A Guest Bathroom Off Of The Kitchen? (Is That Strange?)
If you’re the type of person who doesn’t like playing around with floor plans and considering all (and I do mean aaaalllllllllll) of the possibilities, these next few weeks may drive you absolutely crazy. You may want to check out for a while and check back in a few weeks to see if I’m past this phase and have moved on to actually implementing a plan.
Because right now, all I can do is think about the possibilities. My brain will not stop. I wake up in the morning thinking about possibilities. I consider them all day as I’m working. My mom and I talked about them at lunch yesterday. I talked about them with friends last night. I go to bed at night thinking about them.
I get so excited about trying out different layouts and thinking about the different suggestions that people give me. And y’all gave me a whole lot to think about on Monday’s post. And there was one suggestion in particular that caught my attention, and I haven’t been able to get it out of my mind. The suggestion was to move the guest bathroom into the pantry area.
I’m sure at some point, someone else probably suggested this, and I dismissed it immediately because, again, that floor is a concrete slab foundation. So doing anything in there that requires plumbing will be cost more, take longer, and be a big disruption to our lives. So it’s very possible that someone mentioned it before, and I wrote it off without any thought. I can’t even explain why I’ll write off a suggestion over and over again, and then it takes that one last time of someone suggesting it, and I decide to consider it. No one can explain how my mind works, least of all me. 😀
But when I read this suggestion, I decided to try it out. I wasn’t even sure what problems (if any) that change would solve, but the idea intrigued me, so I gave it a go. I decided immediately that it would have to be a full bathroom. If someone ever needed to stay with Matt, I could have a sleeper sofa in the TV room, but I would hate for them to have to use our bathroom. So this guest bathroom would need to have a shower.
Also, it would need to be accessible via the kitchen because I don’t want so many doorways in the TV room. I need at least one solid, uninterrupted wall. Plus, it’s just weird for guests to have to use a bathroom that’s accessible through a door right there in the area where people are gathered. You usually want it to be removed from the main room a little bit, at least. That’s why they’re usually off of a hallway.
So if I did this, it would look something like this. Don’t pay too much attentino to the arrangement of the actual bathroom. I didn’t give that much thought yet. But the general placement of the bathroom would look like this.
So my question is this. How weird is it to have a guest bathroom off of the kitchen? I know I’ve seen it before, but they’re mainly powder bathrooms. And even at that, I don’t know how common that is. So you tell me. Is it strange to have a bathroom off of a kitchen?
I’ve just never lived in a home with a bathroom off of the kitchen, so I’m not sure how I feel about that. What I do love about that idea is that it gets all of the “public” areas of the house over on one side. It makes sense to have the guest bathroom closer to the TV room, the dining room, and the kitchen. And I also love that with the bathroom moved, I would have these areas freed up to arrange how I need them to be arranged.
The areas I’m trying to work into this floor plan are (1) guest bathroom, (2) laundry room, (3) lots of closet space, (4) a workout area. And what I love about the idea of moving the guest bathroom out of its current location and moving it closer to the other “public” areas of the house is that it would basically make all of this area in pink the master suite. None of this would be “public” anymore. This entire end of the house would be master suite for me to arrange in the way that best suits us. That would leave the laundry room, lots of closet space, and a workout area that I’d need to fit into these areas.
And if it helps, I could even possibly take the wall down between the current hallway and hallway bathroom to make a more open area in the master suite entrance.
I’m just brainstorming here, so I don’t know if that’s possible. I’d have to get up into the attic and see if that’s a load-bearing wall. I kind of think it is, so I don’t know what would have to be done in order to open that up completely. But it sure would make a nice workout area. And it would make sense to have it there as part of the master suite.
But my main question for today is about the placement of the guest bathroom off of the kitchen. Again, I know I’ve seen powder baths off of kitchens before. Do you think that’s strange? Have you had a house with that arrangement before? Tell me your thoughts on that.
Addicted 2 Decorating is where I share my DIY and decorating journey as I remodel and decorate the 1948 fixer upper that my husband, Matt, and I bought in 2013. Matt has M.S. and is unable to do physical work, so I do the majority of the work on the house by myself. You can learn more about me here.
I don’t know about Waco, but in some areas it is against codes to have a bathroom opening off of the kitchen.
I personally would not want a bathroom opening off the kitchen or dining room.
Think about it!
That is a really good idea! I can totally see how all these ideas would keep your
mind spinning late into the night with all the possibilities!
Yes, against code in most places. Maybe combine the pantry bathroom and the studio bathroom into one? And put the laundry close to the kitchen
Yes! If a tub and/or shower was added to the studio bathroom, that would cover essential needs and be one less bathroom fixture to clean. The only question is whether it’s reasonable to keep the studio bathroom guest-ready or if it will often have wet paintbrushes and such.
This was my thought as well. What about having a laundry area in the space directly off the kitchen which would lead into a full bathroom using the rest of the pantry area plus the studio bathroom. Maybe there would even be a way to keep the studio entrance too.
Yes, this.
Growing up, I lived in an old farmhouse that had a half bath (later converted to a 3/4 bath) off of the kitchen/dining room. It was awful. Every “noise” could be easily heard by anyone standing close by…embarrassing for everyone.
I think combining the studio bath into a full bath would be a better option…and maybe even easier to accomplish.
I’m thinking along those same lines. I would see if it’s possible to expand the studio bathroom to incorporate the shower…Then use the extra space as kitchen storage. I lived in a home built in 1899 with the bath (added much later) was off the kitchen. It was awkward to say the least. Thanks for your post.
yes, I was thinking the same thing. you could have some space between the kitchen and bath, maybe some closet space/dressing area for guests.
This would be my suggestion. Make the studio bathroom a full bath and enter through the studio. Maybe even room for laundry in there.
We have owned houses with the bathroom off the kitchen and the dining room. Nope. Nope. Nope. Never again. No one wants to hear or smell what’s going on in there. We had a standing joke—that that bathroom was a pee only bathroom—anything else had to go to the bathroom upstairs. Which then if someone went upstairs—we laughed!!
You really made me laugh. No, no, no, no, never. It’s against building codes/regs in many places. You’d need to put a ‘lobby’ between the kitchen and bathroom reducing the available space.
Keep the guest bath and guest room close to one another.
Oops I misread the removal of the guest bedroom. Apologies. But still no bathroom off the kitchen.
I think you should consider moving your master bath toilet room elsewhere in the master suite – perhaps into or near the current guest bath. If you do enclosed cabinet closets, you wouldn’t need the entire former guest room as a closet. That would free up lots of space for workout area and help your bedroom feel more spacious.
I would not want to use the restroom while someone was in the kitchen or would I want to be working in the kitchen while someone was using the restroom.
My thoughts exactly. Eewww.
I don’t love a bathroom off the kitchen. People gather in the kitchen, even if that’s not your intention…it happens. And having someone trying to pee on the other side of the door you’re all standing outside of is just awkward. And smells. They happen. And I’d rather they NOT happen directly IN the food room, you know? How do you feel about taking the studio bathroom and doing something over there? You could make it bigger and add a shower, using the pantry space but accessed from the studio.
I like the private pink side of the house. The empty bedroom could be the workout room and hoyer storage area. Then the new space freed up from the bathroom and hall would be the closet/laundry. I know you have Pinterest ideas for the closet, but you could make that area a very nice closet with tons of storage even if it is smaller than you were originally thinking. Good luck sifting through all the ideas. I like this part of a project. So much potential!
I don’t know how attached you are to 2.5 baths, or if this is possible, but to me it makes more sense to remove the wall and make your studio bathroom a full bathroom, and you could use some of that space to have a pantry closet in your kitchen. I think there’s a step down between your studio and the rest of the house, though, right? So maybe it’s not possible for you to combine those spaces. I am very much not a fan of a bathroom off of a kitchen, but it is YOUR house! And people over for a gathering can always opt to use the studio half bathroom if they feel awkward. I do love the idea of a master suite, so I understand why you are interested in making this happen!
There’s no step down. It’s all one level.
Yep. What she said!
What about enlarging the studio bath to include the shower/tub, and then use the rest of the space to be the laundry room?
Not so strange. We have a powder room off our kitchen. Here is a pic before we redid the kitchen. That doorway behind the stove is the bathroom. The door remains shut, never had a smell issue as long as the door is kept closed.
Hope this helps.
https://www.redfin.com/MD/Silver-Spring/10607-Meadowhill-Rd-20901/home/10564155
I DO love that entire end of the house being a private, owners area. Looks like you would have lots of room for the exercise area, laundry, and huge closet. And a nice separation from all the public areas. In our home right now the hall going to the two bedrooms on one side is right off the kitchen area…and the bathroom door front and center. It doesn’t bother me at all, but I always thought it would be nicer had there been a door off-center to the hall so you didn’t actually look into the bathroom so much. A LOT of houses in Florida wind up like that. The other side of the house has the Master area. I might change the layout that you made, but I don’t think having it over there should be a big deal. It’s pretty handy having a bathroom so close to everything including the kitchen. I get annoyed when I have to go clear across the house for my bathroom while working in the kitchen. I do it to leave the guest area clean, especially since I banished my husband’s mud and sandy shoes to the pool bath outside. Now it stays pristine in case we have drop in company that needs the bathroom. It seems like a great idea to me. I too was so worried about the exercise equipment in you closet!
Possibly you could take one end of the current pantry to make a laundry room opening to the kitchen, use the current guest bath (opened as shown above) as the workout area, then you’d have your current bedroom to use as a closet. Then you’d only need a shower for the bath in the studio. Would that work? You worked so hard to hand make all the tiles for the pantry and they are beautiful, so I’m not wanting to see that dissappear. Possibly add on another room beside the kitchen if you need to to get full bathroom and laundry?
Much more awkward to have a guest bathroom off the kitchen than a workout room! Guest’s would definitely appreciate some distance from the kitchen when in the bathroom!
We lived in a house with the (only) bathroom directly off the kitchen, and hated it. I’m sure part of the issue was it was the only bathroom, so showering and everything went on all the time next to the kitchen. Especially awkward when guests were over.
This feels very square peg-round hole. I could maybe get behind having a powder room off the kitchen but as a guest I would chose not to shower over showering and having to walk through someone’s living spaces in a towel with wet hair. In my area, filled with older homes built in the 50’s, its very common to only have 1 full bath to accommodate 3 bedrooms plus one powder room in the main living space. It seems like a huge space to dedicate to a full bathroom or powder room when the studio powder room is maybe 15 steps off the “tv room.” Is it more useful to split the space into powder room and laundry or powder room and Cooper gets a dog wash station? The door could move to the right of the TV solving the entrance in the kitchen problem and you could potentially split the space to a small bathroom and storage off the kitchen (broom closet). Is this a bathroom Matt would primarily use throughout the day? Then it would be an advantage to keep it large.
I added a bathroom just off my kitchen/dining room and now I wish I hadn’t – it is awkward to use when people are in the adjacent spaces. I put the loudest possible fan in there and it doesn’t hide the sounds. I am actually considering tearing it out and reconfiguring the space somehow. Having a larger master suite would be terrific, I understand, but I don’t think you will like having the bathroom right off the kitchen.
I may be in the minority here but I think it could definitely work, if.. you made the bathroom smaller and made some sort of hallway or walk area so it’s not directly off of the kitchen and maybe put the toilet where the shower is so it doesn’t back up to anything in the kitchen.
Good afternoon Kristi, I have a suggestion, why don’t you just repair the floor in the gym and continue with it the way it was. It would be so sad to see all those BEAUTIFUL ROOMS removed…js
We absolutely cannot stay in our current bedroom. That’s not even an option. I will lose my mind if I have to stay in that room much longer. I have to walk past/ through the Hoyer lift like a turnstile every time I enter or leave the room. The only thing that has allowed me to deal with it this long is the constant reminder that it’s temporary.
I love the idea of public & private areas in a home, but not enough to have the bathroom door in the kitchen. I like the suggestion of turning the studio bathroom into the guest bath.
Seen and had a power bath within site of living and dining, HATED IT. Aunt had in kitchen, embarrassing and HATED IT too. Why not rework studio bath for shower using PART of pantry.
Since you have a half bath on the other side of the wall, accessible from your workroom, could you take out that wall, reconfigure that bathroom to add a shower and have access from both sides. The pantry would become a hallway with storage and also a buffer area between the bathroom and the public area.
I understand you plan to use the workroom bathroom for cleaning up messy projects, but given that everyone who knows you also knows the kind of stuff you do, I don’t think it would be so strange to have a kitchen sink in that bathroom and use it as you had originally intended.
That would be a no for me. The bathroom should remain down a hallway away feom the kitchen for sure. Enjoy seeing you brainstorm tho!
I personally hate having a bathroom off of the kitchen. You fell like you hear everything going on in the bathroom from the kitchen, and that person in the bathroom feels like they have no privacy while in the bathroom. Have you considered keeping some of the pantry and placing a wall where the new shower will be located making your bathroom off of the workspace the new bathroom with a shower. You could add a door on the other side of the small entry wall to you work room, then add a small wall across from the door making a small hall way. Then at the end of the new hall way you can place the door to the workroom. I made the floor plan on my iPhone but it won’t let me add a picture for you.
Have you thought of just building off master bathroom-for gym? Push deck out further, and have room you want/need!
I’ve been a realtor for over 45 years and it’s not as uncommon as you might think. It put the plumbing in one area which is easier to repair, if needed.
You will be surprised to see how much you will use it. Go for it Gal. You can do this.
My uncle’s house is an added-on farmhouse and a full bath has always been off the kitchen and I have always found that to be so odd. I’m 50 years old and even thought it was weird as a 7/8 year old. So, there’s that. I would leave your hall bath where it is. A guest can also use the bathroom in your studio or you could change the studio bathroom to a jack and jill bathroom between the laundry room which is now a pantry and the studio.
We have a half bath off our kitchen that also houses a dryer, pet food/dishes and litterbox. Even when we have guests it doesn’t seem to be too big of an issue!
Oh gosh – i don’t know that I’d want that! I love the idea of giving you a master suite area-that would be amazing! But a toilet off the kitchen is just…too much. Would you consider a hidden door next to the TV? If you have a paneled wall there,it wouldn’t be too hard to hide an almost seamless entry. That would give you your visual, uninterrupted wall, but move the access to the toilet away from the kitchen.
Oh, this suggestion feels “very Kristi” to me! I could see her working through this and it being amazing at the end. Just soundproof the bathroom if you can. Bathrooms in general don’t get the soundproofing they should!
Like you, I enjoy reconfiguring houses! I think bathrooms off kitchens make guests feel uncomfortable. Please think about this: keep a shallow pantry and add the shower to your half bath. Guests staying in the tv room would have privacy. Yes, they would have to walk through your studio but your guests know you and know you have a working studio. You would just have to let go of worrying about keeping the studio cleaned up for them. Take the attitude of letting them enjoy walking through your colorful beautiful messy working studio!
I lived in a rather small old house that obviously started with outdoor facilities and eventually a bathroom was introduced into what had been a small bedroom. It was directly off the kitchen and I didn’t love that. (It also served as the home for cat litter since the only access to the basement was from outside.) The room itself was largish and the toilet placed well away from the doorway – but still.
That is not an arrangement I would choose unless I had no other options – especially since in your case it would mean people have to enter the kitchen from other rooms to access it.
I think I would enlarge the bathroom on the studio and do a small hallway/alcove off of the kitchen that leads into the bathroom area. You could have two entrances like a Jack and Jill… I had that on a house I grew up and it worked just fine, then the bathroom isn’t so exposed. Please don’t put the toilet in front of the door either.
Hi Kristi! Our current house had a full bath off of the kitchen. We never used the tub/shower and I stored paint in it. We removed the tub/shower to add a walk in pantry from the other side, so now it is the guest powder room. This works better for us. But you do you! Make your house work for you and Matt. You’ve already made it shine with beauty. Now make it function. You are an inspiration to me – in so many areas of your life. Thank you!!!
I have a bathroom with a shower off my kitchen. When you open the back door you walk into a short hallway with a laundry room on the right and a bathroom on the left. That bathroom belongs to my husband. He puts his dirty clothes in the laundry after he showers. Go straight and walk into the kitchen with a breakfast room on the left.
Bathroom off the kitchen-big no for me!
I don’t think even omitting the wall would be enough room to maneuver around with all the pieces of equipment in the gym. If you CAN remove that wall, is that what you want the first look of the primary to be? Another possibility would be to move the door of the guest bath to the music room and switch the tub and sink- or make a smaller stand up shower and put the door where the storage is in that bath.
Is the possibility of a separate unit for the gym still on? Have you thought to connect that building by a (flat roofed?)hallway off the primary bath? No need to be outside then. You could then take that square footage of the deck and add it to the kitchen door end. Keep the pantry for laundry and overflow kitchen storage
My brother has a bathroom off the kitchen and I always found it weird when my teenage nephew came out in his robe after his shower-or my brother just wrapped in a towel-can’t get that vision out of my head-but maybe that’s me. Not that it helps much but can the doorway to the bathroom be off your family living space instead of the kitchen proper? That’s just a little bit more acceptable I think. Do you need a shower? in there? Do you have a guest room anymore? Maybe just a powder room with a small hall space so the entrance isn’t right off the kitchen?
I have a bathroom with a shower off my kitchen. When you open the back door you walk into a short hallway with a laundry room on the right and a bathroom on the left. That bathroom belongs to my husband. He puts his dirty clothes in the laundry after he showers. Go straight and walk into the kitchen with a breakfast room on the left. We’ve never had an issue with odor or sound. We have solid doors that are kept shut most of the time. We have lived like this for over 20 years. I like it. I have 3 full-size baths in my home.
My vote is for creating a smaller pantry off the kitchen, then using the rest of the space, to expand the half bath. If you don’t want people ‘seeing’ your studio, you could create a small hallway and have the door there, instead of into the back entry.
Personally I would not want a bathroom right off the kitchen or living area. It makes it very uncomfortable for the guest that has to use the bathroom not to mention the unpleasant smells that may occur.
Well I am lost altogether…so if the pantry is to be made into a bathroom…then where is the guest room?
I would definitely not want a bathroom to open up into my kitchen. Would it work to expand the bathroom off of your studio into where the pantry is now and have the laundry room off of the kitchen. I could work with having a laundry room off my kitchen but would hate to have guests walk out of the bathroom into my kitchen when possibly they had left a strong odor behind and that smell coming into the kitchen.
It seems like the wheelchair ramp is so limiting. If it were somewhere else (on the other side, for example), you could add a pantry/mudroom/bathroom combo as part of your kitchen addition. It would be more money, but not much more since you’d already have contractors there adding on. That would let you have a doorway to the bathroom away from the kitchen. And a doorway from the carport directly to the kitchen area… which I would definitely want even if you don’t! 🙂
It’s totally normal to have a bathroom off a kitchen in New England. Probably because we have a lot of older (100+ year) homes, so many times the original bathroom was next to the kitchen to keep plumbing in one spot. Then as the house was added onto, the original bath was turned into a powder room and a more spacious/modern bathroom was added in another part of the house.
The pantry space is good sized and the toilet would be on the opposite wall from the door, so the extra distance affords more privacy. I think you’re fine! Plus, it gives guests another place to wash their hands without interrupting the host preparing food in the kitchen.
I didn’t have time to work through all these cautions and suggestions but I do know what would not work for me and maybe not for you.
Definitely, no bathroom next to the kitchen. Obvious reasons for doers inside there and for hearers outside there. ’nuff said.
When I work on projects, I avoid having them set up where guests may go. I consider my work private, especially if it is messy or in the period of drying (one guest poked a painting to see if was dry and it was impossible to fix it.) I don’t need questions about ‘how’s it coming?’ or ‘what’s this?’ or any litle kids dabbling in anything. Unsupervised little (and big) people can’t resist. (Many people in Ecuador freely open drawers, cabinets, and the like. No conscience ping in doing it. Once I knew that I rearranged my storage so that nothing personal is ever in the guest room.)
Therefore, my studio would never work as the route to get to a guest bathroom.
You will figure it all out as long as you also consider the ‘human’ element when you mull on what is practical. An important factor since you have regular guests.
Yes to bathrooms off the kitchen. Just have a bit of hall for privacy. Kitchens are busy places & it is nice to not have everyone know your business (or hear it)!
Can you combine the studio bathroom & guest bathroom(former pantry) then? Might make plumbing easier & opens up also having a utility sink in a small closet for cleaning broom, mop etc.
Also love combining hallway & current guest bath for exercise room. Just have a door then to the music room.
Don’t do it! In theory it sounds great but my sister had a bathroom off the kitchen and it was terrible. Those of us who were in the kitchen preparing a meal had to deal with unpleasantries that affected enjoyment of the meal.
No, no, 1000 times no!
In my house, the powder room (half bath) is very near to the kitchen. Enter the house through the door to the garage. Immediately inside that door is a small entry way that has the pantry (very small closet-style) on the left. A few steps forward, the powder room is on the left, the laundry room is on the right and the kitchen is straight ahead. My guests never seem to have an issue with that.
As a guest, it may seem a bit uncomfortable to shower with others directly outside the door in the kitchen, or maybe that’s my own quirk. 🙂 It’s your house, you live there and are impacted by your layout every single day so your own needs and comfort should come first.
I wondered if you couldn’t steal a bit of space of the original laundry room space to add room in the studio bathroom for a shower stall. If so, you could combine the current guest bath and the hallway to include a closet and workout space. This would allow you to retain the current guest bedroom if you move the doorway to the entryway wall. The doorway to enter the Master Suite could be next to the new guest bedroom doorway.
I have no doubt you will come up with something phenomenal and make it beautiful!
Have you thought about making the hallway bathroom your laundry room? You could then divide the pantry in two separate spaces and make the side with the studio bath the guest bath by knocking out the wall between the two spaces and using the kitchen side as a pantry. That would definitely make the one side of your house an all inclusive master suite and also keep the noise of a washer and dryer contained to a side of the house that might not be in use during the day. Just a thought. I love all of your brainstorming and I know you will come up with the perfect solution.
With much love, I want to gently suggest a breather. I think you need to seriously reconsider the decision about the addition. Here’s why: Ever since the disaster with the gym floor, the plan for your home that you spent years of time and effort planning has undergone several enormous changes. Unfortunately, it feels like where you are in the process, it’s now trying to make things work and squeeze here or there rather than ending up with an end product you love. You planned the addition to fit your needs for a reason…. The house as it was wasn’t meeting those needs. Not too long ago, you had a post about how relieving it was to have a finished space to live in that wasn’t all torn up. Are you very, very sure you want to rip into so many finished rooms? I wonder if the galley kitchen and perhaps a master bedroom might be all of what you need in an addition. A bedroom in back of the house could look out into your gorgeous backyard instead of the road (doesn’t Matt spend a lot of time there) and you could preserve your gym, guest bedroom for Matt’s overnight caregivers and guest bathroom relatively as is. You’d still have a deck/patio that the music room would open out into and might give more symmetry to the back of the house. The pantry could serve as laundry/utility. Matt’s medical equipment might fit in the enlarged gym. Just my thoughts today. I don’t want you to end up spending a large amount on renovations that end up being a house you don’t love or flows well with your needs.
This is an EXCELLENT point. Plus, will you (Kristi) end up saving as many $$ as you think with all the changes you plan. You’ve mentioned before, that customisation of finishes adds a lot to a project and now it feels to me that the proposed changes to what you’ve already completed won’t be much less $$ than your original planned addition.
Is there any possibility you could go back to your original plan; but scale it back somewhat thereby reducing the cost?
Some people have rooms they have converted into sound/recording studios within their home. They have incredible sound-proofing materials that would blot out all noises. Have you considered doing something like that for the bathroom near the kitchen. If you have to keep the bath off the kitchen, could you create a small lobby/hall area by making the bathroom a tad smaller?
I don’t prefer guest baths by the kitchen. I think it helps add more privacy to keep the bathroom away from the gathering area. I know some people are bothered and get nervous with sounds that are made in the bathroom along with residual smells.
In your first design above, I don’t see any guest bedroom – might that be needed if someone needed to stay over to care for Matt at some point? Also, I see two living room type areas. I think you call one the sitting area, but they have the exact same type of furniture. I’m not a fan of a full bath, or even a powder room attached directly to the kitchen. I think locating the laundry room and pantry there is a better idea. Keep thinking – you’ll come up with it!
I think you should consider ading shower to studio bath with Jack and Jill doors. Maybe use some of space directly off kitchen for laundry, mini butler’s pantry, etc. Create a buffer between kitchen and bathroom. My daughter had 2 homes with half bath access at edge of kitchen. Both homes were older, 1893 and 1923, both 2 story and both remodeled to open concept living, dining and kitchen. 1923 powder room was added under the stairs and the door opened directly into dining area open to kitchen and to living area. Awkward…even with good vent fan!
Victorian had a wall that extended maybe 4 feet or so creating a mini hallway beside staircase blocking direct view of bathroom door. That half bath also had a second door on wall directly across from entry door to bath that opened into the laundry/utilities room. Not as awkward!
Kristi, I admire your flexibility, creativity, and openness to your readers’ suggestions. I think it’s great that you want to personalize your space.
However, changing designs after having a cohesive plan, to my mind, is creating a hodgepodge of various rooms and spaces. If you can’t afford the larger addition, could you afford to add a master bedroom only? It seems to me that adding a kitchen with all the plumbing and wiring is costly, more costly than a bedroom. If you want a kitchen with light could you eliminate the top cabinets in the rear of the current kitchen and replace with windows?
You are thinking of major changes , which I worry you will regret. And we never know what unplanned events we will face in the future.
I’m a little confused but that isn’t surprising. I read “guest bathroom” as “guest bedroom”, then looking at the plan I could not figure out where the guest bedroom went??
A full-blown guest bathroom would be so handy for “guests” but also for you working in the kitchen. Put soundproofing around the bathroom so
it would be quieter. I have seen power rooms right out of the dining area and that was bad. You can hear the noise when guests ate. Awful.
I had a bathroom off the dining/kitchen in our previous house I do NOT recommend it at all!!! Smells from there do not make for good cooking/dining even with venting! I would suggest maybe making the music room area ,into a small bathroom and possibly have a pull out couch in that area for over night guests. I know, I cringe even suggesting that because you love your music room. It is beautiful.
The mantra I learned the hard way and live by now ( I am in my 70’s) is do I really NEED this or do I just WANT this. It has helped me be able to keep in budget and to find creative ways to get what I need and the challenge to make it look close to what I wanted but couldn’t afford.
I know you will knock it out of the park whatever you decide!
I’m not sure that it would be to code to have a bathroom coming off a kitchen. I know that here in Australia it is not allowed. I certainly wouldn’t want that anyway.
Maybe you could have your laundry room off the kitchen, a little smaller than in your floorplan and then make the half bath off your studio a little bigger and have it as a guest bathroom. To me that would be far more workable.
We lived in a house with a bathroom off of the kitchen and I hated it.
Sorry I am late to the party, I had 17 acres to get cut before the rain, we hope will come. Our last duty station in Washington, DC, our home there was large and had a full bath just off the kitchen. It did not seem weird, if anything, I loved it because if I was in the sink doing something and someone wanted to wash their hands, all they had to do was walk a few steps and viola. Also, sometimes with difficult recipes, finding time to use the restroom needs to be fast and furious. I love the new floor plan and the flow for Matt looks great, we have friends in wheelchairs and know all about keeping the wheels rolling. If your wall is a load bearing one, they can install an I-Beam, either out of steel or LDL, laminated dimensional lumber. Take heart, it is not a large span, so the cost shouldn’t be too prohibitive.
Keep the faith!
Cheers!
I don’t know if anyone’s mentioned this yet because there are already 68 replies (!), but I would make the bathroom in the studio the guest bathroom by bumping the wall into the kitchen pantry and adding a shower in there. Then, you still have room for a mini-pantry in your kitchen if you want one. No bathroom off the kitchen, and guests will get to experience your beautiful studio when they use the bathroom.
I still think making the hallway bathroom into a laundry room with the water heater would certainly be cheaper and less demo. The water lines and drains are already there. That would provide more barrier to make the master suite more private. You could figure out something for the guest bathroom on the other end of the house. This arrangement might give you more funds to go toward the remodel.
Since you’re going to be re-doing the studio half-bath anyway, can it be enlarged to be a full size bathroom, or will it be filled with paint brushes and such? It looks like there would be enough room to expand the studio bathroom and still have a large pantry opening into the kitchen.
I think the new bathroom placement is fine, but consider putting a wall up at the end of the counter run where the bathroom door will be, for a bit more separation, creating a mini hallway.
Kristi,
I’ve never seen any home ever with a bathroom, or even a powder room, located off of the kitchen. I don’t think I would want either one off from my kitchen though. You and Matt have Wednesday night guests, it may be uncomfortable if someone needed to use the bathroom….thinking you may need to pop into the kitchen to get refreshments or something.
Once my sister lived in a house with a powder room off of the family room. She hated it so much that she turned it into a toy storage room. That kept her three young kids toys picked up and put away.
A couple of our homes have had bathrooms “off the kitchen”. However, the entrance to the bathroom was not directly from the kitchen, but in the hallway off the kitchen. Is it possible for you to orient the doorway to the bathroom so that you’re not looking directly into the bathroom from the kitchen?
I have experience with having a bathroom next to the kitchen and dining area. It was many years ago while living in an apartment with my husband. We had friends join us. We were all seated at the table just starting to eat when the woman guest excused herself and went into the bathroom. After finishing her business (#2), she returned to the table, leaving the bathroom door open. You can imagine what that must have been like! Everyone stopped talking. I went into the bathroom, sprayed some air freshener, turned on the exhaust fan, and closed the door on my way out. Still, though, it was pretty awful. I knew then that when we built our house, to not have a bathroom near the kitchen, dining area, or formal dining room!
Hi Kristi! I enjoy everything you do so much, and I’ve learned so much from your projects! Can you tell me what program you use to help you with your floor plans? I have a project ahead in the distant future, and I would like to try to do some modification plans of my own to give me an idea if what I’m thinking will work.
My 2 cents…I have seen it before at my friends house, however she has another bathroom in a hallway and I always use that one. I would never want that in my own house. As a guest, I would be extremely self conscious about using a bathroom that opened up right into a very public space. As the homeowner, I wouldn’t want to subject my guests to having to make that choice or hold it. Could you enlarge your studio bathroom into the pantry area and have guests use that one?
My question is why you think it would have to have a doorway into the new kitchen? It isn’t that far to get to where the doorway is in the sitting room, is it? That way, people would feel more secure and comfortable using that bathroom. If you are worried about the sounds that might happen, could you not make sure that there is some type of insulation or sound dampening in the wall between the kitchen and pantry/bathroom?
I like the suggestions that people are making about turning the studio bathroom into a guest bathroom and using part of the current pantry as a laundry room. Then the two rooms near the new master bedroom could be a closet and a workout room. I do like that that side of the house is private owners area.
Given that a bathroom or any room with a toilet is the most germ-filled area of a home, I don’t think it’s a good idea to have one with access through the kitchen. Why don’t you build a workout room on the left side of the deck with access through the master bath; rotate the hallway bathroom 90 degrees so the doors open where the piano is; move the piano to where the current bathroom doors are or get rid of it if no one really uses it regularly; and install your washer, dryer, and hot water heater from left to right on the window wall in the utility room which should make it easier to run plumbing and venting?
I personally think having a bathroom off the kitchen is weird and a little gross. As a guest I would feel very uncomfortable using that bathroom.
You already have a full bathroom other than the master bathroom. I don’t understand why you feel a need to move it just to have it closer to the public areas. It’s not that far away. To address the four room you mentioned.
Guest Bathroom – I’d leave it where it is, but if you really want to move it I would expand the half bath in the workroom to a full bath. You would have to come up with a little more space but that seems easier than breaking all that concrete.
Laundry room – Put it in the master closet. I had the washer and dryer in the master closet in my first home and loved it. It is so convenient to take things out of the dryer and just hang them up. If I could change one thing about my current home it would be to move the washer and dryer in to the master closet.
Lots of closet space – You are going to have a whole bedroom converted into a closet, you will have all the closet space you need; even with a washer and dryer in there. 🙂
Workout area – Convert the current pantry into a workout room. Keep it out of the master closet. Somehow sweaty, stinky bodies and clean clothes don’t go together.
Just my thoughts … good luck with your final decision.
It’s unusual – I’d say that. But if you could place the w.c.as far away from the bathroom entry as possible and even enclose it so it can’t actually be seen from the bathroom entry door – then I guess it could be OK – IF your building code will even allow it.
It’s your home so do what’s OK for you; but I dont think I could live with it.
I lost the plot with his one — I must have missed a post in which you did away with your full guest bathroom that already exists. Sometimes the fleeting nature of your creations reminds me of those artists who make beautiful sand art pictures on public sidewalks, then walk away, leaving their pictures to quickly disappear as people walk over them.
As for the bathroom-by-kitchen question, I’m with the majority. I lived in some crummy NYC apts. years ago, including a former cold water tenement and a tiny studio carved out of an old bakery storeroom. Both had a bare toilet planted in the open and, on the other side of the room, a sink flanked by an elevated shower that looked like a garment bag. It was a great day when I moved into an apt. with a separate, standard, closed-off bathroom removed from my kitchen, living room and bedroom. A toilet is called a “privy” for a reason.
As a guest, I would not want to use a bathroom off of the kitchen. Yuck
I don’t want to be making dinner while my guests are exploding into the toilet. Nor if I’m a guest, do I want to be doing my business while someone’s just outside the door making a meal. It’s a hard no for me. The current location of your bathroom affords some privacy, which will be greatly appreciated by your guests.
I love your pantry. You did such a good job on that and now with the kitchen being next to the pantry is how it should be. I don’t like a toilet near a kitchen in any home I have seen like that. 1 – Privacy, noisey, smelly.
It is much better for you and your guests to go to a tucked away bathroom. That way just in the event that it should be noisy and smelly then it is at least away from everyone else. It is a much better to have the laundry room close to the kitchen as that way you can put a load in and hear it when it is finished and hang it out straight away.
Why couldn’t you just enlarge the bathroom in your studio? Robbing some room from the pantry for it? Then the door to it is off the studio and not the kitchen? I am sure you covered this but i missed it i think.
I think it would work, but could you put up some kind of hallway? or pony wall? Something to make it seem that there is more privacy than there really is?
I have had a bathroom off the kitchen and my guests all thought it was weird. It was okay when I was on my own but a guests felt uncomfortable going in there while anyone was cooking. Is there an option to enlarge the bathroom off your studio and move the door to the wall closer to the tv room? It’s already plumbed and you could still use it from your studio. I think it makes sense to create a master suite but I personally wouldn’t put the entrance to the guest bathroom inside the kitchen.
Could you place the door to the bathroom off of the sitting room wall? I do think code would keep you from having it in the kitchen. I do think it is a great idea to keep your master area private!
Sheila F.
Where would your laundry room be then? I have seen combo bathroom/laundry room areas. I don’t think I would like a bathroom door right in my kitchen. It seems “germy” to me. Where would you put the pantry? Looks like you have two living rooms, could a door to the bathroom be put in there instead of off of the kitchen?
Kristi, I’ve see it before but never liked it. Is there any way you could expand the bathroom off your studio into a full size one? Not knowing what you’d use the pantry for how about cutting the pantry in half, have the entrance from the kitchen but the first half of the room would be a coat type closet maybe with a bench. That would lead into the full bathroom. You could even have two doors into it one from the pantry and the other from the studio. Or add a second deep sink for use as a studio sink.
My daughter kind of has a powder room off her kitchen. Actually, if you come in the house through the garage, there is a laundry/mudroom on the right, a powder room on the left and the dining/kitchen straight across from the garage entrance, with the dining table in front of you and kitchen on the right (behind the laundry). I hate to use that powder room if anyone is in the dining/kitchen! Also, to the left of the dining table is the living room, so all of that is public area. And my other daughter in Colorado has a powder room off the corner of her kitchen, next to the garage, with the basement stairs the only separation between the two. So I suppose it isn’t unusual, but I would not want it in my home.
NO,NO,NO!!!!!!!!! I would NEVER use a BaRm right off a kitchen! Unhygenic, disgusting, unsafe ~
NEVER!!!
bobbie
I have a bedroom and a bathroom off of my kitchen in my current house.
It allows any guest to be totally apart from the rest of the house, but allows for any tea/coffee /water/food to be accessed in the kitchen if needs be at any time of the day or night without traipsing through the lounge etc and disturbing other people.
Works perfectly, so well worth consideration, and is particularly ideal if your guest needs privacy. This is, in fact, my second house that has had this layout, so not odd at all!
I’d never put a bathroom off a kitchen…sorry, but that is just me. I’d put one anywhere but there. I lived in a home with that very layout…and it was terrible. Eating in the kitchen…and someone in the washroom next to you? No. Would never do it.
Isn’t your hallway bath usable for a guest? This would be a very strange floor plan. You might want that space for an exercise area instead.
Our last two homes have had bathrooms off the kitchen and my vote is no. The odors waft into the kitchen – no matter what fan is in there or what spray you use. Could you possibly enlarge the studio bath to make it full? Whatever you decide will be amazing!
I live in a 100 year old farm house. When we moved here the “main bathroom” was in a converted porch off the kitchen on the 1st floor. It’s workable.. is it perfect – Nope… but workable. It’s still the main bathroom but has had a major face lift. Tub is gone step in shower is there. Our house is a 2 story 26 x 28 farm house. Both porches have been incorporated to make living space – when they 1st added the bath room ( Probably in the 40’s) it made sense – it was easy space to convert, it’s close to the kitchen so plumbing was easier to get to. Would it be my 1st choice if I was building a new house? NO. The last house my parents lived in also had a converted porch off the kitchen as the bathroom. My in-laws had a converted porch that was a laundry room/bathroom combo. Basically a laundry room with a toilet in it. My Son & DIL now live in that house and while they are converting the laundry room to a butlers pantry – they will claim a portion of the “sun porch” as a new bathroom with a shower and a washer & dryer in it. It will be right off the kitchen as well. I guess what I’m saying is, it’s fairly common in the Midwest to convert porches off the kitchen into bathrooms. I’ve been in many homes here that were built before inside plumbing was a thing and they have converted porches to bathrooms. So piratical, if not ideal… Hope that helps.
In a lot, if not most, old apartments in northside (I can’t speak to Southside) Chicago, bathrooms are always off the kitchen. Actually, now that I think about it, only a small handful at least had a small hallway to separate and make the bathroom closer to the bedrooms. They had it were the bathroom was behind the kitchen sink wall so the plumbing was shared. But there was also the master bedroom right across too. As a kid we always had to walk through the kitchen from the front tiny bedrooms.
No, gross and unnecessary. As a guest, it would be very awkward.
Our current home has a “kitchen bathroom” as we call it, occupying the front corner of the kitchen. It’s the first floor powder room – there is a second, full bath but no one makes the trek there even though it’s more private. It was decidedly odd and a little gross the first couple months we lived here but we got totally used to it. Guests mostly seem to think it’s funny, but yeah there’s no privacy if someone wanted that. It’s not ideal for sure, but it’s not a huge regret either.
I Spy DIY has a kitchen bathroom in one of her airbnb houses so you might check its reviews for how people feel about that? LOL
PS I should add that we have plans to eventually delete this kitchen bathroom (it wastes some of the best space in the house) and add a new half bath elsewhere. It’s mostly to expand the kitchen/make better use of the square footage and view , but it’ll be nice NOT to have a kitchen bathroom in the middle of everything, too.
As a few others have mentioned, I’m having a hard time with redoing so many beautiful finished rooms in your home. Even though you don’t want to add on I think adding a room on the other side of the bathroom for your weight room would solve so many problems and just have a smaller deck. It could also look like a sun room and be awesome with lots of windows. You could have beautiful views of the back while working out and you could have a cozy small covered deck in between your workout room and the kitchen. I truly think the cost wouldn’t be as much as you think because there wouldn’t be any plumbing in there and you wouldn’t be moving all that plumbing in your house which is extremely costly, messy and time consuming! It would just be building a box and you could just go back to your carpet tiles for flooring and save money there too. And with a smaller deck you’d be saving that cost.
Thinking about this a little more…. Adding the “sun room/weight room” will keep the rest of your house layout “traditional” with a 2 bedroom, 2 1/2 bath. Making your existing pantry into the laundry room like you originally wanted is a great use of that space! Trying to make all those other changes in the existing spaces may actually decrease the value of your home. Put a mini-split system into the weight room with double doors out to your deck that match your music room and kitchen doors would make that whole area intentional and cohesive! Just my 2 cents.
My aunt put a half bath off the kitchen in her 100+ year old home. The main bath was upstairs, she really wanted one on the first floor and it was the most economical way to work with the existing plumbing. No ever guests wanted to use it but my aunt was the one who lived there and it suited her needs so I’d say go ahead with what best suits your needs. With no guest room in the house, it doesn’t seem like accomodating overnight guests is a priority so if you want a full bath off the kitchen, then you should make it happen whether I think it’s weird (I do) or not!
No sorry Kirsty a toilet off the Kitchen where food is prepared and cooked is not a good idea it`s definitely not food safe or hygenic and to be close to food preparation and cooking is dangerous, also with Matts compromised immunity and health problems I would definitely would not even consider it unless you can have the door on a wall that is away from the kitchen , I don`t know about your Laws but here in England no way would it be allowed, toilets must be separate from food preparation and cooking areas ,.
My in-law’s main bathroom opens into the middle of the kitchen. The other bathroom options are the back of the basement, or their master bath (obviously not really an option!). It is super awkward. Especially if anything smelly or noisy happened. And double especially if there’s a crowd standing around the kitchen island carving the turkey.