Utility area in reception room…bonkers?

[Optimac]

Hello,

Me, DH and 2 small kids live in a traditional Victorian terrace.
It doesn’t feel like my forever home but equally likely to be here for next 3-5 years I think.

Main issue is that we don’t have a table in the kitchen as currently no room. Id love to keep the downstairs loo (have two bathrooms upstairs so no need for shower on ground floor) and have a separate utility area (rather than part of the kitchen). Obviously a side return extension etc would solve all this but it just doesn’t make sense considering it isn’t our forever home and Idon’t want to go over ceiling price of the road.

Im thinking of making downstairs loo area smaller so it is just a small toilet and sink, putting a kitchen table where the current ‘utility’ area is in the kitchen. Then I’d change the window in the middle reception room to a door so have outside access so can come in this way with muddy boots from football etc, and put a utility cupboard next to this new door in the reception room. This would then be a playroom/ utility room.

So questions for the wise people of mumsnet:

1. Is a playroom / utility room bonkers? Would this put you off as a potential buyer? I like having a vented tumble dryer and can’t think of anywhere else it could go which isn’t in the kitchen.
2. Would a toilet off the kitchen put you off? Granted it’s what we have already now and seems to work fine. I like having a window in the downstairs loo (which if we moved to say the cupboard under the stairs we wouldn’t have).

Current downstairs floorplan attached!

i would prefer as a buyer:

add doors between reception rooms so front room can be closed off or kept open plan.

open up second living room as dining room. Add door to garden. Knock Dow wall between kitchen and dining room

kids play in front room or at dining table. Get good storage

Then keep utility and bathroom as it is.

This is probably also the cheapest option.

Areas that would be changed highlighted on floorplan below!

Vented tumble dryers are not necessarily more efficient than condensers and less efficient than heat pump dryers, so if you were prepared to compromise on that you might have more options. We have stacked our washer and dryer in the cupboard under the stairs, with vents added to let the hot air out.

I would be okay with the toilet off the utility like you have now, but I have to say I wouldn't be keen on having a toilet off my dining area, which is what you'll have if you put the kitchen table in what is now the utility.

Could you instead move the toilet to just inside where the kitchen starts now (on the left), creating a kind of corridor on the right through to a bigger kitchen diner? Though this might be just as much expense and upheaval as building an extension.

I think you would devalue your house by doing that. Although your kitchen is quite small you have a nice 2 reception room layout for family living. If you're anticipating moving in a few years you're better of saving the money it would cost to make changes that would be of marginal benefit and putting it towards your next home.

Can you not make a lootility so - make it into a downstairs loo and laundry room. I know people who have that and it's fine.

Vented tumble dryers I think are close to becoming obsolete in the UK. I don't even think the higher end companies make them any more. Although I completely understand why you might like them better, I don't think it makes sense to organise a renovation around that.

If you're planning to sell the house, I would guess the buyers would almost certainly have a heat pump or condenser dryer, so would prefer the best layout.

Thank you, I hadn’t thought of this idea.

One potential fly in the ointment is that the old buyers closed off the door to the first reception room, so you can only access the first and second reception room through double doors to the second reception room.
The floor plan doesn’t show this sorry.

knowing this would this change things for you? You could still add the doors inbetween the rooms and the first reception room would be more like a snug I guess. Would the house feel too open if then also opened up between second reception room/dining room and kitchen?

Okay good point thank you!

In no way would I buy a house with the utility area a part of the living room as on your diagram.

Okay - thank you!

The biggest problem is that I suspect that kitchen back wall is main suppporting wall, as bathroom area an extension

I would just open it all up as open plan for now. And future buyers can add doors to front living room if they prefer. If you have young children then it’s fine open

But a heat pump dryer could also fit under your stairs in that cupboard maybe? W have our washing machine and tumble dryer (heat pump) stacked in under stair type cupboard.

sorry no, I think it would turn a decently designed house into a decidedly odd one.

A loo next to the kitchen I could live with. A loo so close to the dining table, no. And a 10 x 12 reception room would be too compromised by adding utility. I would suggest changing the doors to both reception rooms so you re-establish close connect between kitchen and dining room, and having a sensibly placed door from hall to living room. Even if you have to disconnect the rooms to get enough walls for this to work. A kitchen diner and a separate living space is much more popular and aspirational these days than a lounge diner. (I'm not being snobby about lounge diners, we have one and we're keeping it. But it is not fashionable.)

You could also consider whether you could relocate the laundry to one of the upstairs bathrooms, or airing cupboard if you have one (water tank can be moved into loft), or simply replacing your downstairs shower with a stacked washing machine and dryer in the bathroom. But I wouldn't try to squeeze a table into the end of your kitchen while keeping a loo there. If you could relocate the laundry elsewhere then that area could potentially work as a little playroom nook I suppose with a toy kitchen etc, and become an office/homework area when they are older. But reconnecting the dining room and kitchen seems a much better solution to me.

I wouldn't love having my dining table next to a toilet tbh. I'd prefer the layout kept as is.
Can't you fit a dining table in the second reception room? That's what I'd be planning if I was a buyer, then plan to knock through to have a big kitchen/diner at some point

Yes actually my parents did this so their utility is now open plan with a small room in one corner with loo and small sink. It works well because it's still separate from the kitchen but there's more space in the utility

Our house has a similar layout - isn’t there room for the downstairs loo to be moved to under the stairs?

Just to add I have done that schlep from kitchen to dining table down the corridor for every meal and it was v annoying! First world problems I know but I do sympathise. But for the balance of your house and with an eye to sale, I think it is best to get the dining room to work as a dining room.

Maybe from my PP above if you did relocate the laundry upstairs or into the bathroom, you could use that nook at the back for the muddy boots. Things like utilities and mudrooms are great extras if you have the space, but don't compromise your 2 reception rooms for them.

Could you add make the utility area alone a dining area, remove the shower in the downstairs WC and put the washing machine/dryer in its place? Or if the utility too small unless you borrow from the bathroom?

Thank you everyone - this is so helpful.

so judging by everyone’s responses, best to scrap my plans (lol), and then to remove the current wall between the kitchen and dining room. Sliding doors could then be put inbetween the reception rooms and between dining and kitchen.

As mentioned above, the previous owners removed the door from hallway to the first reception room, so if we did this it would mean that the whole downstairs is quite open. Would this bother people or is it okay? The sliding doors between the rooms mean it could be open plan or not.

Finally, if we did this would you close up the current door to the kitchen or leave it there so you have two ways of accessing kitchen (through dining room or through hallway)?

updated floorplan attached

Could you put the door back into the front room from the hallway? Otherwise you lose a lot of the value of having the sliding doors to separate off the two reception rooms, because you still have to go into the dining room to get to the living room.

If you are opening the kitchen up into the dining room, you will surely have to get rid of the door from the hall, or you'll lose a big chunk of useable space to put kitchen units. It might be worth working out how your kitchen will be configured and whether you'll have enough workspace and cupboards.

I would take down that whole wall between dining and stairs so there’s no tiny corridor. Waste of space. plus opens up nicer to kitchen area

Just corridor front part near living room

Could you make the understairs cupboard into a utility cupboard? And then do your knock though for a space for a table in the kitchen?

I am imagining keeping the door from the dining room opening into the hallway, but moving it up as far towards the kitchen as you can get it. Maybe opposite the understairs cupboard. I think you might lose too many kitchen units if you put a doorway on the top wall. Perhaps you could conceptually include the top bit of the hall into the kitchen, along with access to dining room and understairs cupboard, get rid of the wall between kitchen and dining but retain the units there as a peninsula. Close up your double doors but put a normal door in between front room and hall, in whatever place works best with your sofas.

Not sure it works with your layout, but more because I wouldn’t want to eat so close to the downstairs loo, but in principle it’s a brilliant idea. One of the best rooms I ever saw was in a friend’s play room which was actually the (big) utility room and small study knocked through to create a good sized square room with access to the side of the house (you could also access the back garden from the kitchen). The room had a sofa and TV and then along a wall had integrated appliances including an under counter fridge. When the children were little it was playroom/ messy play (tiled floor) and in the evening she would watch tv whilst doing the ironing in there. As the children grew it became teenage den/movie room. You would never have known there was a washing machine and tumble dryer. It did have a Belfast sink, but one of her children was very arty and over the years it has also been her A level art room - it’s honestly the best use of space and her home became the teenage hang out due to being able to come and go out the side door and beers in the fridge.

Can you knock out downstairs loo utility and kitchen into one small kitchen diner? Would downstairs loo go under the stairs?

I really don't like the idea of a utility cupboard in a reception room. But also would have HATED a kitchen I couldn't see very young kids from. Wouldn't have worked for me