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madeline616_gw

How wide is your laundry room?

Madeline616
11 years ago

Hi,

Brand new to Laundry forum, spend all my time in Kitchens and Appliances.

Building a small home for my parents. The laundry room is a simple rectangle, 6'3" wide, by about 10' long. The washer, dryer, utility sink and a base cabinet or two will line up along the long wall.

I was hoping to add a row of base cabinets along the opposite long wall, but I think that will make it too tight and narrow (W/D will be front loaders).

How wide do you think the laundry room has to be in order to have 2 rows of things (cabinets, w/d, utility sink) opposite each other, while still being able to comfortable turn around?

Thanks!

Comments (10)

  • dave1812
    11 years ago

    my FL's (doors closed) take up 39" from the wall. width (including tiny space between them is 57". When the doors are opened 90 degrees, distance from leading door edge to wall behind the w/d is 59".

    If it were me, I'd want about 8 feet of width if I were to install base cabinets / sink. IMO your width is too narrow

  • chloe203
    11 years ago

    I have that setup and I just measured. Mine is 8 feet across
    which works perfectly. I can't imagine anything narrower working.

  • housefairy
    11 years ago

    Just fill the bottom with cabinets on the one wall and top it all with a countertop dropping in your sink. Put up wall cabinets on the same wall. On the other side you could put pegs to hang coats. As stated it would be too tight for additional cabinets. Since you are building, you could recess stuff back in the studs on that wall, such as an ironing board. Also you could make a nook(or niche?) for a landing area for keys, mail, or phone chargers.

    Especially for your parents I would put the machines on a pedestal. Either have one built or buy the ones that match the machines. As they become older it is going to become harder to bend and reach into the machines. Another thought is to find a small laundry basket on wheels and build the pedestals at the height where they could offload into the basket. When not using they could just keep it in the farthest corner. Or leave an area open under the countertop where you can store the basket.

  • geokid
    11 years ago

    New here too. Just popped over and I saw your post. My laundry room is almost exactly that size with the W/D on the long wall. There's no way I could put cabinets on the opposite wall.

    May I make a suggestion? Do not place the W/D first thing when you come into the room. If anyone is there doing laundry, they block the way into the room. That's my set-up now and it's frustrating.

    I have FL W/D and I'm not a munchkin, far from it, :-) and I don't have an issue with being uncomfortable transferring clothes. I'd rather have a counter above the W/D for folding vs storage below the W/D. Just my preference.

  • Madeline616
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    Thanks all, so much, for these helpful answers.

    Geo, I appreciate the set-up advice, that's a really good thought that I wouldn't have considered.

    It looks like we're going with 6'3" x 10'6", and I'll need to make it work with either one long row, or an L-shape to sneak another counter against the far wall.

  • geokid
    11 years ago

    I just double-checked my laundry room dimensions and it is 5'8" wide. If it were 6'3" like yours, I could probably put in a row if 12" deep cabinets on the opposite wall of the W/D and not be TOO crowded.

    Here are pics of my set-up. I wouldn't recommend it. The upper cabinets are hard to reach because the W/D stick out so far. The sink is too small for our needs since my husband uses it as his slop sink (and it's a disaster, as you can see). We are going to be putting one in his workshop and then the 24" sink will be fine for the laundry room.

    We are actually going to be putting the W/D on the far wall and move the sink and a dog shower to where the W/D are. We use the room as a mudroom of sorts and it makes more sense to have the sink right away and the clean clothes as far back in the room out of the way as possible.

    An L-shaped arrangement like you mentioned would worl well too.

    {{!gwi}}

  • Madeline616
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    Geo,

    This is so helpful!! Thanks for taking the time to post the pic.

    You've really given me some things to consider, including the W/D on the far wall. I guess you'll have to leave enough room to maneuver in the corner there, between the washer or dryer and where the dog shower/sink will be?

    Thanks again, so much :-)

  • geokid
    11 years ago

    You're welcome! Glad I can help someone and not always just ask for help.

    Yeah, maneuvering in the corner is a consideration. However, the sink will go where the washer is and vice versa. The sink counter is only 24" deep so it won't stick as far out in the room as the washer does in its current space. The dryer will go against the back wall all the way to the right with space for storage between the washer and dryer. Between the dryer door opening out against the wall and the sink not sticking out as far, there will be more room in that corner than there is now.

    We are also considering buying the stacking kit for our W/D and stacking them where the sink is now. That way we can reuse the long stretch of countertop and place it to the right of the W/D. There would be plenty of space for hampers under the counter, which is how I use the space now.

    I'll probably be posting some floor plans on here to see what other folks think. :-)

  • wildchild
    11 years ago

    Geokid - I am currently designing a laundry room also. If you plan to put appliances in a corner be sure to allow for door swing. I just recently had to redo my whole plan for that reason. Check to see how far you need to have the washer/dryer doors open to work comfortably.

    I'm a stickler for fully being able to fully open doors so I ended up giving up counter-space for that function.