While utility rooms may have a reputation as the most unglamorous room in a house, they are nevertheless vital to a smoothly-operating home. Historically, they were the domain of domestic staff, sealed off from the rest of the house by green baize doors and accessible only by narrow staircases. Today, however, they receive more traffic and are just as likely to be closely positioned (and aesthetically aligned) to the main living spaces of a home – and we’ve plenty of beautiful utility room ideas to share.
What is a utility room?
A utility room is a functional room, often positioned next to the kitchen or boot room, used to house larger household appliances like washing machines, dryers and even sometimes chest freezers. It may also serve a double purpose, perhaps including elements of a boot room, scullery, or flower room. A great utility room should help you perform daily tasks and chores efficiently, as well as keep uglier appliances out of sight – this feels increasingly important as we all spend more time in our kitchens.
What should be included in a utility room?
What you include in a utility room will wholly dependent on the household – do you have several loads of laundry each week? Think about splashing out on a couple of washing machines and dryers. Rita highly recommends “two washing machines in family houses with more than three people. This is not as unecological as it sounds – you just do things in half the time. It is maddening waiting for a load of whites to end in order to put in a load of colours or delicates.” Many of the utility rooms on our pages also include a Sheila maid, a device for airing laundry that can be raised and lowered on a pulley, so it’s not constantly in your way. Is there an overspill of food and drink that needs storage, meaning your utility room will double as a pantry? If so, make sure you have plenty of room for storage, along with possibly an extra fridge-freezer. Rita Konig, as well as keeping her ironing board, steamer equipment and Miele iron press in the utility room, also has a freezer and coffee machine, which is “especially useful if [the utility room] is near the bedrooms – it is nice to be able to make coffee upstairs in the morning before venturing downstairs”.
Where should a utility room be in a house?
A utility room is usually positioned next to the kitchen, although this isn’t necessarily the most practical place. “In family houses,” says Rita, “I recommend putting them close to the bedrooms so that the laundry can be done near to where it all comes from and has to go back to.” She also notes that “it is not necessarily the most practical thing to have [utility rooms] in the basement or near the kitchen”, but it depends on how multi-functional the room is going to be. If your utility room is also doubling up as a scullery or a flower-arranging room, you may want it to be downstairs after all.
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