We have included a kitty litter space under the staircase.

Our litter box is in a half-bath off the laundry room that is only used by us, not by guests. It works well for us. If I didn’t have that, I’d want to have it in the laundry room, and would provide open space under the sink, or under a folding table/counter or In a closet (with ventilated doors and a cat flap), or a nook.

If it’s in the mud room there’s always activity and stuff, cats like a little more privacy. and you don’t want anything getting spilled into shoes etc!

On another forum here we talked about litter mats, and This WePet litter mat was discussed. I just bought one and it has greatly diminished the litter scatter. I think that now, my spilling a little when I scoop is the issue!

In the garage. There is a cat door between the house and the garage.

Our plan ideally is for a 1 story house, but under the stairs sounds like a good idea if you have them. I'm hesitant about the garage because of how hot it gets and I can imagine that would cause more smell.

I did consider having a closet to store the litter box with access from the garage with a small kitty opening to the box. Maybe if that portion could be conditioned somehow it wouldn't be as bad.

I'm going to build a cabinet for it in the front entry. Originally thought about putting it under the stairs but that's right next to the dining table. :-/

If you plan on mud in the mud room, what more would a little kitty litter add to the mess?

Hidden kitty box in the mud or laundry room?

Trash adjacent should make it to this bubble diagram, as should water access, and not a flow through traffic spot for guests. Sounds like the laundry is the winner, with a stick vac spot.

But it also sounds like you need a litter brand that creates less dust and tracking. If you have persnickety ones, experimenting with litter brands right before you disrupt their routine with a house sale probably isn’t a good idea. But if there is going to be some time between the two events, start looking for a brand that they are OK with, and you too.

"If you plan on mud in the mud room, what more would a little kitty litter add to the mess?"

Odor and psossibly disease.

Will there be a powder room near the mud room?

A bathroom; jmho, everyone should pee & poop in a bathroom.

>^..^<

I'd choose the laundry room because there's a place to wash the box.

My best arrangement ever was when I had a separate bathroom for the cats. The box was in the shower stall (drain covered), so there wasn't much litter scattered on the floors.

We put it in the laundry/mud room. Double doors under the sink for cleaning it out. Hubby made a cut out of a kitty in one of the doors so the cat can go in and out. It’s the only place we had to put the darn thing.

Garage with a kitty door. No smells in the house.

Based upon my experience, the litter box should go about 950 miles west of my laundry room.

I suppose it depends how you use your garage, and what your climate is.

Here in the Great Lakes region, our garage spends several months of the year encrusted with snow and salt from the cars, and cold, and several other months encrusted with grass and fuel fumes from mowing our lawn or raking leaves and waiting until the weekend so we can bring them to the municipal "dump" I mean composting center. While our cats are intrigued by the garage, I sure don't want them coming into the house from there. And I don't need a cat door allowing the cold air in.

I once had a two-bath condo where the master shower was too small to swing a cat in . . . oops, sorry. I mean it was so small I bumped my elbows in it. So I used the bathtub-shower down the hall, and put the litter box in the shower stall. Perfect.

I don't have a mud room, and living in snow country as bpath above, would never put it in the garage. So it's in the laundry room where the dogs can't get at it. I had a cat door cut into the laundry room door. Not ideal, but the best I could do in the space I have.

Good ideas. Putting my thoughts here so I can refer back to it once we know where the garage and outside trashcan location will be too in relation to rooms. We use liners in the litter box to make it easier to change. Mudroom will be close no matter what so the most obvious choice except for the potential smell when entering (although that requires perfect timing by all parties) and having a sink there might just be a good thing anyways.

We use a low tracking litter, but there is still always a little bit around the box area even after they walk on the matt. They use a closed box. I want to change from having one box to two boxes even though we don't have any issues now so need a little more space.

If I did go for the garage - it would have to be in an enclosed space the kitties couldn't get out of as they are indoor only kitties and would be eaten by something if they got out on our property, so need to be careful there. I'm also afraid they'd be scared by having it there due to noise if we came home while they were busy etc.

We will have a pool bath so it could or could not end up near the mudroom. If it did I guess it could be an option, but I personally am not a fan of it just in case a guest needs to go and kitty also needs to go at the same time. I'm thinking guests might find it a bit awkward sharing the space and we have one kitty who is a bit of a "scarity" cat who wouldn't dare go then.

Laundry seems like a good option still, besides the littler part, but will depend on location. I'm torn and told architect I wanted it near the mudroom as it is easy to strip out of dirty clothes coming inside and throw in washer, but I also want it somewhat near the bedrooms. Guess we'll see. Kitty food and water will be in the laundry.

Mudroom still makes the most sense from an efficiency stand point. Already clean gravel/mud from there and it will be close to trash can. If we add a sink then it would work and also put the litter box more hidden to keep smells a bit more contained (smells generally are short lived thankfully).

In our current house, which we bought as a spec house at a point where construction was almost finished, we have an "extra" bathroom in the room that my spouse uses as a study. It's always been the "cats' bathroom."

In our new house, we'll put the litter box in the laundry room. We may get a bench or the like so the litter box can be inside the bench (google for examples).

The builders are also putting in a kitty tunnel in the wall, so we can leave the laundry room door closed and the dog can't get at the litter box.

In two houses now, we've built a cat box enclosure in the garage. In the current house they go out a dog door opening in the wall under the utility sink. They can't get into the garage. It has double doors, two "floors" with a ramp. Litter boxes on the bottom, food bin on the top. Litter is stored under neath. We have 6 cats. >^..^< They do all go in & out now, but they didn't used to when we lived in town.

We actually tried to patent the idea for a minute, but manufacturing, distribution, etc. was out of our budget.

For me, in the basement. But depends on your layout, and even if you have a basement.

We are building our house now and we're thinking of building an enclosure in the garage with a cat door from the mudroom. We live in Upstate NY so it gets cold in the winter and hot in the summer. Wondering if anyone's cats were picky about the temperature in the garage? Did anyone insulate or protect their garage cat enclosure from extreme temperature changes?

We're in Indiana, we get both extremes also. We haven't insulated either one of them, cats don't seem to care. I do try to keep garage doors closed as much as possible, bc there is some heat/cold transfer you can feel around the opening.

Rower 76, any animal can die from extreme temperatures. I knew a someone whose cat froze to death in her garage. I live in MN, so we have both extremes. Every cat I've had preferred a warm environment. My current bunch spends a lot of time in my bathroom because of the heated floor.

The big disadvantage of an out of the way location is that there is less incentive to check the box and clean it often. The products of elimination can be one of the first indicators that something is amiss with kitty's health.

Jessica Helgerson, interior designer. Dwell