This is my first real house. We are coming from an NYC condo...so it was a whole different world. I have a 1 year old girl and 7 months pregnant with the 2nd. So I am not sure of all the "real" family needs. I tend to lean more towards form over function, so I know need input from experienced homeowners.

This is our wish list to the architect for the spaces with inspiration pic. Sorry no pic for laundry.

Mudroom/ Multipurpose:
Powder room
Good good amount of floor space to move around
6 lockers/ cubbies
Large closet
Small message center/ counter
Enough room to for dog crate
Entrance from both garages and family exterior door
Near kitchen/ Pantry
Lockers and clutter not visible from kitchen

Pantry:(our kitchen has no upper cabinets so all the food will be stored here)
11x7
33" wide stand-up freezer

Laundry Room:
70 sq ft+
Washer, dryer, sink, fold down iron board, folding counter, vacuum/mop
Window

Here are a few laundry room pictures that might inspire you. Hope this helps :)

From Kitchen plans

From Kitchen plans

And this is from Southern Living's Idea House and is part of the laundry/craft room...

From Kitchen plans

We have plenty of space in our mudroom at 8'x12'. We opted not to section off our cubbies to allow for greater use of the space. Ours is very similar to your inspiration pic above but without the dividers and we have 6 baskets on the open shelf. We also added a set of tall cabinetry that houses a concealed print center & office/school supply storage in that space.

Our laundry is 8'x8'8". We incorporated alot of organization in our laundry. We had the cabinet guy install 3-2can full height trash pullouts in the laundry as concealed hampers. All laundry is sorted as soon as it is brought into the laundry room into the appropriate bin. When the bin is full, you just dump it in the washer--a full bin is exactly 1 load! We also have a large sink, plenty of counter space, plenty of cabinet storage & a place for hanging clothes. While we don't have a pull down ironing board, I do have a spot for my collapsing ironing board that is out of the way.

Our pantry is located under our U-shaped staircase and is huge--it houses all the canned goods, dry goods, kids' snacks, cereals, Costco sized paper goods, etc + my cake decorating supplies & pans, crock pot & there is a spot for my swiffer, swiffer vac & broom. The pantry is an L-shape measuring 3'8" x 9'4" at the entry down the long leg of the 'L' & 8' x 4'6" down the short leg.

Hope this helps!

In mud room I would add a place for LOTS of shoes and boots and gloves, mittens etc. I gaurantee those shoes will never make it any further than the mud room. Especially if you have boys later on.

In the laundry room add space to hang damp items on hangars to dry. Close to dryer. Essential in my house. Very little goes in drawers in my house.

Congratulations on the wee one.

I'd suggest making sure to plan the location of the fridge carefully. We have it so that it is opposite of the double pocket doors. You'll need around 6' when the door is open, so we chose the location with no shelves opposite it to allow plenty of room.

We also did 3 sizes of shelves to try to maximize the space, but not have all deep shelves where things get lost in the back. The back long wall is approximately 24" deep, sides are approximately 18" deep, and then there is an approximately 8" shelf for cans (holds 3 deep of common size) that is on the door wall. *Actually, I have stocked it, so I know it holds 3 cans - so maybe closer to 10" when the trim got added on, since I think most cans are about 3.5" in diameter.

This is not to scale, but sort of a mockup of what we did. They have both a refrigerator and a chest freezer in the pantry.

Here is a pic of the can shelf and one of the sides.

Floorplan:

Washer/Dryer Side:

Corner:

Hamper Side (construction):

I'll see if I can find some elevations for you later. Hope this helps!

I just posted the plans.

Take a look let me know what you think of the actual spaces. Thanks!

- Having an extra fridge and/or freezer in the pantry is fabulous!
- If you can, have one lower section with a deep countertop you can use to set down grocery bags while putting things away.
- Room for a trash can, recycling bin (below the deep counter?) and broom (nook by fridge?) are great if you can swing it.
- Solid, wipeable shelves are better than the wire ones. (Small items can tip on or fall through the wire shelves.)
- Vertical space is just as important to conserve as horizontal space. Many of my shelves are designed for cans, so no more than two-cans tall. You'll need a few that are a bit taller, but don't make then all taller than you need, and make them adjustable!

- MOST IMPORTANTLY: Pantry shelves DO NOT need to be deep. Stuff gets lost in the back on deep shelves. My deepest shelves are 12", with many (most?) being only 9" deep. This depth is great, even for large items like Costco-sized bags of chips or boxes of cereal.

Carol