Minimum width of utility room

[ItsNotAGameOfSubbuteoMatthew]

Splitting a 4m space into a study and utility room. Utility room would literally be washing machine at the bottom, shelf on top with tumble dryer on it. My washing machine is only 80cm wide. What's the minimum width you would think is acceptable if you were buying a house with a separate utility room? Door would open into the utility room.

Does it need to be a room or just a cupboard?
I would expect a utility room to have a sink/ worktop space, but would be happy with a cupboard housing the appliances if that was best use of space.

Agree that without a sink it's not really a proper utility room and becomes a cupboard. Some utility cupboards are basically size of washing machine or possibly washing machine and tumbler stacked on top. You open door and don't actually go into the cupboard. Others are bigger and you go in to find the washer and possibly timber and maybe a bit of hanging or shelving space but no sink and draining board.

Unless you can do dirty jobs in a sink, I'd call it a spcuobaord bit a room.

I'd say about 5ft? So roughly a metre and a half I think. Enough room to bend down with a basket

Can you have the door opening outwards? We have that and it makes it easier to access the machines.

Our door swings out, and the (condensing) tumble drier is stacked on top of the washing machine.

Due to pipework at the back, it needed to be a bit wider to ensure enough depth for that stack, so there is a narrow shelf (about 8 inches) along the side of the machines for washing capsules/conditioner and other cleaning stuff. And the ironing board JUST squeezes in between shelf and machines (about another 6 inches).

But because the shelf (actually 2 on top of each other) are high (the first is at about 5'), we were able to fit the dyson cordless stick vacuum cleaner under the bottom shelf and it swings in front of the washing machine to come off the wall. There's an Ikea holder for the iron, which is below the dyson on the wall, and a hook to hang the peg bag beside that on a carbiner. And the sweeping brush, mop, small brush and pan, and a basin, are all cluttered on the floor under the shelf at the back end, in front of the ironing board.

It means that the room holds a lot, but we do have to take the dyson, pegs and iron off the wall to get the ironing board out, for example. And the space on top of the tumble drier also holds things like spare kitchen roll, the washing basket, and ikea peg octopuses etc.

Crackers to say a utility room ca l be a utility room if it has a sink . You can have what you want in it!

Have a look at pocket doors - I think in years gone by, they were flimsy sliding doors but now I think you can have any door you like - we are in a 1930s house and have oak 3-above-1 panelled doors throughout the downstairs including the utility room. It slides into the wall when it's open so it makes the internal use of the space much more flexible. Just looks like a standard door when its closed.

Our utility room is small but planned so efficiently even if I do say so myself Its about 2.2m wide by about 1.4m deep.

We had a utility room the just fitted a washer and dryer side by side. It was a bit too narrow for my liking.

Having one that's just a washer wide seems like more of a utility cupboard than a utility room!!

Obviously when I sell the house it will be billed as a utility room

It will be opposite the stairs so it makes sense to have the door opening in. It will be 2m deep so there's no depth issue in terms of needing a door solution. I do need to decide how wide it should be. 1m would align with the width of the stairs in a feng shui kind of way.

Our's is a cupboard. It contains the boiler and the washing machine. Also lots of high shelves with junk like sleeping bags, mats etc stored there. The door opens outwards. When I open the washing machine door, it is only just deep enough to do that., so I can't leave the washing machine door open, (which I like to do to air it now and then). That's the only annoying thing about putting a washing machine in a tiny space.

I have a teeny tiny utility. But we call it the utility area rather than the utility room.

Aligning with the stairs sounds good.

We've been looking at a utility room vs cupboard. We'd want washer, dryer, sink, storage and somewhere to dry clothes. 2m by 1m won't do that. Washing machines are 600mm wide but need another 20 to get into position and about 650mm deep. Dryer can be stacked. A sink and drainer needs 1m. Can't put washer or dryer under the sink. So minimum would be 1620mm run if along a wall. I'd want a metre infront of a washer to load.

A utility room has to have a sink? Our utility room is going to be about 2.7m x 1.6m once we’ve build our extension (half of old kitchen to be utility). No sink though, looks like it’s going to be a huge cupboard!

I think as long as you can comfortably do what you need to do in there, washer door open, room in front of washer for basket etc then that’s fine.

Pinterest and Houzz have lots of images to help with the configuration. If the depth is OK, then 1m should be do-able, you could use the walls for plenty of storage, drying racks that fold down against the wall when not in use.

Yes drying racks was something I was going to look into. I don't want a sink in it as our 1.5 bowl kitchen sink will be about 3m away and has been fine so far re soaking etc. There will be room to open the door and have a basket in front.

As above loads of good ideas on Pinterest . If the other part of the room is to be a study OP, can you just build a bank of cupboards along one wall to house your washer and dryer in the same space as the study? To have a wall built even a stud wall is about 30cm depth plus door architrave etc.

pin.it/18eKPvd Something like this except I would put doors on the front. Or this pin.it/2dzmKw8

It's worth a thought but a) I do all my washing when working from home normally so could really do with it being in a separate room (Samsung washing machine has a REALLY noisy rinse cycle!!) b) being able to tick the study and utility room box selling in our village would be a massive plus. I only need a small 2m x 2m study really so any more is a bonus.

ecoballs and quick wash cycle - best way to get round the noise problem. A bit of plasterboard wall won't deaden the noise much

@mrwalkensir

ecoballs and quick wash cycle - best way to get round the noise problem. A bit of plasterboard wall won't deaden the noise much

Sadly my children are young enough to have filthy clothes every day! The dryer is quite quiet but I had to ditch the dryer balls due to the racket!

You need to be able to manoeuvre yourself and a basket round the open washing machine door with reasonable comfort. Honestly get a couple of cardboard boxes or chairs, put them either side of your machine and mock up what 1m would feel like. I would think anything less than 1.2 m would be awkward. I might go width of WM plus 50 or 60 for a cupboard plus 10cm gap for manoeuvring the appliances in. Also try to put WM and tumble hinges on the wall side.

Funny you say that as I did exactly that yesterday with the washing machine door and the wash basket! It did come out at 1m as I think I must have measured the machine width wrong.

This is our utility and w/c. It's 3m by 1.9.

I wish we made it bigger! It's one of our regrets. It has 3 wall cupboards, a sink, space for a washer and dryer.

I accept that you don't need a second sink but others would. I bath my dog in mine, clean garden things, paint brushes, dirty school shoes etc.

Honestly 1 metre is too small.

Picture would help 🤦‍♀️

I'm happy to not have a sink in a utility, but even if you ticked the boxes on Rightmove if when viewing it was tiny I would just rule it out. Our utility ( no sink) is L shaped and is 2.8m by 3m with the cut out corner for w.c. I would expect to have 1.3 m width minimum so I could put a washer and dryer next to each other. Some work surface above and a cupboard for cleaning materials. You could then have a pull down dryer or wall hung one. My only question is how would this room be aired? I don't need a sink in a utility room but I do like a window to let fresh air in.

as someone who has just - this morning- removed a tumble dryer from a narrow utility room, think about how you replace the machines if they go wrong. And then allow a bit more space...

Side by side would be such a waste of height for me. I think 1.2m might be useful with storing airers down the side of the washing machine.