This is just a personal opinion, but I feel laundry facilities in kitchens are, well, unsanitary. I'd go to some trouble to have it elsewhere. Can you turn the space around and access it from the bath side?

BTW, in case you haven't encountered it yet, there is a Kitchen Forum where people are invited to post their proposed layouts to get help on arrangement. Many people find it extremely helpful.

Sorry to be less than enthusiastic about your laundry plan. I know others don't share the my prejudice against it. If you do go ahead with the plan, I urge you to find a way to have a separate laundry sink next to the W/D so you don't have to use the kitchen sink.

HTH,
L

liriodendron, I respect your opinion. The laundry is now in the basement and want to have one on the first level too. This is the only place for it.

No laundry is going to be sitting around. I know everyone has a different way to sort clothes etc. The way I do it I just take out of the hampers what I'm going to wash and immediately put it in the washer. It is near the refrigerator but around the corner from the main kitchen area. I actually never use my laundry sink. I always wash my hands in the bathroom after loading laundry so now it will be alot closer. Anything yucky would be washed in the basement laundry which will stay there. Hope thats not TMI!

Oh I love the kitchen forum. I just posted there about the refrigerator and warned them that a post laundry related was coming, lol.

debrak, I once lived in a house where the laundry area was in the kitchen. The kitchen was huge, which of course was a big help. I had small children at the time, and it was a great advantage for me to have everything so convenient. It was never unsanitary at all. At that time I did not need a sink by the washer. I did keep a diaper pail in the bathroom and could easily carry it to the washer when full.

I cannot give any helpful input re: your diagram, just wanted to say, there are advantages to this. It does look like your w/d area is out of the way, not in the main area. Will you have room for storage and a hanging and folding area? Those would my main priorities.

Next to the W/D stack will be about 28". This area needs to house the central vac hose and a few shelves for detergent. Right now I don't hang or fold by the laundry. I fold in the bedrooms. I really need to use the extra room for the vac. as there is no where else to put it. Right now its in the basement with the laundry.

I remember when my kids were little I had to put a lock on the kitchen door from the outside. I would try to go down to the laundry but they would try to follow. It would have been so convenient back then!

@debrak, I think your plan looks fine. It looks like you will effectively have a laundry closet in the kitchen. Here are some things to think about:

- Make sure your closet space is deep enough to accommodate your machines and the venting behind them.

- I think you will need louvered doors to close off that space.

- Make sure that you have enough space in the passageway in front of the washing machine to comfortably open the closet door, open the washer door, bend over to load and unload your machines etc.

I have a similar setup with a stacked washer and dryer and some shelving and space for a vacuum cleaner, ironing board etc on the side, except that my laundry closet is off the kitchen in a side entrance/mud room area.

Would the laundry be any dirtier than the vegetables that grow in the earth and are washed in the kitchen sink? Remember, worms and other insects use the earth for all bodily functions. Birds fly over the fields that grow our food. I believe the concern over 'sanitary' is misguided. Washing hands before handling food is the solution to this concern.

izeve,

Just wondering why louvered doors? Do we need ventilation? The doors would probably be opened at least once a day. I really didn't want louvered. If ventation is needed could a vent be put above the doors?

@debrak_2008, would the dryer be gas or electric? Gas def needs ventilation - it needs air to function properly.

I moved my laundry from the kitchen to the basement and have never been happier. Granted, my basement laundry is pretty great (wall mounted LCD TV, huge table for folding and other things like crafts/wrapping, tons of storage for kids crafts/wrapping, huge drying rack, ironing board up 24/7, sewing area, etc ...).

When we bought our house we did an extensive renovation and everyone said I would love the laundry on the main floor (in the kitchen in a semi walk in closet is where it was located so we left it there but updated the machines and built in cabinetry).

I liked it for awhile. Then two kids came along ... I have 4 beds to wash (including a guest bed which gets used fairly often). I would be climbing over piles of sheets in the kitchen - blech! I did think it was disgusting. I know it's how a huge chunk of Europe has their machine(s) but no thank you.

My husband, who wears suits to work daily, has a ton of dress shirts. I don't iron them he does. He'd have to set up the ironing board in the kitchen to iron and take it down. My neighbor who has a mud room laundry on the main floor has a husband who wears suits too. Her ironing board is up 24/7 in her gorgeous dining room (no where else for it). Nice ...

I guess it depends what you are looking for. I love my full service room in the basement. No matter what's happening in there, I can always close the door and no one has to see anything. I enjoy my "quiet" time there. I even have a nice chair to sit in while waiting for my Miele machines to do their thing. I may even catch a little HGTV while waiting ;)

I might consider a second washer in the original kitchen location but only for ever flow laundry and small loads. Probably a smaller Miele. I doubt I would but I could see that. No piles ever allowed!

deborak, I think the dryer needs ventilation when running. I'm not positive about it, but I seem to remember that my husband said we had to keep the louvered doors when I wanted to change them to solid.

livebetter, I agree with you about piles of laundry in the kitchen. My little mudroom right off the kitchen gets quite congested with laundry baskets and piles of towels, sheets and clothes on laundry day. I usually fold and put away the laundry immediately after it's done, but I definitely have to be vigilant about it with my location. The only saving grace is that I have good folding space and a nice utility sink in the same area. I would love to have a separate laundry room... Maybe in the next house ;-)

Look on-line for installation instructions for whatever model you are installing.

For example, I took this from an LG model:

"For closet installation, with a door, minimum ventilation openings in the top and bottom of the door are required. Louvered doors with equivalent ventilation openings are acceptable."

@izeve, when I was dealing with my "in kitchen" set up I hated, I used to envy my neighbors with their mudroom set up. Once I gave it considerable thought, I realized the mudroom is only slightly better. It's out of the kitchen but still too small to function as I need it to function.

In a perfect world, I'd have something similar to my basement laundry room on my top floor (dreaming). I made the basement room such a great space (it's really multi functional) that I don't mind going down there to do laundry.

If only I can get the Miele Rotary Iron it will be perfect ;)

Here is a link that might be useful: LG dryer manual DLEX3550V

The dryer will be gas and DH has already installed the vent.

So we may need to have other ventilation...We were not planning on buying the W/D until the rest of the kitchen is complete, so we won't know the specifications of the units.

We will need to check some models that we may be interested in and see what they require.

Thank you to those who mentioned this as I would not have thought about it.

We remodeled 4 years ago and the major reason for the project was to move my laundry area from the garage into the house (many California homes have laundry in the garage). We moved the furnace into the attic and in its space, built a closest that is no more than 4 steps from any bedroom door. I don't care that it's tiny... the inconvenience of toting things to the garage for over 30 years was too much.

One important consideration for a closet laundry is adequate ventilation, and that's imperative if you have a gas dryer. My solution: first, a powerful fan exhausts the room when the dryer is in use. Second, I hang a padded hanger on one door knob to keep the opposite door open about 1" This gives me the ventilation that is emphasized in the dryer's user manual -- minimum of 36 square inches. (A louvered door is OK but you'd hear the washer even when the dryer was not in use.) An added benefit is seeing the hanger -- it reminds me that there is laundry in the dryer and I remember to take things out even if I missed the time. I LOVE having the laundry machines where the dirty clothes, towels and bedding originate. There is no lugging baskets of dirty/clean things around the house. The few kitchen towels are much easier to carry to the machine than carrying heavy baskets of things used to be. I think you'll like your kitchen arrangement.

I think different people's wash habits make a real difference. When I had the washer/dryer in the kitchen, I never had piles of laundry anywhere. I brought each load to the kitchen in a basket or hamper, and put the items back in it when I took the laundry out of the washer to hang out or put in the dryer.

For me the layout of our home and the kitchen's proximity to the outdoors (for hanging out laundry to dry) made the arrangement ideal.

I know everyone is different, and I would never assume that everyone would like the arrangement I had. I just know that it was very, very convenient for me during the time we lived there, and I still have fond memories of it today.

When I had a basement laundry, I absolutely dreaded lugging baskets or hampers of laundry down the steps, and then back up again when finished. I also hated ironing clothes there. Different strokes for different folks.

If you cook with ground beef of any kind, your bathroom and kitchen are about on the same level, sanitation-wise. Yes, they've done studies. Your toilet may actually be cleaner than your sink in some cases, at least as far as harmful bacteria levels are concerned. Disgusting, but true.

It's common practice in Europe for a reason, space is at a premium. Laundry in the kitchen can definitely make sense for efficiency and cost. Unless you store your dirty laundry near the w/d, then I can see where it would be an issue.