Mudroom/powder room/pantry layout - advice needed

15 years ago

I have never been on this particular forum before, but it seems that most of the mudroom threads live here. I do not plan to ever build a house - all those decisions would do me in - but I hope some of your kind souls will give me some feedback on my plans.

I live in a 1931 house, a center-hall Colonial. We are doing some renovations, and the spaces are small. Our back door comes into a room which now has a toilet in an interior room, some closets along a wall, and a counter with sink (outside the toilet room). I am uploading some photos - please note that I did NOT choose the gold gingham wallpaper and shades - they were here when we moved in. You may also notice that the ceiling is falling down because of leaks from the bathroom above (also being renovated at the same time - I have a thread asking for advice on that on the Bathroom forum).

We want the space to have a powder room - toilet and small pedestal sink in a 30" x 4.5' space, a cleaning closet, a cupboard (pantry) for overflow food storage, and built-in cubbies/hooks/bench. There are now two windows on one wall that will stay, and a larger one on another wall that will be blocked off for the cleaning closet/pantry.

The entire space is 10'11" x 7'6".

Here are photos of the room in its current state, starting from the exterior door and going around to the left:

Exterior door; door to hallway on right, toilet room on left:

View into toilet room, showing one of the windows that will stay:

Toilet room and area to left, showing other window that will stay:

Current sink and counter; window on right of photo will stay, larger one on left will be blocked off:

Part of current wall of closets/cupboards:

Other end of wall of closets with door to hallway on left:

After considering many potential layouts, this is the one I came up with:

The exterior door is at the top of the drawing, and the door to the hallway on the left. These stay the same. The toilet room will be flipped to the other side, a sink will be added, and the existing door will be in the center of the longer wall (rather than at the end of the space). Next to it will be the cleaning closet and pantry. The mudroom cubbies will be next to the exterior door, with a bench under the window.

Any comments or advice would be appreciated. Also, if anyone has suggestions about where to get the cabinets for cleaning supplies and food storage, I'd...

Sort by:Oldest

Comments (8)

bevangel_i_h8_h0uzz
15 years ago
Given the limited amount of space you have, I think you've come up with a pretty good design. The main issue I have is that, in sketching your design I think you have underestimated how much space you need in the powder room and I don't think you have taken wall thicknesses into account quite correctly.

It looks like you scaled your drawing to one square = 6". thus the walls around your powder room are only drawn about 2.5 to 3 inches thick. With 2x4 framing, walls are slightly over 4" thick once you get them sheetrocked on both sides.

Then, you've sketched the toilet as being only about 16 inches from front to back. Round front toilets actually jut about 25 to 28 inches out from the wall and elongated ones jut as much as 32 inches out. Then, most codes require at least 21 inches of standing space in front of the toilet. Even a small, wall mounted sink will generally stick out 16" to 18" from the wall. So, with a toilet and sink across from each other, you'll probably need 5.5 ft (66 inches) from wall to wall in the bathroom. You might be able to squeeze the size down a few inches by using a small corner sink like the ones in the link below but I wouldn't try to make the powder room's interior dimensions less than 32" x 60"

An exterior door is usually 36" wide (although it is possible to purchase 32" wide exterior doors) and it needs a couple of extra inches on each side for trim and hardware. You haven't taken that space requirement into account.

All this means that, in order to fit into the space you have, your cubbies, cupboards, and bench are all going to have to shrink down a little bit. Those things are more flexible tho and frankly, I don't see any better options for using the space than the one you've come up with.

Good luck!

Here is a link that might be useful: small sinks
0
rsc2a
15 years ago
Here's an idea I threw together real quick...haven't really adjusted it much:
0
Related Discussions
Layout Advice Welcomed -- Kitchen/Mudroom Expansion
Q
Comments (9)
The island will not seat 4 as currently shown. An island can never seat two people at a corner. All them legs from island, stools and people on two side can't fit under the counter. You can start to see it in the drawing with the stools actually overlapping the island legs and it gets worse with people - legs and knees for the two around-the-corner diners can't overlap under the counter. The corner of the table, the desk and the island is pretty tight. The small ?shelves? look less than two feet away from the corner of the table. I'm not sure anyone will be able to get through when the table is actually occupied. The desk will need a chair and I wonder if it will cause a big snafu with the table chairs and the island stools. I believe some of the assumed sizes of appliances may be off in the drawing. The sink looks like a 24", the ovens look like 27", the range and ref look like about 30". It's always hard to tell but that's what they look like using one of the marked 36" cabinets as a ruler. The one foot deep cabinets will make seating on the far side of the island an issue. Roughly, seating with a walkway takes a minimum of 44" from the counter edge to a BLANK WALL. It looks like you may not quite have that much to the cabinets - a lot of the time, a cabinet plan actually shows the size of cabinets without the doors on and certainly without handles. When you have cabinets behind stools, it's nice to be able to use them. Generally you need to leave at least 54" but with a pair of 18" doors to open, I'd consider leaving 60" because its a main walkway to the outside and will be in the route to the drinks. Combining a pantry and laundry might not be a great idea. The requirements for the two tasks are different. Pantries should be dark, laundry needs a lotta light. Laundries tend to be overheated, and overly humid. Pantries like cool and dry. Add in that laundries produce a fair amount of dust and possibly perfumes - cheerios that smell like Tide? The spacing issues and circulation need some thought. People will want to use that corner between the living room, table and desk for circulation go to/from the kitchen. People will use the walkway from the front door to the back door -or- around the top or bottom of the island if you don't have any other way to reach the back deck. Maybe think of changing the use of the spaces? Living becomes dining, family becomes kitchen, kitchen becomes family. I would tell them to go fish and try again. just bad wit If the kitchen is the heart of the home, that island is a clogged artery.
...See More
Kitchen, Pantry, Powder room layout help
Q
Comments (46)
Oh, this! ^^^^^^ That looks lovely. I don't think it needs to be centered. That looks great. As an alternative, you could build a hood that covers that entire short wall and then just place the working parts (fan, ducts) over the range. That may look better or worse but something you might play with. A lot of the kitchens revealed here have lack of symmetry because they achieve better function without it. Or they find a creative way to balance the lack of symmetry as you have with your utensil crock. A tall, narrow painting would look good there as well if you decide to go with a simpler backsplash although that might be too-too much on the wall if you go with a decorative tile-insert. I'm a window person. Even if the view is questionable, I'd go for bigger windows. The more natural light, the better, imho. Maybe install some kind of trellis to hide the hot-tubbers? For the first time in my life, I have no uppers and my seasonings/oils/sauces are in drawers next to my range. I just bought a couple of cheap spice inserts at the hardware store and a few cheap drawer organizers (plastic boxes) at The Dollar Store. Oh, I love it so much. I can open the drawers and find everything I need at a glance rather than digging through the upper cabinet. As I said, my fridge placement doesn't bother me either due to the pit-stop at the prep area. I hope you find the same with your mock cooking sessions. I like this plan so much better than how it originally started. I hope you feel good about what you've achieved.
...See More
Help with mudroom/powder room layout
Q
Comments (2)
The pantry space doesn't look big enough to be replaced with a mudroom and half bath. Maybe a hallway and a half bath. Here's a thought - do you need 3 dining areas? A formal dining, a breakfast room, and a full bar/peninsula? Could you gain some space for a mudroom from the breakfast room? Or rearrange the laundry room into some of the breakfast room space?
...See More
advice for laundry and mudroom and powder layout
Q
Comments (1)
This doesn't look like a huge house; and therefore the bath plus powder seems redundant. I'd bring laundry into mudroom and make a grand open space with organized hanging and cubbies, bench etc. There can be a drying rod over the washer and dryer. If this is a one story house, have you considered a tubular daylighting device for natural light? Here's a photo of a mudroom that is about half the size yours would be. Good luck
...See More
Related Professionals
Hainesport Home Builders · Bellview Home Builders · Lakeland South Home Builders · West Hempstead Home Builders · Westwood Home Builders · Three Lakes General Contractors · Alhambra General Contractors · Arkansas City General Contractors · Broadview Heights General Contractors · Champaign General Contractors · Enumclaw General Contractors · Jackson General Contractors · Lake Forest Park General Contractors · Muskogee General Contractors · Seguin General Contractors
marisany
Original Author
15 years ago
bevangel, thank you very much for the comments. I was a bit careless with the sketch - the existing exterior door will stay, and I will re-draw the plan with exact measurements for that area. You are right that I did not realize how thick the walls would have to be. I will have to re-think this.

rsc2a, thank you for the alternative design! I will think about this and post a new plan tomorrow.
0
Buehl
15 years ago
A couple of suggestions:
- A pocket door into the PR
15" - 18" deep pantry shelves on the long wall opposite the window.

Pantry shelves ideally shouldn't be any more than 18" deep, preferably 12" to 15"...unless they're pullout shelves, and even then I think 24" is too deep as you go up past chest level. Most of us on the Kitchens Forum have found that things get lost and are more difficult to get to on shelves deeper than 15".

In my experience, the most useful, versatile, and least expensive type of pantry is a built-in walk-in or step-in pantry (i.e., walls & shelves as opposed to cabinets).
A small coat closet on the wall b/w the pantry & PR. I put in a coat closet instead of "cupboards" b/c I think a place to hang coats (including long) is essential. Cubbies are all well & good for jackets & backpacks, but coats really work better in a closet. (It also keeps them nicer looking.)

Where you have the little box, you could put shelves up that wall instead of extending the bar all the way across. You won't be able to hang anything there anyway.

Regarding wall depths...sometimes they can be shallower if you turn the 2x4s around so they're oriented as 4x2s. That can cut about 1-1/2" off the wall depth.

So, what about something like this?
0
marisany
Original Author
15 years ago
Wow, buehl, what great suggestions! I can't believe you managed to fit so much into the space.

Thank you for the information about pantry shelf depth. That is useful. I was thinking of one of those pullouts that is narrow and deep, but maybe shelves would be better.

Great idea about the wall thickness - I'll run your idea by the contractor.

I don't need a coat closet here; there is a coat closet right next to the hallway door (behind your pantry and utility cabinet.

The little box, by the way, surrounds a big pipe that goes all the way up, something related to the plumbing. The toilet above is connected to it.
0
kelleg69
15 years ago
We have cubbies with a bench underneath. Could you do something like to make better use of the bench? I may be able to give you pictures if you care to see them.
0
marisany
Original Author
15 years ago
kelleg, I would love photos of your bench/cubbies! I have collected a few from various threads here to get ideas. The reason I did not have cubbies above the bench is that there is a window there that I want to keep. I guess I could do the bench along the wall with the exterior door, but that space is going to be short.

I am going out of town for a couple of days, but will be back on the weekend with new drawings.
0
SuzieSnowflake
15 years ago
I like rsc2a's design. It's clean, open and the line of vision from the exterior door doesn't go straight to a toilet.
0

Mudroom/powder room/pantry layout - advice needed

Comments (8)

bevangel_i_h8_h0uzz

rsc2a

Related Discussions

Related Professionals

marisany
Original Author

Buehl

marisany
Original Author

kelleg69

marisany
Original Author

SuzieSnowflake

COMPANY

BUSINESS SERVICES

GET HELP

CONNECT WITH US

Mudroom/powder room/pantry layout - advice needed

Comments (8)

bevangel_i_h8_h0uzz

rsc2a

Related Discussions

Related Professionals

marisanyOriginal Author

Buehl

marisanyOriginal Author

kelleg69

marisanyOriginal Author

SuzieSnowflake

COMPANY

BUSINESS SERVICES

GET HELP

CONNECT WITH US

marisany
Original Author

marisany
Original Author

marisany
Original Author