might make this slightly more forgiveable, and it is realistically more likely to suit childfree or older couples whose kids have left home with occasional house guests rather than young busy family.

Now I'm wondering whether we ought to keep the shower and put the washing machine in the kitchen. I still cannot really ever see anyone using it (if you had a muddy dog, say, or had been out walking, you would have to go down a gated alley and through two locked doors of an outhouse to the french doors at the back which someone would have had to open for you since they cannot be unlocked from outside). But when we sell the house, which is the plan, do people really think that through or do they just see that it has a downstairs shower room plus a bathroom upstairs and think that sounds good? There is no where else to easily put a shower in the house.

I'd love some opinions please.

We've got a lootility - Id go for that. Downstairs showers never really work. And with a big kitchen people are likely to see it as a 'heart of home' type room, so noisy washing machine far better elsewhere.

With a 27ft kitchen, there seems to be a lot of space. I’d rework the plans to keep a utility or at least have a ‘laundry cupboard’ and have a shower room.

It's 27ft but very narrow, galley in one part, and a step up in height approx two thirds of the way down. There is honestly no way of having a utility and a shower room in the space, I'd love to say otherwise but it's one or the other.

I think a second shower/bath is increasingly expected. It sounds like a high end house so it's likely that people looking round will be used to having an en suite. Trading down to the second shower being downstairs is less of a reach than trading down to just one.

I don't get the hatred of downstairs showers. We have one. We eat breakfast in PJs and then pop into the shower, it's just normal to us, and we like the way someone can shower without disturbing the rest of the household. So in my view I'd go for the shower.

Frankly, I'd prefer to get rid of the shower room completely because the location is hideous (an extension that we didn't build) and I'd much rather have the whole back of the house open but we can't move the loo and I don't think we could have only one loo in the house.

It does seem that having the shower downstairs is a waste of the space and I would get rid.

However, as a listed building, are you not very constrained in what you can do?

Interesting. Divided opinions so far! It is a high end house I guess (the shittest one on the street but still...) so Coffee, your point about it being less of a trade down is what keeps me from being 100% certain on getting rid of the shower.

Go with lootility! Downstairs shower sounds pointless. Have you room for an en-suite shower upstairs? Downstairs loo is more what people want, future buyers will look at a standalone shower with the same puzzlement that you do

I'll probably ask for this photo to be deleted after a while as outing but you can see the shower room on the right hand side here. The range cooker and microwave are opposite the table and behind the photographer the kitchen is a galley only.

Oh and at the photographer's end of the dining table is a tiny door to a tiny courtyard so it can't be blocked.

Any room for a loo under the stairs? If your kitchen is at the back can you shave off an internal space in the middle of the house for lootility and have the kitchen open to the back as you describe?

I wouldn’t like a ground floor shower but would like a downstairs toilet.
Friends of ours though had a ground floor wet room which they used to
Shower off their dog after muddy walks.

Sadly I don't think so Hello. I'm not sure whether conservation would allow it, for a start, and it would have to be saniflow I think, if they did. It is something I've toyed with previously as it's currently a coat cupboard but I just don't think conservation would go for it. If this was a long term home and we had far more money than we do, there's probably a Grand Designs type option of glassing over the internal courtyard and turning the galley part of the kitchen into a utility but that's out of our reach.

Papergirl I agree that downstairs loo is a necessity. The house has lots of compromises already and I think getting rid of it completely would be a compromise too far.

Can you do a floor plan?

If it were an older couple and then they had guests I'm they'd want a 2nd shower...

No room for a second shower upstairs?

No room outside for washing machine in shed?

Yes, the washing machine could go in the outbuilding.

And I missed the question earlier about being listed, we are constrained in some ways but not others - the area in the picture is two extensions and conservation don't really care what we do there.

I’d never buy a house which had only a bathroom downstairs, and I’d never use a shower room such as you describe. So for me, it would be the lootility, definitely. Having just one bathroom upstairs in a four bed wouldn’t put me off as long as there was also a second toilet somewhere.

I’d also find a washing machine outside in a shed extremely offputting.

Floorplan here. Possibly not entirely accurate. Bedrooms on top floor are not big enough for an ensuite plus that's the original house so would have to persuade conservation. I would love a loo on the top floor but we cannot easily find a way.

Do you have a shower in the bathroom upstairs or is it literally just a bath -room?

The house I used to share had an upstairs bathroom with a shower over the bath and a downstairs shower. Two out of three of the adults living there used the downstairs shower room as preferred a proper shower to a shower over a bath.
Personally if I was looking to buy a four bed yes one with a downstairs shower too would be preferable to one with only a bathroom.

Lootility definitely! That's the best compromise. Showering downstairs isn't that practical but downstairs loo a must. We have a similar arrangement in our Victorian property and did take the shower out. No negative feedback!

We had our washing machine and tumble dryer in the old coal shed thing half way down the garden, worked fine in practical terms, especially when having to drain the machine 😂

Is this a forever home?

Could you move around the top to put in a small shower room up there by amending the room shapes/sizes or having it all as a master suite with dressing room?

You’ve got space to fit a loo and shower on the top floor if you can persuade conservation to have doors moved.

See plan - red are where doors could be moved to, blue outline for loo and sink, possible shower too.

We looked long and hard at that plan for upstairs but we can't go out over the stairs to get the landing extended to move the door. It was our first instinct but you need to keep the head height for the stairs. Also, I think the plan is distorted and makes the landing look wider than it is, even if you'd done it there's only room for a loo, not a shower as well.

It's not a forever home so we are looking at what we can do on a reasonable budget. If we wanted to stay forever we would turn the top floor into a master suite and various other things. In fact, I absolutely detest this house and want to get the hell out but for various reasons we can't at the moment, and some work has to be done downstairs to remove the utility.

The middle floor bathroom is big and well done, it has a massive bath and a separate shower, so as only bathrooms go, it would be a good one.

We have a tiny lootility, I love having the washing machine out of the way. It is so much tidier and less noisy having the washing machine out of the way.