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?…
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!
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?
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?
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.
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.
There was an extensive discussion of this in the past.
http://bstoner.wpengine.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.
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.
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.
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.
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.