Kitchen in the Basement?
Does anyone know if it is illegal to have a kitchen in the basement? I am looking at a house that has one kitchen and it is in the basement. It has only one exit that goes directly outside. My lawyer seems to think this is very unusual and I am inclined to agree. However…
Does anyone know if it is illegal to have a kitchen in the basement? I am looking at a house that has one kitchen and it is in the basement. It has only one exit that goes directly outside. My lawyer seems to think this is very unusual and I am inclined to agree. However I am just looking for whether or not this violates any codes not lifestyle issues.
thanks
What about a commercial kitchen in a basement? I looked at a job the other day where the owner had moved his kitchen from the ground floor to the basement!? Is this even remotely legal? It appears to be fully ventilated, sprinklered, fire suppression in place, grease traps in place, etc. The biggest question is fire code. The basement has only a single staircase coming from the ground floor and the kitchen is on the opposite side end of the space. I imagine a second means of egress is needed?
Can anyone offer some insight?
thanks!
I think some of the ‘laws’ that have been cited on this thread may not be universal.
Zoning regulations very greatly from one jurisdiction to another.
Summer kitchens are QUITE common in my area of the country, because there have always been a lot of people of Italian heritage.
As a matter of fact, the house I’m buying–which from all reports IS legal for the town it’s in, has a bedroom in the basement (we won’t be using it as such, since there are 3 on the first floor), and a room which I’m certain the orginal owner must have used as a summer kitchen at one time–and I plan to redo it as one. I even discussed my plans with the home inspector who was VERY into codes and legality, and he never mentioned it would be illegal in this jurisdiction. (I’m so looking forward to having a summer kitchen so I can do my pickling, baking, jellying there in the summer. We try not to use AC very much, and the basement will definitely be cooler than upstairs)
So–your best bet is to call the local code official and ask if the set-up you’re describing is legal IN YOUR AREA. That’s the only thing that matters.
You can’t have a stove of any kind in a non-habitable space.
People put in gas or elec stoves and than when they go to sell, they take them out and put in a cabinet.
Also, I’ve seen where people have a full bathroom and put up sheet rock right in front to cover up the tub and after the inspector comes through take down the sheet rock.
“you can have a summer kitchen in a basement (no gas), with sink and frig only.”
Can a basement kitchen have an electric oven/stove? that’s no gas.
Summer kitchens are basement kitchens usually found in homes formerly owned by Italians. Seems that they had them in the old world and continued this practice in America
But Mister Rocks, it has windows, no? Just let your woman buy the house already!!!
What happens if I take a nap in my own cellar. Can I be fined?
For a habitable room – Height of Windows need to be more that 50% of the wall and above grade. That is legal.
A room needs to have 10% of it’s square footage as window.
So if you have a 100 sq. ft. room. You need 10 sq. ft. window of which 5 sq. ft needs to be operable (Openable).
Garden rentals are usually above grade.
I’ve seen many places with garden rentals that have both full kitchen and full bath. Some seem to be over 50% above, some over 50% underground. Sometimes propertyshark and city websites describe either as 4 story, sometimes as 3 story plus basement. The legal status doesn’t seem to correlate all that tightly with the reality of how deep that floor sits.
I never understand the legal bedroom thing either. I’ve heard a bedroom isn’t legal unless the floor is 50% above ground, but again, what about all those garden rentals?