Big utility or separate boot and laundry rooms.

[Lonecatwithkitten]

We are in the very fortunate position to be renovating a 6 bed country property. We have dogs and highly likely that future owners would have at least dogs if not ponies too. We are in an area that gets wet and muddy in the winter.
Pondering whether we just have huge utility or do we split to boot room that you come into from outside with a seat to put on boots, hooks and cupboards for outdoor gear and then a separate 'clean' laundry room.
Currently we have a tacked on space that is a bit of both, but functions poorly. It's not big enough to leave wet dogs in, I dislike hanging clean washing in there as wet dogs enter through that route.
I do also have cats who i would like to be able enter and exit through the room created. Currently their staff open and close the front door for them when requested.

We're doing an extension/refurb and I'm planning on having a utility with stacked washer drier, wall mounted airers and the loo is off it too, and then a "boot room" where the utility sink will be, plus loads of extra cupboards (what we have currently in the kitchen) and shoe storage. It's a bit of hodgepodge as I'm planning on keeping my corner pantry in what will be the utility room and the sink will be in bootroom-but plumbing will easier for sink in the other part and it will be cooler in utility in summer as not a corner outside wall for the pantry

So in roundabout way-if I were you I would do separate!

Also for separate - we currently have a combined utility and boot room plenty of cupboard space for coats and boots and dog stuff - it’s a big room and one side is normal utility stuff (washer, drying, ironing station, sink and cupboard space - the other side is the standard boot room including a massive butler sink to wash the dog in. The mud does not seem to understand it has to stay in the boot room area, I wish we had gone for seperate. The only thing I would say is the butler sink for dog washing is the best thing ever. I do, however, wish we had seperate areas.

Oooh, boot room. I am in a 2 bed semi in the suburbs and would benefit from this, being surrounded by muddy fields and actually be able to build one is the dream!

Definitely separate. It's one of the few things I regret not doing when we built our house. The utility does everything and it would've been much better having two separate rooms. Go as big as you can, I wish my utility was bigger.

Separate.
We enter and put all our wet gear in the utility and sometimes it would be nice if they were separate rooms (especially when the dog is wet).
That said, our old house didn't have a utility and everything was in the kitchen so it is definitely an improvement.

Separate, I'd love the same but our utility space is L shaped and not quite big enough so end up with muddy paws in the laundry area 🤯

Definitely separate. I have a dog bath which is also useful for rinsing mud off water proof trousers, cleaning boots etc. With dogs there is always so much fine dust from dried off mud.

Seperate. Im not so lucky to have utility and boot rooms but my washing machine is by the area we take boots off and the amount of times i drop clean washing on a pile of mud is annoying.

I'd love a "mud room" as some Americans refer to it.

Then a clean laundry room.

I was very much feeling separate, but my architect was proposing one big room. Will stand firm on the separate plan.

Really go through your every day activities - going to/from work, unpacking shopping, leaving/retuning from dogs walks, showering/dressing, making tea/coffee, unloading dishwashers, taking recycling out - all the everyday things and the mundane.
Architects will come up with lovely designs and ingenuous ideas but sometimes their need for symmetry and aesthetics may overlook the function you need.

Seperate if you have the space!!! Ideally laundry upstairs near your dressing/bedrooms, saves carrying it up and down stairs.

I would have a utility upstairs if I could. Wash dry, put away all pretty much on one level.

Then downstairs I would have boot/cloak room and dog washing area with another washing machine for mucky clothes and dog towels.

My FIL's last house had all 3!

Upstairs laundry room - washing machine, condenser drier, 2 x overhead pulley laundry racks PLUS shelves for all linen storage. (The water tank was also in there so it was technically the 'airing cupboard' too!) Had an extractor fan connecting I think to the bathroom next door, which ran when the drier was on.

Off the kitchen, downstairs utility room - dishwasher, overspill freezer, loads of pantry storage for loo rolls, etc.

Off the front hall, boot room - coats, boots, winter woolies, dog sink, all mud!

Our current place isn't big enough for any, sadly, but all 3 is the dream :)

I have separate and wouldn’t be without it. You don’t want clean laundry near to anything dog/mud related

We've stayed with friends in a large house in the country several times. It has a boot room you enter by, with a bench and lots of hooks for jackets. the boiler is there and hot pipes so everything gets dry quickly. There's room for dog beds if wanted.
Then there's a laundry/utility room big enough to keep the ironing board up and have storage. It has a a pulley for drying or airing laundry.

I love this house and especially the separate boot and utility rooms!

I have and would recommend separate. Also something I fond works well for the laundry room is put the machine (s) under a work surface and on the opposite or adjacent wall build in some simple sturdy shelves that will take laundry baskets. I have one laundry basket per person and one for random bits. Then the clean clothes come out of my dryer, get folded on the counter and straight into each person’s basket. The dc can then retrieve their clean clothes when they want to (or when I yell at them) and I have two big baskets on wheels that whizz around on the floor to collect the dirty stuff in. They slot in under the bottom shelf. Spare loo rolls, dog towels etc go on the top shelf which the dc cant reach.

Its not your architects home. If it were my house I would have a separate utility and boot room. One room for coats, boots and mucky wet dogs and a utility for washing and hanging clothes to dry.

I've got a combined dog/boot/utility room and to be honest it's mucky - I towel off the dogs in there etc as well as having the washer and dryer and worktop to fold laundry. I would one hundo go for separate if you can.

It really depends how big / small the rooms will be. My utility room is about 10ft x 10ft but with positions of doors / units / fridge freezer there isn’t enough space to put our washing to dry. I don’t like using the drier (environmental reasons and we wear lots of fabrics that might be shrunk) so I hang it in a spare bedroom to dry. Will you be using all six bedrooms? If you do use the drier then ignore this!