Help with house design for downstairs toilet and side extension
Hi,
We are planning to renovate our house and build an open plan kitchen diner by extending to the rear of the house. We also need to build a downstairs toilet.
We have a space of 1.9 m to the side of our house which is a passage from the front to the back of the house. We are in a dilemma to proceed with the side extension which can give rooms up to 1.5m width only and we will also lose our pass through from front to the rear of the house,
We do have some designs and are very confused how to proceed.
Existing plan:
Design 1:
This design has the downstairs toilet near the hallway passage ( though we will change the direction of the entry to the toilet from the one opening into kitchen to one opening on hallway). This will make the house open plan but there will be no passage between hallway and kitchen. I wanted to have a living room a bit isolated but in this design kitchen entry will always have to be from living room.
Design 1 modification:
Design 2:
The toilet is placed just next to the staircase below, which provides a passage from hallway to kitchen but the toilet door will open just opposite the dining area which I feel does not feel right. It will be close to the kitchen with no separation as the first design.
Design 3:
Moved toilet to the side extension, but there will not be enough light in the utility.
We are not sure should we proceed with side extension as the room will be too narrow 1.4 to 1.5 m in width. We will also lose the passage from front to rear as our garage is at the back of the house, making it difficult to get things from garage to the front(will be always through the inside of house)
Can you please provide with your suggestions?
a) position of toilet design 1 or design 2
b) Is it worth to build a side extension for utility and downstairs toilet
Comments (31)
Jonathan
9 months agoI don’t like either plan. For me the issue is that the island leaves a 2.5m space on the dining room side that is too small for a table…… so it’s redundant space.
I offer an alternative.
Mayu thanked JonathanRelated Discussions
Need Opinion on Kitchen Extension Design (in relation to Toilet)
Comments (10)You've probably explored this option and discarded it due to soil pipe/plumbing issues etc...HOWEVER: could you use the hallway/under-the-stairs current kitchen entrance as the entrance to a new shower/cloakroom (where the fridge/freezer is, along to the window (?), approx 800 x 2m?). You will then have an interior cloakroom accessed from the hallway ... away from food areas ... and the whole expanse of the rear of the property to let the light in! Does that make sense or have I missed a crucial point? Can't see building control having a problem with that......See MoreDownstairs Extension/ second bathroom help!
Comments (3)Hello, As option 1 have you ever thought about creating the 2nd bathroom on the ground floor? If the wall between the toilet and the kitchen isn`t load bearing you could break through the wall and create a bathroom + a laundry next to it. In this case the kitchen would move to the back of the house as you mentioned, and the existing dining area will be the new kitchen with an island. Great idea to cut an opening between the dining and conservatory and to use that space as the new dining room. Option 2: In case you don`t want the second bathroom downstairs, maybe you can sacrifice a part of the loft area on the 2nd floor and create there an en-suite. Of course, this depends on the angle of the roof and the inner height of the room. The wall between the sleeping area and the new bathroom can be a partial wall (1,2-1,4 meter high), or a frosted glass panel or any room divider....See MoreAdding a downstairs Toilet Help!
Comments (4)Thank you for your replies. My first though was to add a utility and toilet but we eventually want to do an extension at the back to make the kitchen/diner much bigger so shouldn’t matter if we take up some of the space with the cloakroom now!? It takes up more space as I didn’t think it was ideal having the door off the kitchen or dining room. Instead I thought it would work better off the entrance hall and make the hallway to the toilet and coat area etc?! The kitchen/diner would still be 17ft x 9ft so still not to bad until we save to extend later on. It would incorporate the space under the stairs at the minute it’s very unused space! I guess I’ll see how doable and pricey by getting a builder in. Just wanted to see if anyone had done anything similar. ☺️...See MoreIs anyone able to help with new potential downstairs layout/ extension
Comments (8)Never sure about separate playrooms. If your children are young, you’ll want them in the kitchen/open plan space so you can all be together as a family during the day. If they’re a bit older, they could play (games consoles etc) in the front living room. I think your current design might mean you just have a walk way through to your kitchen with no purpose. How about opening up the whole of the back into one big space with plenty of built-in cupboard storage for toys? Kids are little for such a short time really, it seems a shame to ‘lose’ that space. Also can you have windows on that side of your house? If not, potentially the playroom would be dingy. Just my thoughts! H x...See MoreMayu
9 months agoMayu
9 months agoMayu
9 months agolast modified: 9 months ago@karen @Tim The space under staircase is very small and we have all the electric, water meter just there. We did consider the option but the space was not enough. Also part of the stairs come in the kitchen area. picture below
@Tim Wood Limited: there is a beam next to the stairs so cannot have a door for the downstairs toilet from the staircase area.
The garage it at the rear of the house. In design 1&2 where the new utility is placed at the side extension, it will be just opposite to it.Mayu
9 months agoMayu
9 months agoJonathan
9 months agoMy earlier suggestion to provide a square living space was only a fraction further out than your current plan and because it wasn’t full width the garden would have felt bigger.
My problem with your plan is that you are building redundant space - this shows about £20,000 of under used square footage
Mayu thanked JonathanJonathan
9 months agoOne solution would be to replan where the kitchen goes in order to better use the space
Mayu thanked JonathanJonathan
9 months agolast modified: 9 months agoI think I would still try to add a living space because I think it adds more to the resale value than a study
Mayu thanked JonathanJonathan
9 months agoBut jf you are happy with a kitchen diner then I think you can achieve a super space without building out into the garden
Mayu thanked JonathanMayu
9 months agoMayu
9 months agoMayu
9 months agoMayu
9 months agolast modified: 9 months agoThank you everyone for your valuable suggestions. Certainly got great pointers and views from this community and it has been really helpful
We have finally agreed , to not go with side extension for now and will keep it as an option in a future if we need it , along with the other suggestions we have received from the experts here , like two storey.
We will just be going ahead with the rear extension as shown in the design and will try and accommodate toilet downstairs like the design 1 but obviously the door for the toilet from hallway.Any ideas or suggestions from you guys how can the space be utilised after we open up the kitchen and dining room along with the full rear extension.
Mayu
9 months ago@tab darcy: We thought about the option of moving around the toilet so we have access to kitchen from hallway, but then the toilet door opens facing the dining area like below.
Our existing plan also does not have the hallway opening into kitchen which gives more storage in kitchen. Thats how the layout was when we first purchased it.The entry to the kitchen is from dining room. The living and dining room are open plan.
We are also thinking of adding bifold doors between the current living and dining area so that we have the flexibility to open up or close our living space when we need.
The staircase area is too small and has all the electrical and gas metres. Also that staircase space is quite useful to store vaccum cleaner, broom and other cleaning things.
if we go with the second option in that case also may be the toilet door will open near to kitchen area.Mayu
9 months ago
tab darcy