Hellobee Boards

As much as I LOVE a butler's pantry, the location of this space is not ideal for it as you have described. It's typically located between the kitchen and dining room and might look a tad out of place.

My $0.02 is that a mudroom is the least costly way to utilize this space now. If you end up hating it, or finding that a larger Kitchen is really necessary for how you live, you can always do that later!

Best of luck to you!

I like @MrsKerch: . Making a larger kitchen is very costly. But using that space as a mudroom for now costs nothing but a furniture piece. We live in the NE and having a space for everyone to come into and take off coats and shoes is SO convenient!

We live in florida and survive pretty well without a mudroom. However it is nice to have some dedicated space by each door for shoes to be taken on and off. We hang the kids backpacks in the laundry room and have a small coat rack we can use in the "winters". So we dont need a full mudroom but I would make sure you have space for those things.

How big of a pantry space and cabinet space does the kitchen have? We have a huge pantry and I love it! We dont have a huge kitchen but honestly I dont really miss a big kitchen. Its nice to be able to move quickly with just a step or two between "stations".

I don't think in FL you need a mudroom. Definitely kitchen!

Our mudroom is full of coats, snow pants, winter boots, rain boots, mittens, hats, and a couple diaper bags.
I don't think you have much use for that stuff in Florida.

A butlers pantry that isn't connected to the dining room is silly.

Would you have a need for a walk in pantry? It'll function for your kitchen without the expense of a new kitchen.

@oliviaoblivia: Yea I agree, its not really a butlers pantry.

But just making a large storage closet sounds great. Things like extra paper plates, linens, kids games, craft supplies, etc.

What are the dimensions of this extra space? Will closing off part of it make the hallway narrow? That could be a bummer in terms of moving big stuff in and out, depending on your other entrances.

If you're willing to do the plumbing work and it wouldn't otherwise be awkward, I might consider making the powder room a full bath by adding a shower. Mud rooms in Florida might not be useful, but a place to shower on the way in from the garage after the beach would be.

I'm really not sure without seeing the space. I agree with @Littlebit7: live in the space at least 6 months before making major changes.

We knew we wanted to make some minor changes when we bought our home, but wanted to tackle things over time. I'm so glad we did because now we really know how we use spaces and what we need when we make changes. Ex - our laundry room is big and we thought it was great. After living here a while, we realized its not configured well, so there is a lot of wasted space. Now that I've lived here a while, I have a much better idea of how things should be configured!

I live in TX, so not much winter stuff, but I would still love to have a mudroom with extra storage for infrequently used items or bulky extras like paper towels. A mudroom would be a great place to deposit shoes, sports equipment, school bags, beach/pool supplies...right now our back door opens right into the breakfast area/kitchen and it drives me crazy because of all the shoes, bags, strollers, and DH's sports equipment that gets dropped there when we come in the house.

Butler's Pantry is great if you entertain a lot. But it might be $$$ to do a real one with a small fridge/extra sink, as adding a water line gets expensive. I personally prefer as big a kitchen as possible, since it;s where everyone tends to congregate any way. And a mudroom is great as kids get older- you can store all school/sports/pet stuff there.

Our space is next to the powder room and a back door we don't use. It is a pantry, not fancy but large and very useful. However, we lack a mud room and we're a very muddy family- little boy and a dog. I would love a mud room!! The space we have isn't near our garage and it's not the backdoor we normally use so I don't think it makes sense as a mudroom.

Walk-in pantry! Cheaper than the kitchen reno, more useful than the butler's pantry, more appropriate for your locale than the mudroom.

I voted mudroom, but only because I think it is great for kids. While you won't have mud and coats in Florida, you will have backpacks, millions of shoes, sports equipment, and if you are near the beach, sand beach toys and gear. So having a space for walking in the door and dumping your stuff as the kids run to the kitchen for a snack is ideal!