Thanks for responding! Yes, we will have a top loader. I am thinking that framing up a small closet under the stairs will be the way to go for the vacuum and brooms, etc. The space to the left of it can be lower shelves with one set of drawers and space for hampers. To the left of the dryer, i think we can do some open shelves, or stash a drying rack or something. We can do a hanging rack on the left side of the room, maybe a single upper shelf over the washer/dryer/sink side. I am not sure what the simplest thing will be for the door for the closet under the stairs. It will be just shy of 60" tall. Can we just cut down a regular door? I am sure our contractor can help with that question. Good point on offsetting the ironing board- I would not have thought of that. Thanks for the input!

I have an ironing board built into my cabinet surround in my new laundry set up that I had installed in my new bathroom remodel this past year. It was a total remodel and I spent lots of time planning. I "general contracted" the job, I did the layout to the room, the cabinet layout and specs, painting, and tiling. I wanted an ironing board too. I could not fit a wall mounted board, so I found a drawer type and it has worked very well for me. Hafele and Rev-a-Shelf make them. I spec'd Hafele and ended up with Rev-a-Shelf because my cabinet person, who ordered the setup I had planned, got it wrong. She got several things wrong, but thats another story. I still have the option for a change out, but I haven't found the need, other than to prove my consumer point. Sometimes I just don't want to press my luck :) I will bombard you with pictures, lol. Note that I have LED lighting with infrared on/off switch activated by the door, and an outlet for my iron. I have to have the door open before I pull out my board because it rises up and prevents the door from opening. Only a minor inconvenience. Access to mechanicals: Bottom shelf of the mid cabinet with a false back that I had put in so I could break down the unit for cleaning and emergency water shut off. My power to the w/d is on the back wall below the bottom open shelving where I have my towels and a woven gray basket, seen in the first picture above. The upper cabinet can be removed to access the plumbing for the shower that is on the other side of the partial wall on the right. I planned this access and ended up using it right away cause the plumber got the rough-in Hansgrohe i-Box plumbed wrong for the shower head I used :/ I love my set up for the ironing board. I would have used a wall one if I had the wall space available, just because that was what I thought was available. When I went looking I found this unit and have been very pleased. Regarding the flooring, I have tile in this room, and hardwood just to the outside in my hall. I didn't want wood in the bathroom, because I was worried about too many leak potentials.

Perfect Post since a friend was here and was helping me with my laundry room to neaten it up and told me my ironing board behind my door was too low on the wall blocking the central air and the central heat and I need to not be using a tennis racket holder for it but get something more sturdy. In my other place I had it not secured on the wall but leaning on the wall behind the door and when I leaned on the door to get better hold of a big storage box, the ironing board sprang open. It knocked me down. I gave up that night working and thought that was a sign to go to bed. went to bed with the worst headache. I got up in the middle of the night and passed out hitting my head so hard against the floor! I had a concussion and had to get a Cat Scan. My headaches lasted for over 6 months and they were bad headaches. So now I have string tied around the ironing board making it difficult to take on and off as well as having it secured in this racket holder. I need to iron my wrinkled clothes but I hardly ever use it now. It is old, so maybe this is a perfect time to buy a smaller one that closes easier and a better holder for it and then maybe I will iron again. :) I will update everyone. Thank you for this post!

I agree with gardenwebcupofkindness in regards to moving the washer/dryer to the end of the room if possible. Dh and I live in slightly older construction. Our laundry room is a small 6 ft wide pass-through to the garage. We had a terrible time finding larger capacity front loaders that would fit in this space. Do you already have the machines? Do you know the install depth from the wall? We eliminated a lot of machines just because of the dimensions available to us- the 6 ft I have, where you show 5'4" is not a lot of working space for me, especially once the doors are open. If you want to save more space, or don't want to move the washer/dryer to the end of the room, maybe having the W/D stacked and then a separate work table might be an idea? I would stack ours, except that there is a lot of existing shelving overhead that would have to be removed and redesigned first. Also, I had planned to put a counter top over our machines too. Turns out even though our machines are high end enough, the company does not make the accessory of a counter that snaps on top. No problem, we would just install our own- but then we realized that made the area harder to use, and almost impossible if the machines needed service of any kind (including us unplugging them or accessing the dryer vent to clean it, etc). In a small space, there is just nowhere to slide the machine away and then get back there. If you do go with a counter-over machines, I would look for something that could be easily lifted off and removed from the area, for easier servicing. As ours ended up, I put a huge towel over the tops of the machines and just work on them like a counter top anyway. You don't want to put much weight on it, but what are you doing in there, except maybe folding some stuff? Anyway, that was some of the issues we dealt with when shifting from a top loader to a front loader in a narrow space. I hope that experience helps you some.