Utility rooms - are they all that?

[Slimmingstar]

I’m looking to buy a house as currently live in a flat.
I’ve got the idea in my head that I 100% want a utility room.
I’ve visited houses with them and I think they’re fab - the dog can sleep in them, the freezers can live there (have 2 large freezers for dog’s raw food) and there’s a little bit of a snobby part of me that sees it as a lovely middle class addition to a home.

Am I misplaced in my desire, as I’m currently discounting all houses without them and I’m looking for advice?

Thanks all!

And safety-wise - being able to close the door on the boiler and tumble means it’s less likely that a fire would spread overnight - hopefully the smoke alarm and/or carbon monoxide monitor would wake us up first.

See, I agree they are great, slightly gutted we still won't get one next move but think you are being daft discounting houses that don't have one. There are loads of places where you could get one in longer term with a bit of reconfiguring. Eventually that is our plan if we do manage to actually have this sale go through.

With a door leading to the garden, especially with dogs, is a godsend.

@Aroundtheworldin80moves

Surely what a utility room gives you is more space. Officially we have one, but its just an extension of the kitchen. Very useful space, but a bigger kitchen would be just as useful. Its got an outside door to the side of the house, so otherwise of a locked gate to the garden.

I would happily lose half the utility room to make a downstairs toilet.

No, I beg to differ. It’s being able to close the door on the noise of the washing machine and tumble dryer, having the ironing board out of sight, having hanging clothes away from cooking odours, and so on.

Utility rooms with the washing machine etc in are a godsend if you also have a large kitchen/diner/family room, as it keeps the sound away from the rest of the room

I love mine mainly because the laundry dries in there (on a lakeland heated airer) so when people come over nobody is staying at my drying bras. Also cuts off the washing machine noise which is great.

Its really nice to have a utillity to keep all the cleaning stuff & laundry - also to be able to leave laundry to pile up (whether not yet washed or drying) without making the rest of house messy

but I think the main thing is its an extra room - any extra room vs what you've had before is a bonus!

We used to have an L-shaped kitchen which was very awkward.

After a refit, we now have a rectangular dining kitchen and a square utility room. We're very, very happy with it and all for the cost of a stud wall and a door.

A utility/boot room/pantry is what I aspire to.

Currently ironing in the spare room, fridge, freezer and washer/dryer in the kitchen and little space for food storage.

I love my utility room! My dogs live there. Washing machine is there and washing is dried there. But best of all, I have a massive build in cupboard with all cleaning stuff, including vacuum cleaner and steam mob as well as boots coats and bags for the whole family.
We build an extension and actually designed the extra downstairs space to be used as such as the house had very little storage space. I can't believe there was actually a time when this room didn't exist.

My dream would be to have a utility room!

There are loads of places where you could get one in longer term with a bit of reconfiguring.

Yes - ours was there when we bought the house, but it used to be part of the garage. If you have an attached garage and it's large enough, based on our house, I don't think it's a major undertaking to 'slice off' part of it to make a utility room.

I live in an ex council house and it has a utility room couldn't live without it !! Place to store clothes

I am not that bothered either way but no dog, just cat, rabbits and chickens. We have utility here and smaller kitchen and separate dining room, old house was massive kitchen with dining table. I prefer the bigger kitchen but we had solid thick walls so didn't hear washing machine much. But if essential to you that's fine if you are finding enough options, if not its sometimes worth going beyond a tick list. Dh had one and I spotted here and dh said but it doesn't tick box 3 on my list, he came here loved it and we bought it. That was a room he wanted, it doesn't have the room but it has the space so we can make the room later and has masses of character and beautiful garden and he fell in love with it.

I had one before we downsized - washer dryer sink & cupboards - really handy. Now I have a cupboard upstairs by the hot water tank with stacked washer dryer ( so no sink ) shelf for washing stuff and ( Building regs ) - the door to cupboard is fire resistant. Next door to a shower room.

Not as good as a utility room but having the washing machine & dryer upstairs nearer to bedrooms is a game changer I think. Would never not do it again if I could

Best room in the house. I’d love mine to be twice the size and when we remodelled our kitchen I wanted more utility space but let dh and the architect talk me down which was a mistake!

Closing the door on the washing machine is one of life’s greatest pleasures.

Amazing. I would now not buy a house without one. I love shutting the door on the washing machine noise.

Just to add though, if there’s a door from the house into an attached garage, you can make the garage nice and put freezers in there to save space indoors. So also look out for houses where garage is attached to the house, it might broaden your pool of possible homes, albeit a compromise.

Mine has changed my life 100% for the better The dog has her crate in there so it's not in the middle of the lounge or taking up a bedroom (she's a big dog and the crate is huge), I've got my washer and tumble drier in there, the wine fridge, the microwave and all the dog's food etc plus all other washing apparatus. It's not even a particularly enormous room but it gets rid of all the...detritus from the kitchen etc. A must have for any future houses.

Oh they really are the best!

I'd love a utility room of dreams but when we redid our kitchen there just wasn't the space. We have what I call the utility cupboard - washing machine and tumble dryer stacked on top of each other, space for hoover and mop, shelves for all the cleaning products. No space for sinks, or dogs,nor back doors (I wish! ) but it's such a hard working space and no way would I be without it.

Love them, I'd say essential in a rural type property as ours is.
Still useful elsewhere.

Washing machine and dryer in there, dumping ground for coats shoes.

So it's like a first line of defence at keeping dirt and mess out of the main part of house.

We don't use our front door it's permanently locked.

If you’d asked me 2 years ago I’d have been a bit meh about how essential one is, but having lived temporarily in a house for 6 months without one I’d say it was an essential for us! Muddy shoes, coats, cleaning supplies, laundry and other miscellaneous bits all stay in there and keep the rest of the house clear and free of mess 😁

I actually think every house and flat should be required to have one. I am not British so to me having a washing machine in the kitchen is a bizarre concept.