Would you prefer a bigger utility room or a small utility room and a walk-in pantry?

[MusicMum80s]

We have a couple of layout option for our utility room. It can either by 12 feet by 6ft or we can shorten it to 7ft by 6ft and have a 5ft by 5ft walk in pantry accessed from our kitchen instead. I'm a bit torn so curious what others would choose.

Bigger utility room.

7ft by 6ft is a good size for a utility room.

Utility and pantry for me.

Pantry, invaluable storage. However does that mean 2 doors off the kitchen? Factor in the loss of wallspace due to the extra door.

I would prefer to have both a pantry and utility.

Pantry and utility!

Team pantry. Your smaller utility is the size of the kitchen in the house I'm moving too.

Bigger utility. You can build in plenty of cupboard space to use for overflow food storage. Walk in pantries are overrated imo.

I have a utility that's 6' x 7' - it's too small to fit a clothes airer in wothout getting in yhe way, which really annoys me so I'd go large utility.

it depends. Do you cook lots at home, live near or far from shops etc, have a big family / dogs? You need to work out what you need and go from there.

For example where I live right now is very near shops. I don’t need to store loads of food. But I do have pets and go hiking and would dearly love a bigger utility room that could also be a proper boot room, enable more washing to be hung, more coats to be stored. but if I were a passionate cook with a big family living more remotely I can see that more kitchen storage would be useful!

Bigger utility because I have dogs. If no dogs then utility and pantry.

We previously had a massive utility I loved it. We had cupboards for kitchen over flow and could fit lots of drying racks in and the ironing board could stay up permanently which was always really convenient.
We have dogs so ideal for soggy towels, wellies, wet coats. I think you have to think functionally and only you know what feels most practical for your day to day living.

Bigger utility. You can always have wall shelving for the pantry in their as well.
Its big enough

I think you need to map out the utility before deciding, eg drier, airer, washing machine etc and see how that looks before deciding. Also depends on how many kitchen cupboards you have with or without the pantry.

Our utility room is about 16 x 5, along one side we have kitchen cupboards for pantry items and a worktop, we have space for a fridge freezer which is in addition to the kitchen undercounter fridge freezers, then space for wall mounted drying rack, plus 3 washing lines which run the length of the room, plus the washing machine, butler sink and a whole load of junk on shelving.

Mumsnet need diagrams.
Always

We live for coloured drawings. 😆

No, the utility room is never going to be accessed directly from the kitchen so it doesn't change that. The utility is accessed off the hall right behind the kitchen though so still convenient.

I love a pantry. It hides all my food mixers, yoghurt makers, bread makers etc. away.

Bigger utility. Incorporate a larder cupboard and cupboards for extraneous gadgets.

We cook everyday but and are a family of 4 with frequent guests. Cats rather than dogs and the cat litter boxes will be elsewhere in the house. However, we live right off the high street within 2 minutes walk of two supermarkets and in London so can have things delivered very easily as well.

We are keen to be able to dry clothes in the utility room and store packages and the current design means we can access the utility room from the side passage of the house so it can double as a mud room though we'll also have a 1.2m coat cupboard across the hall from the utility room as well.

My utility room also houses the pantry and other cupboards. It’s fab. The kitchen aid mixer and food processor sit on one worktop. Besides a washer dryer there is an extra fridge/freezer and a large sink unit. Could you combine the two?

The kitchen will be a good size which is why I suspect we might not need it.

Yes, I could add some pantry shelves in there potentially and combine the two. It depends on how much space I put in for housekeeping cupboards -mop, vacuum, cleaning products, iron etc. I might just have some open shelves and see what we end up putting on there.

Utility and pantry for me. I’d barely be in the utility other than putting a wash on and then drying it. A pantry is fab.

If you combine, would you have to walk out of the kitchen still to access the pantry items in the utility? That would be annoying.