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zippity1

where are your laundry facilities

zippity1
11 years ago

where is your washer and dryer? dh doesn't care for the
wd being in an enclosed area in the kitchen (pretty big kitchen)
myself, as long as i can close the doors and put them out of sight, i'm a happy girl
of course, there's just the two of us so doing more than one load of laundry a day is unusual
i'd love to have them off the master br, but few "smaller" home plans have an area that's convenient to both the master and the other bedrooms

Comments (46)

  • phoggie
    11 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    In my utility room, which is just a few steps down the hall from my master bedroom.

  • chibimimi
    11 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    The main laundry room is in the bedroom hall, near the secondary bedrooms.

    We also put a hook-up in the master bedroom closet for either small or stackable units.

  • Houseofsticks
    11 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Our pre-remodel and addition location is in the kitchen. We badly need the kitchen space so this along with the noise (even with new appliances) and the mess of clothing in a basket at my feet in my kitchen bother me. Rewind 8 yrs. before kids, it was fine. Nice wooden doors concealed them and the baskets were on top of each appliance. The only problem then was still the noise. I look forward to having a dedicated laundry in the future.

  • peegee
    11 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I would trade having my basement laundry in a heart beat if I could have one anywhere on the main floor; even the kitchen!!! But sadly, there is NO room. at. all. : (

  • peegee
    11 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    deleted double post

    This post was edited by peegee on Tue, Feb 12, 13 at 0:59

  • rosesstink
    11 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Ours are in the downstairs half bath. The room is not large enough to have them concealed so they're just "there". Less than ideal but it is what it is. Better than having them in the basement (although I probably would except our basement is not convenient - only access is through the garage) or in the kitchen.

    Where does DH suggest you put them?

  • zippity1
    Original Author
    11 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    there is another variation of the houseplan that adds a an 11x16 ft dining room and a 10x11 ft utility room -includes room for storage too but in all that plan is about 350 feet larger than the first plan
    the smaller plan's great room is 24x20 and the dining table is placed in that room-which i feel is adequate for
    empty nesters
    the kitchen is 14x15 which feels big enough for the washer and dryer and the kitchen
    i tend to cook in an area about 10x10 now it's nice when i have guests (at thanksgiving etc) to have space for other people to work in the kitchen too, but generally speaking i like a smaller kitchen (i do like space for all my different appliances ice cream maker, crock pot etc)
    so is a separate dining room and a utility room worth
    almost 40 thousand dollars?

  • cottagewithroses
    11 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I have my washer and dryer off the kitchen, in a small utility room. The freezer and pantry are also there, close to the kitchen but not in the kitchen.

    Would you use the dining room for any other purposes? Perhaps another bedroom or craft area? The utility room would be nice, but expensive if you do not need the other space.

  • camlan
    11 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    If the washer and dryer don't go in the kitchen, where will they go? I think that's the main question. If the alternate location is very inconvenient, then I think the kitchen is the way to go.

    Currently, I live in a two-family house on the second floor. My laundry room is two narrow, twisty flights of stairs down in the basement. It is a pain in the neck.

    I just spent a month house-sitting for my brother (well, mostly for his dogs, really). His washer and dryer are in the ground floor half-bath, which is just off the kitchen. It was a breeze to get the laundry done, without having to go up and down stairs. I could be cooking and just take seconds to switch loads, instead of having to plan the cooking so that I could leave for the several minutes it takes to go downstairs and deal with the laundry.

    If you are empty-nesters, another consideration, if I may be blunt, is the fact that you aren't getting any younger. The laundry should be placed so that it involves the least amount of walking and bending and stooping and lugging of laundry baskets, so that down the road, you can still be pretty independent and wash your own clothes. It should also allow for a rolling cart to be used to move the laundry around the house.

    This is the voice of experience talking. When my dad's arthritis got really bad, he simply couldn't carry a basket of laundry up and down stairs. He had to walk outside and down around to the back of the house to get to the cellar to the laundry room to wash his clothes. And in the winter with lots of snow, he couldn't even do that. My sister and I had to stop by weekly to do the laundry for him--and he hated being dependent on us for anything.

  • jannie
    11 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    My basement is divided in three areas: Small bathroom, family room and the utility room-where my washer, dryer, freezer and heater are located. Also my cats litter box.

  • Annie Deighnaugh
    11 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Ours is in the mud room around the corner from the kitchen....I like having it near where we are when we're up so we can go back and forth to tend the machines, and I like having it away from the bedrooms where the noise would be irksome if one of us is trying to sleep.

  • Elraes Miller
    11 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Mine is located off the kitchen by the back door. There is no wall to separate, so it is really open to the kitchen. An old house and there was no room for new applicances side by side. I have mine stacked with a storage closet on one side. The water heater is also there which has a closet around it. A door to the furnace room is on the 3rd wall.

    Although the arrangement looks great, there is no place to fold clothes. Big irritation. Tried a flip down table on the furnace door, but it always seems to be when something is wanted in the room. I'm still messing around folding clothes on the couch watching TV or in the bedroom.

  • prospect711
    11 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Our is in the basement. House is a raised ranch so much of the basement is garage. Remainder of basement is divided into extra bathroom, laundry room, and former family/TV/exercise/storage room that will eventually get remodelled.

  • TxMarti
    11 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Ours is in a wide hall between kitchen and bedrooms. It's ok though I wish it were bigger.

  • Nancy in Mich
    11 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    We are in a 1978 ranch with attached two-car garage. The laundry room is the room you enter when you leave the garage to come into the house. It is a 4" step down from the hall and adjoining half bath, which are above the basement that the rest of the house sits on. Looking at our house from the street, you see the living room sticking out toward the front on the left side, a front porch between the living room and the garage that is recessed a good 7 feet in from the end of the living room, then the garage, that sticks out a little more than the living room does, to the left of the front porch. The front porch is in front of the foyer on the left,and the laundry room on the right. The Living room, Foyer, and Laundry room are all on a concrete slab foundation that sits in front of the basement that the rest of the house sits on. There is a window looking onto the porch from the laundry room. That window and the big living room picture window are the only two windows on the front of our house.

    Inside, the laundry room is just big enough to hold the big Bosch front-loader washer and dryer next to the laundry sink with space for a skinny 1 ft wide laundry detergent cart next to them. Across from the washer, with just enough room for the door to swing open, is a metal office supply cabinet with a laminate top that I use for cleaning supply storage. Across from the dryer is the door to the garage.

    Above the sink and dryer the previous owner put two basic white wall cabs. I added a spring-loaded shower curtain bar above the washer going between the side wall of the cabinet and the front wall, in order to hold hangers ready for use.

    The only way to get a smaller laundry room is to have a laundry closet.

    I would like to get a counter top to go over the washer and dryer one day, and have a laundry sink built into a cabinet, instead of the cheapo plastic one on plastic legs we have now. That will keep things from falling behind the appliances. Due to the washer door swing not being changeable, the dryer vent pipe goes in back of the washer, as well, leaving a good 8-inch gap there between the machines and the back wall. DH will not move the machines closer to the back wall.

  • jakabedy
    11 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    We're in an MCM home built from 1960s Better Homes and Gardens Plans. The plan is phenomenally functional, forward-thinking, and horrible for resale.

    The house is a square. Front half of the square is a great room with DR on one end and LR on the other. In-between is garden and a long galley kitchen connecting the two larger spaces. Back half of the square has two bedrooms on each "side" accessible from short hallways off either side of the kitchen. Directly behind the kitchen, and accessible from each hallway, is the "compartment bath." This is comprised of a half-bath and linen closet open to each hall, with each of those half baths accessing a center room that contains the tub/shower and the washer and dryer.

    It works perfectly, considering that a place to bathe is "utilitarian" at its base, and fits well in a utility-type room also containing the W/D. It also allows for toasty towels straight from the dryer on a cold morning. And when we eventually go to sell this place, it will bewilder one and all. We're considering gutting the bath(s) and creating two separate baths (one with shower only and stacking W/D units) just for this reason. Otherwise, it takes just the right MCM geeks (like us and previous owners) to live here.

  • autumn.4
    11 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    In the 1/2 bath just inside the garage entry which is direct access to the kitchen.

    5x7 space - way too small for W/D, toilet and sink - no room for basket, have to go in and shut the door to access the washer.......can't use the toilet without putting the basket on the washer or dryer - PITA. :(

    Other draw back I suppose is that the bedrooms are on the other side of the house. We don't fold in the 'laundry room' due to space so normally it's hiking back and forth from the laundry to the bedrooms. Good thing it's not a large home.

    I wouldn't repeat it unless the room was larger and configured better. The dream is space for a counter where the basket could sit underneath out of the way and you could use the counter for folding, ahhhhhhh.

  • melissaki5
    11 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I have a late 1960's raised ranch and the laundry is downstairs in a utility room. Big pain going up and down for laundry and I almost always forget that I put a load in the wash. My cousin has a small ranch on a crawl space with the laundry in a large closet in the kitchen. It works out very well for her and it basically looks like that closet could be large pantry. What doesn't your DH like about the washer/dryer in the kitchen? Is it the function or aesthetics? If its the latter I would search houzz for some photos of laundry in kitchen and show him pics of what it looks like. If its the function it may be harder to change his mind. I'm still trying to convince my DH that the single bowl sink we put in the kitchen is better than a double.

  • daisyblue
    11 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    We are getting ready to build and plan to have the laundry near the bedrooms, between the master bathroom and the hallway. This is also just right around the corner from the kitchen.

    Jakabedy ~ count me in as being an "MCM geek!!"

  • bluesbarby
    11 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Mine are in a closet with bifold doors in the hallway with all the bedrooms. It's not ideal but very convenient. I fold on the bed in the guest room closest to the closet.

  • wi-sailorgirl
    11 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    When we bought the house there was a stackable in a closet in the kitchen. I'm horrible about laundry and it was constantly all over the kitchen and that's no good, so we moved it to the basement, and eventually got rid of the (horrible) stackables. I like it so much better and we gained a much needed pantry. The laundry situation is nothing glamorous, but we recently did some cheap projects to make it a little nicer.

    Here is a link that might be useful: Laundry room upgrades

  • EATREALFOOD
    11 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    jakabedy--Your house sounds GREAT and has a lot of charm(not all buyers want cookie-cutter houses). "In-between is garden and a long galley kitchen connecting the two larger spaces." WOW. When discussing houses I keep on stating that I want separate living areas that meet in the middle(kitchen). This way we can do co-housing with a relative & B&B.
    I love the idea of a W/D right outside a shower/bath or in a mud room w/bath. I guess because I have been on so many farms, the idea of walking in dropping dirty clothes and picking up fresh clothes immediately appeals to me.
    Oh not much help here with the original question: where are your laundry facilities ? 2 minutes away around the corner at the laundromat...

  • camlan
    11 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Getting back to the OP, it seems that the choices are to have the washer and dryer in the kitchen or to have the washer and dryer in the utility room. The problem is that the utility room comes with a dining room and an additional 350 square feet and $40,000 price tag.

    The more I think about this, the more I think the final answer has to do with how you live in your house. For some people, the washer and dryer in the kitchen would be the answer. The person who does the laundry spends a lot of time in the kitchen and having the machines *right there* is a huge help, saves time and steps and energy. Plus not having to greatly interrupt other tasks to switch loads, etc.

    For other people, the washer and dryer in the kitchen might be a bother. If the kitchen is where the family hangs out most of the day, or is the main TV watching area (if the kitchen is part of a great room), then the noise of the machines and the hustle and bustle of washing and folding the clothes might be a distraction. The noise of the machines could be a huge bother, if you are trying to watch TV nearby.

    Also, depending on how the kitchen is set up, the machines might be close to the cooking area and someone might be concerned about cooking grease and odors getting on the clean clothes.

    All of which are valid concerns. So I don't think there's any one right answer to this. It really depends on *why* the husband in the OP doesn't want the laundry area in the kitchen. He could have some very good reasons for this.

  • musicteacher
    11 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I am lucky to have a real laundry room - not huge, but with space to hang up clothes and for the ironing board. It is off of the kitchen, but has a door that closes. The noise is not a problem with the door closed (unless my son puts his sneakers in the dryer!) and I find it very convenient there. In NY we had the laundry in the basements with all bedrooms on the second floor. Three flights of stairs meant I spent many hours dreaming of a dumb waiter or laundry shute.

  • drybean
    11 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    We just remodeled and removed an awkward laundry nook off kitchen. Now my w/d are under counter on back side of kitchen and I love it. I was worried about noise, but it's totally fine.

    I really wrestled with the decision to put them there vs garage (we are in L.A. and that's very common). I'm so glad they are easily accessible.

    I thought about my laundry habits and realized that I never keep laundry I laundry room-even when have had a large luxurious room. I sort laundry in bedrooms, then wash and immediately fold and put away. So it might not be best for someone who sorts their laundry at the machine.

  • sherwoodva
    11 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    My laundry room is inn the basement, right below the kitchen. It has the usual basement window. When I realized the kitchen broom closet is right over the laundry room, I cut a hole in the floor of the closet, which meant Mr. Colorcrazy was stuck with building a laundry shute. I brought the front loaders with stands off CL and love them. My laundry baskets (two -one light, one dark) are on old thrift store chairs that I will paint one day. I can sit on a stool and transfer laundry from the basket to the washer. I have a wooden expandable rack for lingerie as well as PVC handrails fasted to the ceiling for hanging clothes on hangers. Ironing board is stored in the laundry room, but I iron in the family room (around the corner) so I can watch TV. The house is 75 years old, but it works for us.

  • kelpmermaid
    11 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    They're in a hall closet off the secondary bedrooms with the water heater. We installed a clothesline of sorts in the closet, too, using marine hardware, i.e., little cleats.

  • carolbb07
    11 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I am struggling with this question. It is frustrating for me... and now I see I am not alone :). We do not have children in the home so are designing according to our lifestyle but are keeping resale in mind. Our design is finished and we have the garage located on the opposite side of the home from the kitchen. We have a main floor mud room entry from the garage and a main floor guest suite (parents / nanny) near the garage. Our master closet is located above the garage side mud room with a laundry chute to an upper cabinet in the mud room. On the opposite side of the home, we have a craft / utility room near the kitchen which also has an outdoor entrance. We also have room for a closet or maybe larger laundry area upstairs near the two "kids" rooms (connected to Master suite via a bridge). The "kids" rooms are located above the kitchen and utility room.
    I like the lifestyle choice of the laundry area near the kitchen in the craft / utility room AND the laundry chute from master closet to mud room cabinet. AND I have been reading about the necessity of the upper laundry for kids.
    We don't want three hook-ups but may want to install for flexibility.
    Thoughts? Thank you!

  • camlan
    11 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    One problem with laundry chutes is that they do not carry the laundry back upstairs. I admit they are handy, but they don't eliminate all the work.

    I don't think three hook-ups would be necessary. I'd do the one on the second floor, for the flexibility, and then pick the one on the first floor that works best for you.

  • young-gardener
    11 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    We created a studio off the kitchen when we moved our laundry out of the closet. It's not "convenient" to the bedrooms, I suppose, since it's across the house. However, I'm in the kitchen far more than I'm in the bedroom, so it's very convenient for changing loads, etc. I also have my crafting space in the room, so I can shift the clothes between machines while I am sewing. It's amazing what a difference having a dedicated laundry "room" has made in the functionality (and tidiness!) of our home. Folding laundry in the closet was pretty impossible, as was storing loads-in-waiting.

    Now, if I could just get DH to put his dirty laundry in the basket! ;)

  • rosefolly
    11 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    We remodeled a small house some years ago, adding to it so it no longer fits on this forum. For that reason I apologize for posting. I lurk here sometimes because I expect we'll downsize again at some point and I like to read up on what people are doing.

    Anyway, when we remodeled we turned a former hallway and small bath into a large-ish laundry/storage room off the kitchen. I would not mind it being even larger. I love to hang my clothes on the line to dry.The fragrance of line-dried sheets is intoxicating! Normally I do this out of doors but in rainy weather it would be nice to have room to hang a couple of lines and turn on a ceiling fan. Anyway, I plan that our future smaller house will have an even larger laundry/utility room.

    Rosefolly

  • User
    11 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Presently, the laundry is in the former back porch, enclosed to be additional space for the kitchen etc.

    I just posted the new plan, and it will be in the new kitchen back corner. I swapped that for the fridge, since that south wall behind it gets hotter and messes with the fridge, even with good insulation.

    The architect wanted to put the laundry in a separate space, but that would mess with our open view of our back garden. Plus, he thought of taking part of the new closet to hide it in, since it was a stacking laundry center. However, I was concerned that the next residents of the house might be liking two separate master suites (roommates at college or maybe an executive rental with Airbus just a mile away from us very soon) and the laundry in the master suite sitting area would not be a good setup.

    There's just the two of us here too. Plus two dogs and three parrots, but they do not have much laundry. I manage one load a day, sometimes two in the winter.

    The way I have it set, our cabinets will be white, and a tall pantry cabinet will be next to the laundry. The cleaning stuff and the laundry basket will be in a rollout trash unit in the bottom there. Living small it makes sense to do it that way.

    If I can find a picture of a kitchen with the laundry in the corner like I picture, then I'll put it in. Originally in my plan, I wanted it where the fridge is located in the new plan, but unless we can insulate thoroughly, it goes in the other corner. Must be in my HOUZZ kitchen album.

  • esga
    10 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    In my house, in a very large unfinished storage room between the main house and the garage, behind a large entrance way. It's a great arrangement except for a very awkward height step down which is becoming a problem as I get older I hate the odd height more and more.

    In my husband's house, in a room in the back of the garage, which is a separate building from the house. We are thinking of rehabbing this space so that I can move into his house, though, and I don't know if the W&D would stay there. Probably, but we will need a second bathroom and the bath would have to share that space. I want a nice bathroom - he can keep the one he has now!

  • pekemom
    10 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    We have a ranch style, the laundry room is a small room between the garage and the kitchen. It has only enough room for the washer, dryer, and a wastebasket on the other wall between the 2 doors.

  • melle_sacto is hot and dry in CA Zone 9/
    10 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Mine are in the garage and we don't even have a utility sink :-( Now that I'm washing laundry for 2 adults and 2 boys ages 8 1/2 and 4, I really hate the location and lack of utility sink. They are not next to the door to the house, either, they are about 15 feet away. Our bedrooms are not next to the garage, our front door and living room are near the garage. So laundry generally gets left in the living room for folding OR, if we have company, it's left out in the garage next to the door, which really annoys my hubs ;-) Our house is small, though, so it's not that far to have to haul anything, really.

    I don't know the ideal place for them. A separate utility room/mud room near the kitchen would be a good choice for smaller homes if you don't want to have to trek into the garage (our garage is not that pleasant), or a laundry room near the bedrooms another great choice for larger homes. I think that off the master bedroom is fine, as long as you access them from OUTSIDE the master and not FROM the master. It makes sense for clothing, both clean and dirty, to be in the bedroom area of the home.

  • flgargoyle
    10 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I'm currently building our house, and our laundry will be in part of the master closet, between the closet and the bedroom. It's kind of a transitional hallway, so it is accessible from the main part of the house without going through the BR or closet. We only have the BR on the main floor, so it should work well. There's always the issue of noise, but we don't do laundry late at night.

    I wish we had room for some kind of counter for folding and sorting laundry. I might try to come up with some kind of folding arrangement. Otherwise, we'll do what we do in our current home- carry the laundry into the BR and fold/sort on the bed.

  • mama goose_gw zn6OH
    10 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Our laundry area is in a room that we added on to the back of the house, a few years after we moved in. Prior to that it had been in a small room between the DR and hall bath. We turned the former laundry into a short hallway to the new room, and added some freestanding cabinets for pantry space. The new room, which also has a sewing table and computer desk, has a door to the outside, for easy access in case I want to starting line-drying laundry. Note: Unfortunately, in the 15 or so years that I've been using the new laundry room, I've never had the urge to use a clothes line. ;)

  • fynite
    10 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Ours is in a 6' wide by 3' deep closet off the hallway between the master bedroom and the other two bedrooms. (1300 sf Streng home.) As far as I can tell from the streng plans I have seen, they carve up a piece of space the size of a bedroom and put two baths and a utility closet in there. This lets them put all the non-kitchen plumbing in one spot. (one wall is noticeably thicker, I assume this is where the extra plumbing all comes to before diving under the slab.)

  • shelayne
    10 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I am quite envious of all the finished laundry spaces--and the big roomy ones just make me **sigh**. Wouldn't that be lovely? All you lucky ones that have main floor laundry ROOMS, wow! I would SO love that. But I am delegated to the dungeon--oops--basement, with the creepy crawly things and the cold hard floor. Yes we have a laundry chute--those were pretty standard in older homes, and I DO appreciate that, but I can't help but think that we have been fixing up all these areas of our house, whyohwhy can't we do something with this sucky side of the basement?? DH says he is not touching this area of the basement, but he DIDN'T say that I couldn't. Well, I decided to stop pi$$ing and moaning and DO something about it.
    So, it is kinda funny I should stumble across this thread while I am in the midst of a mini makeover on our "blah" basement laundry area. We have one side of our the basement (the smaller side) that is basically utilitarian- and looks the part. I was tired of looking at the concrete block walls that were at one time half-heartedly painted white. I wanted something a little more bright and fun. You know- a little more sunshine and a little less penitentiary.

    I am having fun with bright paint colors and color combinations and am even building myself a moveable laundry "Island" that will hold laundry baskets and have a top I can fold clothes on, instead of hunkering over the top of the washer, trying to beat the spin cycle, which will inevitably fling my neatly folded piles onto the floor. **grrrrowwwwwl**

    As long as I was tackling the laundry area, I decided to do something to the sorta-kitchenette area as well. I even painted the cabinets a bright beautiful aquamarine color, replaced the old (and cut in half) laminate countertop with another stock laminate, and changed the hardware to a shiny chrome. I figure "why not?"

    It's not done, and it most definitely will not be "Houzz-worthy", but I am smiling already. I better get back to work! This thread has given me just that little push I needed tonight. I told DH that I would finish this "little" (which grew legs, of course) project this weekend.

    I need to add that even though he said he would not touch this part of the basement, DH has been amazingly helpful. He actually loves what I have done so far!

    Everyone have a wonderful and safe Memorial weekend! Blessings to you! :)

  • Locrian
    10 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    So glad I found this thread! OP have you found a resolution, yet?

    Our house is a late 50s/early 60's "cottage bungalow" one level. There are hot/cold taps in the pantry (no grey water pipe) and a line with clothes pins off the back door.

    Being on a concrete slab it's cost prohibitive to do a lot of replumbing. And with solid brick walls, well...Although my DH wanted a separate laundry room with full-sized front load WDs, he quickly understood my reasons for a ventless combination WD.

    We're putting it in the kitchen under the countertop beside the sink. The plumber said he can run the drain through the sink's system similar to how a DW is done. This will give me plenty of flat space for folding clothes and a dedicated cupboard beside it for storing supplies. I also have a clothes rack (similar to ones bell hops use) for hanging & stacking folded clean clothes.

    Have you thought about this alternative? I usually do laundry daily and a ventless WD is ideal for a couple. Used them before in flats & military quarters and know their quirks. They even work well for a small family.

  • Awnmyown
    10 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I had liked the idea of off the master bedroom, but my friends have it and after housesitting for a month, I discovered that I couldn't do laundry at night (which is my preference) because it made too much noise.

    For my build, I opted for a mudroom just off the main entrance (closed doors) in a hall to the main bath. Some people have said that they wouldn't want to walk through my dirty laundry to get to the bathroom, but as someone with a lot of mud, gardening, horseback riding and chicken chasing, being able to ditch clothes and walk straight into the shower is PERFECT to me! Washers and Dryers are also attractive enough now that it's not such a big deal ; )

    In the kitchen however, I would *hate* it. I just don't like the idea of my pile of dirty sorted clothes on the kitchen floor around the food. Plus, I have a ton of poison ivy in my bush and can only imagine the mess that would make...

  • shelayne
    10 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Personally, I would not want my laundry next to my master bedroom or any of the bedrooms, really. DH's brother and wife built this beautiful lakefront home, and they opted for the laundry in their HUGE master closet, which also has a door to their MB bath. Every time beach towels, suits, etc. need to be laundered, someone has to traipse through their bedroom or bathroom to access the laundry. UGH.

    I also once lived in an apartment where there was a stackable in a closet in the kitchen. (Prime pantry real-estate, if you ask me.) I hated it. It was convenient to fold clothes at the kitchen table, but I hated having clothes sorted on the kitchen floor. It was always a battle.

    I love the idea of combining a mudroom with the laundry room. That, to me, would be ideal from the standpoint of coming through the back door, muddy/snowy/wet/nasty boots or shoes--or even bare feet, and being able to clean off AND promptly remove "offending" clothing items even before entering the rest of the house. Man, that sounds de-LIGHT-ful to me.

    *sigh*

  • User
    10 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    We've had our stacking laundry center, a Frigidaire front loaders, in the kitchen for as long as we have lived here. Of course, that space was the old back porch, and it is separate from the formal kitchen space.

    However, with this remodel which is almost ready to start, we will be putting it in the corner of the expanded kitchen, which will have the front and back walls knocked out to connect the porch to the kitchen, and to the dining room. You won't be able to see it from the dining space though.

    The architect tried to convince me to put it in the new closet in the sitting area to be added to our master suite. No way. I do night laundry too. I will have plenty of counter space beside the laundry center, there is a back door right there, plus the doggy door for our small dachshunds (we have two girls). Since all bedrooms need TWO areas of egress, we had to either make windows that open or a door that opens, so we added a 2nd door onto the deck at the end where we will have our outdoor shower. I LOVE an outdoor shower. We get so grungy from gardening, it is terrible to think about. Right now, DH can strip off inside the existing back door, but he must walk through to his shower. This roomy sunny outdoor shower is on the new deck, blocked from view by the one nosy neighbor who gets on his ROOF to see what we are doing. Then we can walk along the deck to the kitchen door, or merely step through the near door into the bedroom....AFTER cleaning up. It reminds me of a beach house which had a similar setup. While we stayed there, I always chose to bathe and dress there in the fresh air.

    Another reason I did not want the laundry included in the master area, was that we will have our two bedroom house set up as if it has two master suites. Only the other bedroom has no walkin closet, it is simply 7' long, and will also have the use of a second closet in the hallway outside the bath which can be blocked off for privacy when outsiders/visitors might come. Actually, I was thinking the house could be nice for 2 non attached individuals, roommates. In which case, the laundry needs to be in common ground, and the bathrooms need to be in private ground.

    There is a recent floor plan for our remodel job, but a few more changes must be drawn in before we can write the specs and get a bid from our contractor. We'll be using the same contractor as for the master bath and closet, and the Teahouse restoration, Robert DeMouy. This will be our last big home improvement.....it will include reflooring the entire house in the Bellawood 5" select ash, and reroofing the entire house, and adding a small entryway out front. I sweated that, since I thought we were close to the setback line...but we have plenty of room for the little bumpout entry.
    I'm fond of bumpouts, just taking a little bit of space away from our gardens. Now that DH sold his house in MA, we have the funds to do what we want......which isn't a fancy remodel, but it will work for us. Hurricane windows are very expensive, and that is what our new code calls for.

  • shelayne
    10 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Ooh, ML, that outside shower sounds wonderful. Like a beach house. I would LOVE that.

    I am excited to see your remodel as it progresses!

  • User
    10 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Hopefully we can get it started and finished before any hurricane landfalls. I can see us with a roofing job in progress...and new floors ruined......now that HURTS.

  • desertsteph
    10 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I have a laundry room - about 7 x 8 (or 9). It's sort of the 'mud room' entrance from the back side of the house. The back door lines up with the door into the hall on the back end of the kitchen so everything else is to the right of the doorways coming in.

    It has the heat pump - A/C unit in it. space for a small frzr if I had one. I don't so I've stacked shelves on that wall. Then there's room for a w/d - but the flooring isn't down yet so no w/d yet.


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