Would you rather have a very large laundry room, or a separate hallway?

When you walk in the back door/garage door of your house do you like to have a hallway, or would you rather walk through the laundry room if it means your laundry room will be quite large? It would add three feet in width to the room and with the wall gone you could put a folding table or island even in the middle. The laundry will already be about 10×12, which is big to begin with in my opinion. So, it would be about 13×12 if I get rid of the hallway. I would put in a closet along one wall so space would be lost with that.

Also, if you have a split bedroom floor plan, would you prefer the laundry near the master or near the secondary bedrooms?

What’s your opinion?