Downstairs loo or utility room, which is more important to you?

[whatsnewpussycat34]

I’m having a kitchen extension and I only have room for one of the above. I already have a downstairs loo, but I want to convert this to a utility, but DH wants to keep the loo.

My argument is that we don’t have children and washing all over the house drives me nuts. A dedicated place for washing seems far more practical.

We also have an en-suite, so three toilets seems over kill!

I’d choose utility personally. I don’t have either now and I can live without the loo but I’d kill for a utility room! I think most people will say the downstairs loo is better for the value of your house though.

do you have guests over regularly?

How old are you? Do you need to think about future proofing?

Downstairs loo is better so visitors don’t have to go upstairs to the loo. How much washing do you have if you don’t have children? Do you have a spare bedroom where it can dry?

Utility.

Definitely utility, you can hide all the washing and all sorts of other clutter

Can you have both? You could stack the washing machine and dryer opposite the toilet, with a sink in the middle?
What size is the room, and where are the door and window? Do you have a sketch?

Technically against building regs to get rid of a downstairs loo if you already have one.

Can you combine the two? We used to have a downstairs cloakroom, with a utility cupboard behind double doors, that housed the washing machine and dryer. There was room to store mop and bucket and some cleaning materials and you could maybe have a pulley drying rack.

Downstairs toilet for me every time. If someone is injured and can’t access the toilet(You don’t have to be disabled as such, just break an ankle) It could mean the difference between someone being stuck in hospital or rehabilitation and being able to go home after an injury.

I believe that there are also regulations that can prevent you from removing a downstairs loo without permission so you may want to look into that.

Utility for me (can you fit a loo in the utility? )

If your house was built after a certain date then building regulations mean there has to be a downstairs loo. If you take it out completely then in future whrn you want to sell then a buyer may not be able to get a mortgage if there is no downstairs loo. You may not have children but in future it might be very useful to have an accessible loo if for some reason you cannot get up the stairs. I'd think very hard before putting short term desire before long term benefit.

And therefore a future buyer would not be able to get a mortgage for the property.

I'm with those saying can you not combine to have both? I used to have a combined utility and loo and it seems many houses have them when I do my regular Rightmove browse! Can you post a floorplan - some people on here are brilliant at layouts and might be able to come up with a suggestion for you.

Toilet for me. There are some older relatives who wouldn’t be able to visit me if I didn’t have a downstairs toilet. I also think it might put a few buyers off if and when you want to move.

If you have space, I’d combine the two into a lootility. If not I’d go with a loo.

Loo.

Do you really want to do something that could make it near impossible to sell your property in the future? All properties built after a certain date must have a downstairs loo. If you take it out completely, then your propery will no longer comply with building regs, and no one will be able to get a mortgage to buy it. If you were to be able yo leave the plumbing and cap it off and be able to reinstate a loo in the future, then you might just be able to do it. But I really think you are being rather short-sighted on this. Lots of people get a situation where stairs are a problem, and then not having a downstairs loo becomes a real problem. I think your DH is right on this one.

Yes combine both if you can

My cousin has a ‘lootility’. Best of both worlds. I definitely wouldn’t get rid of a downstairs loo. So handy for when you have visitors, etc.

Another who would do my best to work out a way to do both, but, if I HAD to choose, it would be the downstairs toilet every time.

Utility 100%!!!

Like you say, you already have two toilets but no utility!

I have a lot of washing. Honestly, I don’t know where it comes from! I don’t want to use a bedroom really, a place for everything and everything in its place and all that.

39 and no children on the horizon unfortunately

Another vote for combining both as a lootility if there's space.

Otherwise, I'd keep the loo, although I'm not a fan of washing machines in kitchens so would try to squeeze that in elsewhere...in a bathroom?

We've owned houses with variations of loo/utility/lootility including a utility where our dishwasher was housed there as well as washing machine etc. Our last house had a decent sized kitchen but we hid the washing machine (and a small sink) under the stairs so it was out of sight. There was a downstairs toilet space elsewhere.

When we bought our current home (a drastic downsize cottage!) it was already set up with (windowless) utility, separate loo and a lobby leading from the galley kitchen. It seemed a ridiculous waste of space and dated from when building regs stipulated a lobby between kitchen and toilet with no separate hand washing facilities.

Despite it being a downsize, we knew we wanted a toilet and utility - just neither so large it meant sacrificing kitchen space! So we knocked everything through, installed steels and created a lootility just large enough for loo, basin, washing machine, boiler and laundry stuff. It's not the largest, but ticks both boxes. It also gave us a much better proportioned kitchen...although we then decided to relocate it, but that's another story 🙄