Utility room purposes? (cabinets, door, design, heater)

[Legalalien]

Hello;
We are moving into a house; which has an utility room adjacent to kitchen.
It is a 200 sqft space; and has a washer-dryer,furnace/water heater in one side; and a lot of shelving and cabinets the other side. There is no basement in the house.

My doubt is whether we can use this utility room as pantry.
Somehow I am not comfortable with the idea if putting pasta/rice/onions etc in the room which has a water heater/furnace. But I hear from others that it is perfectly fine; as the furnace is in the other side. The house has open living plan and kitchen is small.

Totally confused as to what to do and how to manage this space issue; particularly what NOT to put in utility room?
Thanks in advance
LA

[MrRational]

Originally Posted by Legalalien

We are moving into a house; which has an utilities room adjacent to kitchen.
It is a 200 sqft space; and has a washer-dryer, furnace/water heater in one side;
and a lot of shelving and cabinets the other side. There is no basement in the house.

Totally confused as to what to do and how to manage this space issue.

What is on the *other* side of that wall with the shelving?
Could that room use more closet space?

[PAhippo]

I'd be concerned about putting onions, potatoes, etc in there, just because I think it'd be too warm to keep them for any length of time.

I too am confused about the layout of the room. If you could close off one section away from the furnace, it might help.

We had a utility room growing up; it held muddy shoes, snow boots, dripping coats-stuff my mother didn't want tracked inside.

[Legalalien]

Thanks; I am attaching the snap of the side of washer dryer and heater.
There are shelving units in the other side..

Kindly advise

[MrRational]

Originally Posted by Legalalien

Thanks; I am attaching the snap of the side of washer dryer and heater.

This is a laundry room. Not a pantry.

The shelves there are for spare linens, recently washed laundry the kids need to put away,
recently dried shirts on hangers and what still gets some ironing.

[K'ledgeBldr]

At 200sq/ft is more than a laundry room. ^^^
It definitely a "utility room"- meaning, it has multiple purposes.

A layout would be helpful- drawn out or described.
Mainly, what are the walls common with? Like, I would assume that the wall with the washer/dryer and W/H is an exterior wall. The wall with the shelves is common with..?
Where's the door? Enter from where? Etc.

It maybe possible to "close down" the size of the "laundry room" and make a separate pantry and broom closet; and...

[MrRational]

Originally Posted by K'ledgeBldr

At 200sq/ft is more than a laundry room. ^^^

I'm not disagreeing that it's oversized for the obvious purpose.
But based on the info provided... I'll stick.

It definitely a "utility room"- meaning, it has multiple purposes.

Sure... all sorts of other things could be done there. Hobbies, crafts whatever.

But (imho) with the laundry and WH in there...
it's still not suitable for storage of dry goods or anything long term.

[MrWillys]

Honestly, I don't get the big concern of food storage in this room? By design, the water heater, and the furnace only take the surrounding air in, and all burnt gases are exhausted out the vent stacks. With the washer and dryer being present you wouldn't want food and soaps on the same shelf. 200 sq ft is a large room to only use as laundry and mechanical units. I would surely consider food storage in this room. It could only become contaminated through major failure of one of the units, and if food is in proper containers what's the big deal?

[Komeht]

Put an exhaust fan in it and use it however you like.

[Okey Dokie]

If you are hesitant to store dry food in there, you probably have TONS of little-used kitchen stuff you can put in there instead - crock pot, fondue pot, extra dishes, that huge pot you make spaghetti sauce in, etc. Thus freeing up your kitchen for food storage.