Cloakroom or Utility Room?

NaughtiusMaximus

Teapot55 said:

getmore4less said:

When space is an issue  for laundry you can stack machines into a tiny area anywhere you can get plumbing/electric.
Size of a single wardrobe. 

Utility rooms don't solve the dishwasher issue as the sensible place for that is still in the kitchen space.

Not many houses have clean and dirty area multiple sinks for food based activities and dinnerware storage. 

Walk in pantry is a useful addition, loads of storage and can cut back on expensive cabinets

Don’t think people generally want a pantry or a larder but my parents had one in their fifties-built house and so when I was having a new kitchen I paid not too much to have a smallish one constructed (stud partition) in one corner next to the outside wall and on the end of a run of units. Like you said, you can store masses in it. What is more, you can find stuff because the shelves are narrow and numerous. I’d love to have a pantry again!

I agree, very useful things to have, it was amazing how much stuff my parents managed to squeeze into theirs. I think they must have been a post war fashion, the only houses I've seen them in were built in the 50s or 60s, our 1969 built property doesn't have one though, maybe by that point they were starting to be viewed as old fashioned.

zagubov

NaughtiusMaximus said:

zagubov said:

One of the best features of zagubov towers is that in addition to a bath/shower room upstairs there's an additional toilet  under the stairs but also includes a shower using an inaccessible corner taken out of the kitchen.
In our first house the utility room was upstairs and was amazingly convenient.
Don't fully understand why people think they belong on the ground floor.

Because a lot of people hang their washing outside in the summer, carrying a basket full of damp washing down the stairs would be a PITA.

And for the other three seasons......?

getmore4less

NaughtiusMaximus said:

Teapot55 said:

getmore4less said:

When space is an issue  for laundry you can stack machines into a tiny area anywhere you can get plumbing/electric.
Size of a single wardrobe. 

Utility rooms don't solve the dishwasher issue as the sensible place for that is still in the kitchen space.

Not many houses have clean and dirty area multiple sinks for food based activities and dinnerware storage. 

Walk in pantry is a useful addition, loads of storage and can cut back on expensive cabinets

Don’t think people generally want a pantry or a larder but my parents had one in their fifties-built house and so when I was having a new kitchen I paid not too much to have a smallish one constructed (stud partition) in one corner next to the outside wall and on the end of a run of units. Like you said, you can store masses in it. What is more, you can find stuff because the shelves are narrow and numerous. I’d love to have a pantry again!

I agree, very useful things to have, it was amazing how much stuff my parents managed to squeeze into theirs. I think they must have been a post war fashion, the only houses I've seen them in were built in the 50s or 60s, our 1969 built property doesn't have one though, maybe by that point they were starting to be viewed as old fashioned.

The need for a pantry diminished with refrigeration and the trend to regular shopping away from bulk home made seasonal produce and bulk buying. 

The pantry would often be on a cold outside wall with ventilation.

The move to having everything in the kitchen just means larger spaces with more cabinets mostly poor storage solutions, deep and corners. 

Partial fix for the kitchen cabinet is towards draws and pullout because 600mm is to deep. 

Very expensive solutions where a wall of narrow shelves is cheap and more practical, the pantry/utility removes the need for doors but could still be a cheaper solution in a kitchen with matching doors if you want stuff hidden. 

Seen a few places where one wall in the kitchen is full hight narrow depth storage it works. 

Could actualy be just about anywhere there is a run of wall.
 Eg if building a utility with a single run for laundry make it a bit wider and stick storage on the opposite wall. 

Having spaces for bulk buy storage can save a lot of money. 

We have an office CD storage cabinet in our garage for tins it has pullout draws just the right size that we fill with bulk buys. 

NaughtiusMaximus

zagubov said:

NaughtiusMaximus said:

zagubov said:

One of the best features of zagubov towers is that in addition to a bath/shower room upstairs there's an additional toilet  under the stairs but also includes a shower using an inaccessible corner taken out of the kitchen.
In our first house the utility room was upstairs and was amazingly convenient.
Don't fully understand why people think they belong on the ground floor.

Because a lot of people hang their washing outside in the summer, carrying a basket full of damp washing down the stairs would be a PITA.

And for the other three seasons......?

What about them?

getmore4less

zagubov said:

NaughtiusMaximus said:

zagubov said:

One of the best features of zagubov towers is that in addition to a bath/shower room upstairs there's an additional toilet  under the stairs but also includes a shower using an inaccessible corner taken out of the kitchen.
In our first house the utility room was upstairs and was amazingly convenient.
Don't fully understand why people think they belong on the ground floor.

Because a lot of people hang their washing outside in the summer, carrying a basket full of damp washing down the stairs would be a PITA.

And for the other three seasons......?

Plenty of outside drying days all year. 

It does not have to hot and sunny to dry outside. 

Teapot55

NaughtiusMaximus said:

Teapot55 said:

getmore4less said:

When space is an issue  for laundry you can stack machines into a tiny area anywhere you can get plumbing/electric.
Size of a single wardrobe. 

Utility rooms don't solve the dishwasher issue as the sensible place for that is still in the kitchen space.

Not many houses have clean and dirty area multiple sinks for food based activities and dinnerware storage. 

Walk in pantry is a useful addition, loads of storage and can cut back on expensive cabinets

Don’t think people generally want a pantry or a larder but my parents had one in their fifties-built house and so when I was having a new kitchen I paid not too much to have a smallish one constructed (stud partition) in one corner next to the outside wall and on the end of a run of units. Like you said, you can store masses in it. What is more, you can find stuff because the shelves are narrow and numerous. I’d love to have a pantry again!

I agree, very useful things to have, it was amazing how much stuff my parents managed to squeeze into theirs. I think they must have been a post war fashion, the only houses I've seen them in were built in the 50s or 60s, our 1969 built property doesn't have one though, maybe by that point they were starting to be viewed as old fashioned.

Ah! I can answer that. My parents got their first fridge in about 1965. Prior to that the milk etc was kept in the pantry and people used to shop daily for perishables. Also, there used to be two rates of VAT. 8% was for ‘normal’ stuff and higher (15%?) for ‘luxury’ stuff like fridges - can you actually believe it? - and I don’t think that changed till at least the mid-seventies. 

But pantries held so much more than dairy and meat etc. 

(Can’t believe I’ve gone off-topic on my own thread 😲 😊). 

Teapot55

getmore4less said:

zagubov said:

NaughtiusMaximus said:

zagubov said:

One of the best features of zagubov towers is that in addition to a bath/shower room upstairs there's an additional toilet  under the stairs but also includes a shower using an inaccessible corner taken out of the kitchen.
In our first house the utility room was upstairs and was amazingly convenient.
Don't fully understand why people think they belong on the ground floor.

Because a lot of people hang their washing outside in the summer, carrying a basket full of damp washing down the stairs would be a PITA.

And for the other three seasons......?

Plenty of outside drying days all year. 

It does not have to hot and sunny to dry outside. 

Quite. It’s the outdoor humidity and the wind speed and speed of gusts that determines how quickly the washing dries outdoors. Ideally you get the washing in before the sun is too hot nowadays because it fades your clothes. 

DayDreamerandGeneralWaster

Utility rooms are becoming more of a must for families rather than the novelty they were years ago. I have one and a separate shower room on the ground floor. It's a big selling point. 

I agree that a utility with a loo is a good compromise. Some people don't like them but many would not mind them being combined.

DayDreamerandGeneralWaster

On the subject of pantries they seem to be growing in popularity, l have seen a few people mention them recently. I'm not sure if they mean it in the traditional sense..more like a large walk in cupboard for all non-perishable foods.

phoebe1989seb

We've combined the two in previous houses including one where we built a kitchen extension with loo-tility incorporated. It worked well for us.

In our current cottage there was only one toilet (upstairs) when we purchased in 2018 (plus the remains of a privy 🙄 in the garden) and we planned to add a cloakroom under the stairs as it was important for us to have a second toilet. However we also wanted the washing machine out of the kitchen as we have become used to this over our past five houses.

The plan was to put the washing machine in the boiler room which has  access to the garden, but in the end there wasn't enough space. 

Before we got to fit out the understairs cloakroom our plans changed and we decided to build an extension which would include a better placed ground floor cloakroom whilst the understair area (accessed off the kitchen) will become a dedicated laundry cupboard with sink for any hand-washing etc.

Our dishwasher (integrated) is in the kitchen which imho is the obvious location. I just don't like washing machines in kitchens so would always try to squeeze in both a ground floor toilet and some kind of utility if at all possible 🙄