Powder room or no powder room, that is the question.

[clax66]

We are redoing our kitchen/dining room and are trying to encorporate a new powder room. This powder room would be the second bathroom in addition to the main bathroom on the second floor. The problem is that if we do add the powder room the dining room becomes quite cramped. So the question is; What is better, having a powder room and a cramped dining room or eliminate the idea of a powder room all together and have a spacious dining room and kitchen? We have been back and forth on this for a while and would like some outside opinions.

[glaswegian]

Unless you like your guests and others going upstairs where you have all your stuff, then it makes sense to have a powder room downstairs. We have this and I won't have it any other way.

Just imagine if someone went upstairs and did a heavy dump :D

[clax66]

better upstairs, than just feet from the dining room....

Aside from that issue, I am talking more about the flow of the area. Is it worth losing the spaciouness of the dining room and kitchen to have the powder room?

[patrob]

I am talking more about the flow of the area. Is it worth losing the spaciouness of the dining room and kitchen to have the powder room?

I have a powder room & can't imagine not having one & people going upstairs but it's a new house & it's pretty standard now to have one. But from what you have described, I would just leave the kitchen/dining larger & not do the powder room. Since you have been used to having people go upstairs, then just continue doing that. Plus no point in having the powder room just beside the eating area :lol:

Or how about building one in the basement? That might be an option...

[clax66]

yes, the basement is always an option down the road. It is a 90 year old house that we just bought. It would be nice to have the powder room but it just seems to make the whole place too cramped. I am used to having the main floor bathroom but don't want to wreck the place to get it...

[deep]

I've seen too many century homes that had a terrible feel after the addition of a ground floor powder room - the buildings were just too small for that addition.

What are the current and proposed dimensions of the rooms?

[clax66]

the powder room would be 4x5 and the dining room/kitchen would be an open type concept. The dining room table will have aprox 28 inches around it on three of the sides. If I knew how to insert a picture I could show you....

[dolphie]

i gotta agree with the poster who said 'do you really want a bathroom right next to your kitchen?' it doesn't allow for much privacy-plus what if someone has a nasty dump-you don't want the smell to wade into the kitchen!
that, above space or anything else, would be the deciding factor for me.

[phatmanmd]

I've seen too many century homes that had a terrible feel after the addition of a ground floor powder room - the buildings were just too small for that addition.

What are the current and proposed dimensions of the rooms?

agree. i'm also in a 90 year old house (leaside) and i can't imagine having a powder room on the main floor - it would be wayyy too cramped, and kind of awkward looking as the main floor is pretty open already.

our second bathroom is in our semi-finished basement. it works out well, no complaints so far. i guess the only other consideration is that if you have family or guests over that are old (like my 92 year old grandma) there is an added inconvenience (but good thing she's mobile and climbs stairs daily!).

my adjoining neighbors (we're in a semi) do have a powder room on the main floor - however, they have a larger addition built in the back and they managed to tuck the room away in the corner (but next to the kitchen!)

[patriot]

I would talk to a real estate agent (creating a powder room can be quite an investment) to see what kind of return you would realize from installing a two piece on the main floor.

[clax66]

I think we wanted the powder room so much that we have been denying the fact that there are too many issues with squeezing it onto the main floor. I guess we will put a bathroom in the basement at a later time. In the back of my mind I always knew it was a bad idea.

[pintobean]

From your last post :arrowu: it sounds like you've made up your mind, but I'll add my $0.02 anyways...

I would strongly suggest you do not add the bathroom on the main floor. When I'm a guest in someone else's home, I always find it uncomfortable (embarrassing) to have to use their bathroom...if said bathroom were right beside the kitchen or within earshot of everyone else sitting in the dining room, I would simply try my best to avoid using the bathroom. Imagine the embarrassment if you had a dinner party and one of your guests went to use the bathroom and everyone else could hear (and/or smell) what was going on a few inches away behind the drywall! There is no point in you spending a wad of cash to add a bathroom that people will not want to use. Live with one bathroom for now, and add one later on in the basement when your budget is bigger.

Unless you like your guests and others going upstairs where you have all your stuff, then it makes sense to have a powder room downstairs...
I'm not sure why you'd be concerned about your guests seeing all your stuff (OMG he uses shampoo AND conditioner :eek: )...but if this is the case, then a good solution would be to leave the stuff in a plastic bin that you can pull out and temporarily put in the bedroom when guests are coming over for a party.

[glaswegian]

Sounds like whenever you do use the toilet, you leave a lasting reminder in there :eek: :D



From your last post :arrowu: it sounds like you've made up your mind, but I'll add my $0.02 anyways...

I would strongly suggest you do not add the bathroom on the main floor. When I'm a guest in someone else's home, I always find it uncomfortable (embarrassing) to have to use their bathroom...if said bathroom were right beside the kitchen or within earshot of everyone else sitting in the dining room, I would simply try my best to avoid using the bathroom. Imagine the embarrassment if you had a dinner party and one of your guests went to use the bathroom and everyone else could hear (and/or smell) what was going on a few inches away behind the drywall! There is no point in you spending a wad of cash to add a bathroom that people will not want to use. Live with one bathroom for now, and add one later on in the basement when your budget is bigger.


I'm not sure why you'd be concerned about your guests seeing all your stuff (OMG he uses shampoo AND conditioner :eek: )...but if this is the case, then a good solution would be to leave the stuff in a plastic bin that you can pull out and temporarily put in the bedroom when guests are coming over for a party.

[stealth]

I'd ask myself these questions:
How often do I have guests?
When I do have guests, would they be the sort that wouldnt want to go upstairs if they needed additional privacy?
How often do I use the dining room?
How long am I going to stay in the house, and how much use would I and my family get from the additional bathroom, and how much more marketable would my house be with a 2nd bathroom should we decide to sell it.

Since I moved away from the city, to the burbs where it is very unusual for houses to have less than 2 bathrooms, I cant imagine having any less than 2-3 bathrooms. I dont know how we did it, living in high park in hundred yr old homes that had only 1 small bathroom and a tiny kitchen.
On the other hand, our dining room gets used maybe a couple times a year.

But without seeing your place its hard to give an opinion.

[enigma54]

We went through the same deliberation and decided to put a powder room on the ground floor next to the kitchen. There will be a pocket door to provide some privacy and separation from the kitchen. The important thing, though, is that we're adding a bay window at the back of the kitchen where the breakfast room is so that the kitchen didn't lose too much space.

In almost all new homes these days, there is a powder room and obviously it will enhance resale value down the road. But if there just isn't space, then I guess it wouldn't make sense to try and cram one in. You don't need a lot of space though. Our powder room is 3'x4'.