What do you have in your utility room?

[geogteach]

We are just starting an extension. There will be a much bigger kitchen and a new utility room, I am stressing so much about what to have in the kitchen I have not considered the other room. It will have the washer and drier and a sink but then what... shelves / cupboards. want to deal with laundry and recycling etc as well as muddy boots. Do you put kitchen units in there or is there something else I should be looking at?

I have in mine... two freezers, a fridge, washing machine, tumble drier, dishwasher.

I wish I had...

Cupboards and work surface area and a sink...

we have a chest freezer and the washing machine and a sink.

We have a large walkin cupboard elsewhere that houses all sorts of stuff.

I would have lots of space for shoes and wellies, somewhere to hang wet coats, and somewhere to dry clothes. We didn't really think much about the utility when we built our extension - wish we had (although I don't think in retrospect there was much scope for anything more than we have now).

If it's going to have a radiator, I'd consider one of those overhead driers. We had one in our old flat and I really miss it. They dry stuff really quickly and without using the tumble drier, if the heating is on anyway. Ideal ina utility room as you can shut it all away. This sort of thing.

Otherwise, we have wm and drier, and a range of cupboards and open shelves. Other things I'd like in there, if I had space would be space for ironing board to go up and perhaps an extra freezer.

I have a big walk-in cupboard that holds all our laundry, shoes and coats, I have 4 upper kitchen units for fleeces, and baskets for each child with hats, gloves, sunglasses etc, iron, spare bags, art stuff. Then lower kitchen units for school bags/kit etc, washer and tumble drier with worktop above, sink. And on the opposite wall to the kitchen units I have 3 big magnet boards for all the info we need to keep all the crap our lives flowing smoothly

Not that I ever use an iron

Our utility room is basically our dogs' bedroom, but in my dream life it's also for:
hoover, mops, etc
lardery things, if I didn't have a larder, which I don't - so all the bottled water I have bought on special offer, all the seven types of jam I make in my dream life
clothes airer thing
sports equipment
all the recycling bins
maybe kitcheny stuff like lunchboxes, Christmas pudding saucepan, etc that are not in every day use
"dirty" sink for washing e.g. nasty things that come in from the garden, nappies, etc, stuff you don't want in a food-related sink
dogfood, dog leads, etc

make sure you put plug points at either end. I have a door to the garden and a door to the garage.....if you are still at the design stage, I would recommend garage access (if you have one). Thats where we enter the house saving all the mess at the front door, and keep our recycling boxes and all extra food stuff (tins, toilet roll) on shelves in garage.

tall cupboard for ironing board, mops, sweeping brushes, and other long things.

dog food and clutter

raincoats etc

cupboards full of things like lightbulbs, screwdrivers, paintbrushes, extractor fan filters, and other random hardware things

recycling boxes

We don't have one yet, but when we do it'll have:
washer and drier,
work surface and sink,
cupboards (wall and floor to store mop, hoover, all detergents, kitchen/loo roll, lunch boxes, dried cat food etc),
shoe rack,
laundry bin for wet cloths etc,
hanging clothes airer,
recycling boxes.

It'll need to be huge!!
IMO a good utility room is essential in a family home.

Ours has:

Washing machine, sink & drain board, dirty laundry, beach & swimming storage, some of the recycling, gloves, hats, scarves, spare chairs, junk modelling boxes, some vegie overflow, candles/maps/string/spare everything on lots of shelves and in drawers.

The room whiffs because of the dirty laundry, so I don't like to store food in there.

A bathroom

Thanks lots of things I had forgotten about, not sure how i will fit it all in though!

Washer, drier, sink, cupboard under for washing powder and cleaning stuff, food processor, tool box and box of diy bits, wine rack , a freezer and a fridge/freezer, laundry rack(would prefer ceiling mounted one), ironing board/iron, bin, cool boxes, heap of clothes waiting to be ironed... Would like wall cupboards/shelves

In our utility we have

boiler
washer
drier
work top
3 floor level cupboards
3 wall cupboards
cat

Ours has:

Washer
Dryer
Worktop (often filled with crap but sometimes good for sorting and folding)
Cupboard with random laundry type stuff
Cupboard with car wash stuff
Two cupboards of paint & varnish
1 cupboard of screws and fittings
Pullout laundry airer (wall mounted)

No sink, but it's a corridor on the way to the shower-room.

Next plan is to fiddle in a small freezer somewhere...

we now have nothing, it has just (today) been removed in favour of creating a fabulously huge kitchen. It was tiny and only held a washing machine, tall cupboard, sink, 2 base adn 2 wall cupboards and some coat hooks. Now I have to find somewhere to put all that...

We have in ours
boilers
Worktop (Iroko)
Stainless steel sink with drainer
Washing machine
Tunble drier
Lots of under counter cupboards
One of those hanging racks for hanging up wet clothes (shirts prior to ironing)
And two drying lines (retracting ones).
Radiator
Window
Door to garden (easy access to hang out washing on the line)

I forgot the sink!

Washing machine
Tumble drier
Fridge freezer
Housemaid's cupboard with all cleaning materials, vacuum cleaner, brushes, stocks of lightbulbs etc

Tumble dryer
Huge freezer
selection of IKEA cupboards/drawers
cleaning material cupboard/vacuum etc
gas and electric meters
Washing airer on a pulley (have wooden rafters and glass roof - so great for drying)
Work top
Printer/paper shredder/paper work
Shoe rack
coats
Massive blackboard
cat's food
DP's boots...dirty work clothes
Door into front garden and another into back

Ours is tiny - just a utility space really, not a room - but we've managed to squeeze in

washing machine
tumble drier
freezer
(worktop over these three machines on which is stack of 3 recycling boxes, laundry baskets & tool chest)
double wall cupboard
magnetic white board for shopping lists

Given the choice, I'd have the utility room bigger than the kitchen.

Ours has:

toilet
washing machine
tumble-drier
sink with draining board
1 cupboard and 4 wall cupboards (kitchen style)
coat hooks
ironing board and iron
clothes airer

Mine has..loo

ENORMOUS sink from Ikea, so deep I could wash a St. Bernard in it. It has old fashioned grroves for hand washing my smalls

I have tumble dryer and washing machine separated by a cupboard.
I do not have a draining board.

But I don't have one in my kitchen either.

I have oak work top and pretend slate floor.