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May 13, 2009
Kitchen vs. First Floor Bath
Our brownstone currently has a full bath on the parlor floor, right off the small kitchen. We would like to use this bathroom space to expand the kitchen but are concerned about losing the first floor bathroom. What do you think--is a first floor bathroom/powder room necessary, or should we go for the larger kitchen? Thanks!
Comments
I think they are necessary. I'd hate to have to go up or down a flight of stairs from the main living space in order to use the bathroom.
I'd make the bathroom only as big as absolutely necessary for a toilet and sink. Extend the kitchen in to whatever area of the old bathroom you no longer need....
Posted by: christopher at May 13, 2009 10:07 AM
I'll be watching this thread closely as we are in the same situation.
We live on the the lower duplex with the kitchen/living room/dining room on parlor level and bedrooms/study/sun room on the garden level. Both floors have full bath, with the parlor bath cutting into the kitchen.
The parlor shower gets used only a couple of times a year when we have overnight guests. But when it does get used we are very grateful to have it as I think it makes our guests much more comfortable to have their "own" full bathroom.
If we did remove the full bath our thought was to try to tuck a 1/2 bath under the stairs or in the dead space in the foyer. It will be tight but a couple of our neighbors in identical buildings have managed it. I would NOT want there to be no bath on the parlor level (even though this was traditional) as it means that guests who are invited to our "public" space have to go into our "private" floor to relieve themselves.
You don't say how many floors you have, so maybe this is less of a concern for you.
Ours is a 17.5' wide building and having the bathroom jut into the kitchen definitely reduces the number of possible kitchen configurations. The bathroom also occupies one of the two windows meaning there would be a lot more natural light in the kitchen if we relocated the bathroom.
For now we have decided to leave the full bath where it is, mainly for the sake of guests. Also, someone mentioned that the 2nd full bath adds to the value of the home, but this is not a major factor for us as I plan on being carried out feet first.
Posted by: phripley at May 13, 2009 10:18 AM
I don't have a bathroom on the first floor and I've never thought that one was necessary. I have one in the basement directly under the kitchen, one on the second floor and one on the third floor, so one is never very far away.
Posted by: SJ at May 13, 2009 10:23 AM
I totally agree with Christopher. PH, as for guests, I'm sure they appreciate the private bath, but it seems a lot for you to give up for the sake of infrequent guests.
I've never heard that a full bath is essential on a parlor floor, but I think a powder room is a necessity and definitely adds value. And I think a larger, more workable kitchen is more valuable that a full bath as well.
We added a powder room on our parlor floor--it's very small but does the trick.
Posted by: tinarina at May 13, 2009 10:31 AM
I took out a full bath on my parlor floor & put in the smallest toilet & sink I could find & added a similar one in my kitchen. Someone the other day suggested 3/4 instead of 1/2 - a stall shower but no tub which would help shrink the footprint.
Elderly friends & parents are really appreciative of not having to negotiate stairs.
Posted by: Arkady at May 13, 2009 10:31 AM
We don't have a bath on the parlor floor and I've never missed it. Personally, I don't like bathrooms that open into the kitchen or into the main entertaining area. I was at one house where I think all the dinner guests could hear me in there. There's a lot more privacy when you go up stairs or have the entrance off a hallway.
Posted by: trudylou at May 13, 2009 10:42 AM
We don't have one. It's been an issue for a few older visitors, but not for me. Most parlor kitchens are in the rear corner on the stair side. Our house is shallow (34'), so we simply didn't have the room for a decent kitchen and a half bath. We didn't even consider it. Seems to me, if your house is at least 40' deep, you can have both. You can pick up 3 extra feet of length for the kitchen on the side wall of you have the stairs leading down to the basement turn near the top, instead of going straight back. Look back through the archives for Brownstoner's parlor kitchen series -- lots of good floor plans.
Posted by: slopefarm at May 13, 2009 11:04 AM
There was an extensive discussion of this in the past.
http://www.brownstoner.com/forum/archives/2008/01/poll_add_a_powd.php
I would love to see any photos of people's kitchen powderrooms, the smaller the better, or see any links to small sinks/vanities/toilets that could be used for such a project.
In my opinion, a small powder room is worth giving up some kitchen real estate for. Most people would not need a full bathroom, but unless your kitchen is really, really cramped, it seems worth it to give up, what 18/20 square feet (maybe less?) in exchange for having a bathroom on your parlor floor if the alternative is to go up/downstairs.... Plus, its a feature buyers like when you go to sell.
Posted by: slopenick at May 13, 2009 11:28 AM
I think it depends on how many other full batsh you have in the house. If you only have one other full bath, I don't think it's worth getting rid of it for a larger kitchen. I think having only one full bath would hurt resale value. If you have more than one full bath elsewhere, I would go for the kitchen space - and if you can keep just a powder room on the parlor floor while getting more kitchen space, then you have the best of both worlds.
Posted by: geekspice at May 13, 2009 2:08 PM
I think it's weird to have a full bath on the parlor floor. Power room is nice, but not all that important in my opinion. Really, it depends on your configuration -- if you have a guest room on your parlor floor, then it can make sense. I have a hard time picturing a configuration that feels natural with a guest room and full bath in the parlor though. Decent kitchen, to me, seems more important for resale.
Posted by: vanyali at May 13, 2009 2:11 PM
Slopenick - I've just taken pix of my 2 postage-stamp-sized 1/2s but don't know how to upload them. I'm not on Flicker. Any ideas?
Posted by: Arkady at May 13, 2009 3:58 PM
I'm with trudylou on bathrooms that open onto kitchens or main entertaining areas not providing enough privacy. People always say guests hate walking up one flight of stairs to go to a bathroom - well as a guest I'll walk up a flight of stairs any day rather than have everybody sitting around the kitchen or the dining table see and hear me enter the bathroom and use it. Bathrooms should be off a hallway (or bedroom if they're a private en suite bath) and nowhere else. If we had an appropriate space on our parlor floor we'd add a half bath. But we don't so we're instead adding a 3rd full bath to the house eventually to give the master bedroom its own bathroom. That's really what I want more than a powder room.
Where is Rob today to talk about the "poo mist" factor?
Posted by: traditionalmod at May 14, 2009 3:18 PM
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