And here is my chicken scratch attempt to combine the two rooms. Any comments would be extremely helpful! TIA!!

Well, I'm not sure that your laundry room was super small. Is it just a framing trick to your eyes? The dimensions are better in your architect version than your version, imo.

What all will you do/need in your laundry room? Special needs (farm? gardner? football/rugby playing slew of teen boys?)

We have a family of 6 - 3 boys and 1 girl. Lots of laundry - multiple loads a day. We need room for 3-4 sorting hampers, plus the typical broom closet and cleaning supply space. Would be nice to have a .place to fold and hang wet clothes. We thought if we removed the wall, stacked the washer dryer and simply had a free standing cubby space, etc., it would give more storage and more room for washer dryer to open (therefore removed the door and doorway). We need a mega capacity W/D set. The set I'm looking at is 29 in wide, 32.3" deep (before a possible additional few inches once the W/D are installed against the exterior wall)., and with the door open, we-re looking at minimum 57 inches in depth total. For mudroom we need at least the 4 cubbies for the kids. My husband and I can hang our stuff on hooks on opposite wall. We also thought moving the cubbies out of the direct view of the kitchen and breakfast room would be wise since the pocket door will remain open most of the time. Cubbies are messy - you know - 3 boys. Also, I will probably have the boys washing their hands in the utility sink quite a bit - another reason to get rid of that door. Hope that helps!

This is a floor plan of our 2nd (or was it 3rd) custom home built about 20 yrs ago. I really liked the laundry/mudroom area at that house. We are empty nesters, but have lots of grandchildren. This area really worked really well. We had cubbies, hooks, and a lift up bench lid on the blank wall in the mudroom area and it worked out great. I also liked the bath near the mudroom. I prefer your drawing over the original plan. Although I think your measurements might be off a bit. I'm not sure I'd like a stacked unit...maybe because I'm 5'0". Love to see what you end up with.

In a laundry this size, so many times the space is not used as efficiently as it could be. The space available in the laundry room in the revised drawing is deceiving--there is less than 2' between the island counter and the sink counter as drawn--not very feasible--3' should be the minimum with 3.5-4' being ideal. Here are 2 other options to consider. Since you changed the W/D to a stacked set in your drawing, I took the liberty of continuing that theme to give you more counter/hamper/broom closet space.

A side note for the pullout hampers you want--we have 3 full counter height double pullout hampers and love them. You will need to make sure you spec 'full counter height', 'double' and 'trash pull-outs' otherwise your cabinet guy will likely order true pull out hampers which are singles or 2 very skinny wire baskets side by side left to right (vs. front to back), with a drawer above that only hold 1-2 changes of clothes.

Using the original door placement:

Sliding the door down & making it a pocket door (you may need to bump the mudroom entry door from the garage back out flush with the laundry room wall):

I really like the original mudroom and think it will look fabulous with the window framed by the cubbies--I'd be very reluctant to change that. It's not often someone has a mudroom they can say looks pretty :-)

Hope this helps!

This post was edited by mydreamhome on Thu, Apr 25, 13 at 9:54

I will let others help you with space issues although I will say that the divided cubbies are not what they are hyped up to be. I have them now and my next house I intend to just have an open bench with hooks above. I have twin 10 yr old boys and trying to keep the cubbies neat is a lost cause. Consider putting them inside your laundry room out of view and add that space to LR.

Now, the most important issue! Three boys.... SHOES!. I have so many tennis shoes in my tiny laundry/mudroom I swear sometimes I feel like I am gonna lose it. Next house will have a dedicated shoe storage area. Please consider that for your house with 4 kids, especially 3 boys. Is there someplace you can have a dedicated shoe area? Maybe not this many, but you get my point.

One note, I would try to get the dryer next to the exterior wall for a shorter vent run.

Also, in the OPs drawing the door opens into the cubbies. That might be a problem if one kid is in and trying to put things into the cubby while others are trying to come inside. It might also cause an accident if one is unseen near the cubbies, some one comes inside and hits them with the door. Open it into the wall.

Great considerations. My husband said the framed combo room feels really small so all these ideas are really helpful. I second your motion on no cubbies and ample shoe storage.. Our inspiration room link above has open bench just like you say with hooks and two level shoe storage. I guess we will probably drop the island and have our carpenter build a millwork room divider similar to the inspiration photo ( space permitting yikes) with bench on one side and hanging rod/ shelves on the other facing the LR. Then we could do full upper cabinets to the left of the sink. Truly, I fold in front of the TV or wherever the kids are, so I can do without a folding island anyway.

Aurora--I would not give up on the idea of having a small area to fold in the laundry room. I hate folding on my dining room table. Then the clothes sit there.....

I looked at your inspiration picture again and somehow I think you are one the right track by reworking the area. Basically skipping the door between the mudroom and laundry room and utilizing 3 walls of the laundry room instead of just 2, like in your inspiration pic.

I have a hanging rod above my sink right now and although not perfect it is adequate. You could consider that. You need a place to fold and have dirty clothes. I sort dirty clothes in my family room. Don't go that route.

You can put a broom closet in your garage if you have to.

Keep asking for ideas. Lots of creative people here.

What about a front load washer and dryer without stacking it? That way you can have all that counter space above it. I like the idea of folding in the laundry room and then putting the piles on the counter to have the kids come and pick it up (but then that is the worst part of laundry for me :)

https://www.houzz.com/photos/1512-dolphin-terrace-beach-style-laundry-room-los-angeles-phvw-vp~235519-Dolphin-Terrace-traditional-laundry-room-los-angeles

Think tkfinn97 gave a great solution. We have front loading with counter over it and feel it is very functional. Love being able to fold laundry right out of the dryer.

Your second design is not nearly as spacious as you think. Take some boxes in your "small" space you have now and mock it up. You'll be surprised.

Side by side is great idea too....however we are looking at LG 5.1 Mega Capacity washer with matching 9 cu ft dryer. I might have to go down models to make sure the set is not too tall for counter height if we go side by side route. It's really a puzzle of trade offs when you have a big family needing so much out of one room!! If there's a way to make it work that would be great!

Just raise your counter (put a 2x4 under the cabinets to raise them up). That is your best option, imo.

The 5.1 cu ft washer is almost 41" tall. The 4.3 cu ft is almost 39". Would either of these really work for a folding counter? Just seems tall. Also I'm afraid if I go down a size in washer I will regret it because of my mountains of laundry. If I go side by side I lose the ability to store my 3-4 hampers either in pullout trash cabinets or some sort of custom shelving under the counter. And it might make a broom closet impossible because of both WD opening so wide (57" for 5.1 and 51" for 4.3 - and add to that 3-4 inches for building out the exterior wall for the dryer venting per codes).

We might need to get our cabinet guys out there to help us design this. I'm starting to think I'm back where I started with not enough room for the things we really need.

Here is a pic of our laundry room with a counter over front load W/D. You can see the height difference with the standard height counter on the left. The W/D are 38" tall and, as you can see, we went with a thick tile counter top which makes the total height 43". I'm 5'7" and fold on the counter regularly without any problem.

{{gwi:1435638}}

Great pic! That helps so much!

aurorasur--did you see the proposed layouts I posted above? They would help you get everything in there that you need without having to start over in the middle of framing with the cabinet design guys. The second layout gives you the most storage, but it does require moving the garage door. The first one still gives you all you requested.

Thanks for all your great ideas. I am keeping them in mind. I meet with the cabinet guy tomorrow to walk through some solutions. In the meantime, we framed the doors in the new position of my chicken scratch drawing, with the thought we could even go from 36" to 32" opening to give us even a wee bit more wall space for cubbies right up to the moldings. And in the laundry room, we have not framed the window yet, and will come back and do that after we set the improved floor plan. By the way, I've chosen a smaller washer dryer set - really standard actually at 27" wide - since we need to conserve every inch. I think an LG 4.3 cu ft steam / turbo washer will be plenty big for a family of 6. I've let the LG 5.1 go- its just monstrous!

Will let you know what cabinet guy says, hopefully with drawings. I'm sure I'll want the GW blessing on whatever we decide! LOL! Thanks again, y'all have armed me with some valuable scenarios!

I would forgo moldings on the laundry room before I went to a 32" door! I had a 32" door on a laundry room, and it was awful. I was always hitting my knuckles with my basket of clothes... Just something to think about.

Oh! Good point about a 32" door! Thank you. That would drive me crazy! We will try to keep 36".

I posted this in the laundry forum as well.

I don't know if you've started framing yet, but I have another idea. I'm sure (hope!) your architect has positioned the windows so that they look nice from the outside, so I wouldn't mess with changing their position too much. What I would do is remove the door between the laundry and mudroom and make the opening as wide as possible.

Where the "uppers and hanging" is in the diagram, I would put a large floor to ceiling shallow cabinet to use as a broom closet and other storage. This would be a great place for shoe storage.

I would also consider stacking the washer and dryer and place them where the washer is in the diagram. That would leave a nice counter space between the machines and the sink. Below that counter would be a great place for a few laundry baskets for sorting. This photo is like what I mean, but they are wasting a lot of space with only one basket. You could easily get four baskets there with two shelves.

[Contemporary Laundry Room[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/contemporary-laundry-room-ideas-phbr1-bp~t_753~s_2103) by Westfield Interior Designer Kingsley Belcher Knauss, ASID

That is a great plan! I hope it is not too late for the OP.

Hi geokid!

I love your solution. We framed the room as one big room and have not framed the sink window yet for flexibility. It's not too late. We did move the doors but wouldn't be hard to move them back. Our issue with the W/d in that far corner is we need to confirm with codes if we can build out the washer box into the garage. If codes considers the garage an exterior wall, we would have to box into the laundry room 4 inches. Hope to find that out soon. I like it!

Oh! And we are also realizing the original placement of entry door might pose a garage parking issue. The architect drew the recessed entry assuming 2 stairs, but the grade is steeper requiring 4 stairs into the mudroom and encroaching on the first parking space. Anyhoo, there might be a way to preserve the original door placement with some creative landing or something to fix the encroachment. Then our cubbies could remain along the window wall. Domino effect! We shall see. I never met with the cabinet guy because one of littles was sick. But I'm kind of glad we didn't because now I can have a promising option to talk about.

I like the idea of having no door or atleast a pocket door from the mudroom to laundry room. I would only put a door if you entertain a lot and wanted to clean up the mudroom in a hurry and have a door to shut from people seeing into the laundry room. I wish we had put a pocket door on our laundry room since it seems to just suck up room when it is open 95% of the time. Our laundry room is 6' 4" wide and I wish I could have made it just a tiny bit wider.

I seen you mentioned it, but if the washer and dryer are too tall still for you to comfortable fold laundry on top of it, we had our carpenter build a small stand for the washer and dryer to sit on (rather then buying those pricey metal stands they sell in stores), making it a comfortable height to move laundry from washer to dryer. Underneath we made sure we could slide a long hamper on each side and a little extra space to stack a few of them together for storing empty ones ready for clean laundry.

Glad I could offer another option. I originally saw your post on the laundry forum when I was there trying to get ideas for my laundry room. I related to you right away because I have a similar set-up to yours with the laundry and mudroom in separate rooms and I wish they were in one big room.

I also wish we had a landing space just outside the door in the garage for messy items that I don't want on the house (muddy boots are the big culprit).

I don't come on this forum at all because I'm not building a house, but I'll keep following his thread because I'm interested in how it all turns out. Good luck!

OK, don't think I'm crazy, but I have another idea. Your rooms are so similar to mine that I can use these same ideas in my own home (if I can convince DH to knock down the wall!) so I'm making them for myself too.

This one has the laundry away from the exterior walls in case that is a problem. It also has a more similar set-up to your inspiration.

Geokid! I like your first drawing and my husband likes your second one. LOL! We are going to "sleep on it", talk to the cabinet guy this week and see where we end up. We have to hurry though because framing is almost done and plumbing and electrical rough in is next! Yikes! Great ideas, thank you! Oh! I was going to ask you what the small rectangle is to the left of the garage/mudroom door?

Ha! That was for my plan. It's a calendar and mail bins for my family. :) We have to have a command central place for all of that stuff in our house.

I'm sure you'll come up with a plan that will work best for your family!

Back again! Met with our carpenter... And he came up with the following scenario. It's a combined Laundry/Mudroom similar to geokid's last drawing, but with a 36"x24" island with canvas canvas roll out hampers underneath (open to the back). Great place for setting laundry basket, dropping things when you come in,etc. - keeping that open feel. I will be folding laundry in the great room because I like to keep an eye on the kids, so 36" drop zone countertop is plenty for me. I'd love for the island to come right up to the garage door so that we can have the 12" lower cab to the left of the sink instead of a blind front, plus easier access to the upper cab which is complicated by the island placement. But I don't think the on-site measurements will allow for the island to shift - we shall see.

We reclaimed the right wall for a 24"x24" full height utility closet and six 12" wide - 16" deep cubbies (probably will not have full length dividers and instead just one continuous bench). I think there is 35 1/2" walk space between the island and cubbies so not too shabby. We are removing the pocket door system (to allow for the millwork and cabinetry on that wall) and going back to the original architect's suggestion for a casement opening. We could always add a door later if needed - but I think the way we moved the doors obscures the breakfast room and kitchen view to the laundry/mudroom nicely. The two windows and doorways are now symmetrical, which is pleasing to the eye.

Of course I lost upper cabinetry with this floor plan so it gives me some heartburn, but I think I get a visually open feel and more room for 6 people's traffic, junk and laundry which we really need so it's a tradeoff. I'd like to figure out some uppers on the W/D-sink side of the room and a hanging bar. Anyone want to take a stab at elevations? Also, does anyone know if I can recess an ironing board cabinet on the exterior wall between the window and the W/D?

What do you all think?

Looks like you're making progress!

How well do your kids get along? I ask because four kids getting ready in six feet of space in the morning at my house would not be pretty. On our coat/cubbie wall area, my husband and I share the middle hooks and our kids are on each end and sometimes that's too close. :)

Also, I would opt for a non-standard sized island over having one 24x36 and having 12" of blind space. It's not a large room for all that you need it for and 12" wasted is a lot.

I have a mock-up of my laundry room already so it won't be hard to modify it to show your room. I'll do that and post pictures later.

Here are a few drawings:

Your current plan. Cabinets above the "cubbies."

A combo of your plan and your architect's original plan. On the right is a utility closet, a stretch of cabinets and counter, and a cabinet facing the cubby area. This can be open or closed or two more cubbies.

Just like above but with a half wall on the left instead of a cabinet.

Another version. This one with the utility closet closer to the doorway.

Sink and W/D on opposite sides of laundry room.

Thanks geokid! These are a lot of great scenarios. Pondering! I never imagined such a small space could have so many solutions. This is great!