I haven't looked at the plans in depth but I am not clear where the entrance to this room would be..if it is as drawn I would not like walking through the kitchen with all my laundry. Another thing to think of is what pantry items you would plan on storing there - the heat of the dryer is a consideration with food storage.

I have my dryer and pantry is the same room now and I've had no problem, but I wouldn't put them next to each other, as in the picture, above.

Here's another picture, showing a craft/laundry/pantry room, posted by Young-gardener, on the Smaller Homes forum. I like your idea, but think you might want to have the mudroom a little closer to the kitchen, for unloading groceries, etc...unless that door in the kitchen goes to the garage.

I think you have some great ideas, but you might need to work a bit on rearranging the spaces, but you'll get lots of help with that, on this forum :)

{{!gwi}}

Thanks. Good points. And thanks for the link.

I forgot to mention.. there would be a laundry chute sending clothes directly into the laundry room from above...but still walking through kitchen with clean clothes can not be avoided unless I make it a dumb waiter;)

The pantry/laundry room door is on the dinette side. Someone suggested placing the door on the foyer side.. but I did not like that idea since it would then be visible from foyer.. and what if it was messy!
Also.. the mudroom garage entrance is on the far end opposite the kitchen.. which is next to the attached garage.

I had a laundry room/pantry combined in my last house and I'll never have that again unless it is a massive room and you can separate the spaces adequately. Granted, mine was much smaller than the picture you posted and I had no cabinets but the typical pantry shelves, but it was my most despised room of the house. Maybe it was just too small and a non-functional layout. I have nightmares about that room. I hated dragging my clothes through the kitchen to wash and had no room to fold clothes in it and when a bag of nuts or chips fell and opened all over the floor it would no doubt land in my laundry baskets.

I have friends with a house with a layout like the picture. It works for them. Pantry cabinets on the left, laundry cabinets on the right. It's behind their main kitchen wall, so they don't as much walk through it as around it.

Here's an out-of-the-box question... is there any place upstairs that you can put your washer/dryer? On our floor plans for our new build, we converted an extra walk-in closet and a linen closet into an upstairs laundry room, leaving our downstairs laundry room to be our "dog room."

If you could find some way to make that work, then you could have your pantry/desk area downstairs with more space and no need to worry about carrying clothing through the kitchen and you could have your laundry facilities upstairs where the bedrooms all are. Make life a LOT easier!

I would think that between the kitchen and bedrooms, would be the best place for the laundry, if you had the choice.

If it's a big enough room, I would include a laundry sink, closed pantry storage, the washer and dryer, a desk area for crafts/etc. and lots of windows and still have room for a freezer and maybe a broom closet.

Since I like to sew (and have kitties) I would put the craft area in the mudroom, along with the laundry/ironing board, etc. and have the pantry, broom closet, freezer, etc. off the kitchen. It still combines spaces, but one would be more storage (pantry) and one more windows (mud room) so I could add a few plants in there, too. Kind of like a big porch, with no kitties allowed! LOL

This thread is giving me some great ideas...thanks for posting!

Thanks for all the input. It really has given me something to think about.

I would prefer to keep the laundry on the first floor.

I have friends who swear by second floor laundry rooms (and that could be/has been I'm sure) a separate thread;0) But I would never do laundry if I had to go upstairs to do it..

I adore just walking off the kitchen to throw a load in now.. and brining table cloths and napkins and wet stinky kitchen towels upstairs does not appeal to me .. yet... maybe when the kids are older and I have more time in a day.

Frankly my main concern, is really messy kids coming in and stripping down and then having to run naked through the kitchen.. my kids are often naked/barely dressed in our current laundry room.

What about leaving the laundry room where it is, and converting the pantry/bar area into a pantry/craft room. You could have one wall of cabinets for pantry and the opposite wall could have a craft counter.

You could have "interior windows" to keep an eye on things/kids, without everyone underfoot.

If you need a sink for crafting, the water lines are right there at the powder room.

Your laundry room could stay next to the mud room and you can close the door and not see any mess.

Here's a 'clutter room' from a very old floor plan, but I love the way it has a space for everything...laundry, sewing, crafts, tool bench, potting area, etc. There's also space for the freezer, broom closet and pantry, close by, as well as a powder room and good access from the garage to the kitchen. Of course, I love the greenhouse and the fireplace, in the country kitchen!

Maybe this will give you some good ideas. Now is the time to make changes and end up with a plan that's perfect for YOU :)

{{!gwi}}