It's not that I have endless amounts of money to spend (although it does feel that I'm spending endless amounts of money :) but I just don't see the pedestals as being very functional. I like the idea of elevating the w&d (DH is 6'5" and the primary user of the w&d) but think space to slide the laundry baskets in and out would be perfect there.

First make sure your dryer vent goes out the back and not down into the floor. We have non-functioning pedestals that we purchased with our washer/dryer. Love the added height. At one point I thought about the drawer but our dryer vent goes down into the floor and follows the joists so it wouldn't have worked anyway.

If you have the tools, you could do it yourself following plans on the internets..

Try these links:
Ana White's Plans
Finished stand

If you'll note in your example, the drawers are almost identical in size to the ones that the manufacturer sells. But, I'll bet they cost more to have them made. Especially since they would have to be made sturdier than standard cabinetry in order to support the water filled machines and the vibrations they have. Maybe I'm missing something here, but unless you could save money by DIYing drawers, why would you pay someone to create storage drawers under machines that have sturdy metal storage drawers already engineered and readily available for purchase? It's not like the pedestals are just useless hunks of wasted space.

Not everyone finds primitive craftsman their style. (Even demonstrated by cute blondes in pink sandals.)

I sprung for Whirlpool's pedestals with drawers. Much slicker. If you do your own laundry, way easier on the back.
{{!gwi}}Photo: thebrick.com

I do think the examples I posted are primitive, but some ppl keep their washer and dryer in the garage or someplace out of sight. In those cases, aesthetics isn't needed..

I almost bought the washer and dryer pedestals that came with my appliances, but I noticed that you can't even place a bottle of detergent upright in those drawers. They're just a little shallow.

I'll be making my own pedestal to raise my washer and dryer up. It won't look as poor quality as my links, but those designs are starting points for anyone interested.

The picture looks lovely, but knowing the weight of my Whirlpool Duet washer and how it vibrates during spin, I would never put it on top of any cabinetry like that. My dryer which is on a pedestal (came that way, bought on CL) is such a pain to move out away from the wall to clean the lint out of the vent, which we must do at least once a month. It was much easier moving a dryer not on a pedestal.

Pedestals are nice for reducing bending, but are not the greatest use of storage space IMO. If you look at the pic above, notice that all the storage ABOVE the W/D -- which is a far superior location ergonomically -- is now really hard to reach. Now that my dryer is on a pedestal, I cannot reach much of my cabinet storage above it. So I use the pedestal instead...but now I have to bend over to get the stuff inside the pedestal.

The one nice thing about pedestals is the super-tough plastic lining that is not harmed by spills of any detergents, cleaning chemicals, bleach, etc., unlike the painted shelving of my upper storage cabinets.

Also check out sweetpickinsfurniture.com
storiesofahouse.com