Christopher Horwood
While utility rooms may have the reputation as the most unglamorous 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, utility rooms 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 examples to share.
What is a utility room?
A utility room is a functional room often next to the kitchen or boot room, used to house larger household appliances like washing machines, dryers and even sometimes chest freezers. A great utility room should help you perform daily tasks and chores efficiently, as well as keep more unseemly appliances out of view. Usually, utility rooms are designed with functionality as a first priority, aesthetics secondary – but with our assistance, you can design your utility room to be high-functioning and elegant.
What should be included in a utility room?
A utility room has the pitfall of becoming a catch-all room in which laundry is done and objects are stashed. However, a great utility room should affixed as much attention as any other room in your home. The use of a utility room, too, is wholly dependent on the household - do you have several loads of laundry each week? Is there an overspill of food and drink that needs storage? Where do you usually take your first sip of coffee in the mornings? In her utility room, designer Rita Konig maximised its use: it is there where she keeps her ironing board, steamer equipment and Miele iron press, 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 home?
A utility room is optimally positioned next to the kitchen. However, we've also seen houses in which utility rooms whose primary function is for doing laundry are housed upstairs closer to the linen closets and bedrooms. “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.” Konig also notes that “it is not necessarily the most practical thing to have [utility rooms] in the basem*nt or near the kitchen”.
