Preferred Laundry Space

[mrsalvo]

Hi Guys!
Recently read a thread on another site asking what would be your preferred laundry area. The question posed was if you had to choose between a basement or garage what would your choice be. So I'm asking here if you could choose the ideal space, where would you place your washer / dryer and all things laundry in your home and why.

For me, a separate large laundry room / mud room as you come into the house off of the kitchen, totally separate room. My ideal room would have upgraded cabinets with a place to hang finished laundry, a nice sink, and plenty of room to fold the clothes. Very clean and bright. No dinginess or cramped spaces.

In my day, I've seen plenty of dark, dank, dirty basements with a single light bulb (that would flicker) that gave me the creeps, out of a horror movie. I've also seen washers stuck out in the back yard, off an open porch, that looked just soooooo....well whatever. My least favorite place to stick a washer / dryer was in the kitchen, even though many older homes feature this arrangement. Fixing food next to a pile of dirty laundry laying on the floor grosses me out...but that's just me. Guess if I had to choose between the basement or garage, I'd choose the garage, not a separated garage, even though the smell of gasoline might be present.

But alas, I have a cramped utility space that leads to the garage that I make the most of and keep it clean and clutter free. Cant stand to do laundry in a dirty area.

Barry

 

[rp2813]

I would hate a basement laundry.  I wouldn't want to haul loads up and down steps. 

 

An attached garage would be an OK location. 

 

The home we'll be making an offer on has the laundry area just off the kitchen, and there is no door between the two rooms, but at least it's not in the kitchen.

 

I'm used to a laundry sink.  Our potential new place doesn't have room for one, though.  I'll learn to adapt.

 

[maytagbear]

Some places

get too cold in the winter to have the laundry in an unheated garage, just saying.

When we owned our built in 1915 house, the laundry was in the basement. Under-lit, but otherwise OK. Loved the double cement utility tubs!!

Apartments 2-4 had laundry in the kitchen, and I liked it. Two and three had partial walls which sort of separated the food section from the laundry.

First apartment, and this apartment do not have ANY in-suite laundry connections, which makes me extremely sad and broke. Both buildings have on-site laundry rooms on each floor, but the money adds up rapidly.

If I could have my choice next time, it would be in my bathroom.......

Lawrence/Maytagbear

 

[maytagbear]

Some places

get too cold in the winter to have the laundry in an unheated garage, just saying.

When we owned our built in 1915 house, the laundry was in the basement. Under-lit, but otherwise OK. Loved the double cement utility tubs!!

Apartments 2-4 had laundry in the kitchen, and I liked it. Two and three had partial walls which sort of separated the food section from the laundry.

First apartment, and this apartment do not have ANY in-suite laundry connections, which makes me extremely sad and broke. Both buildings have on-site laundry rooms on each floor, but the money adds up rapidly.

If I could have my choice next time, it would be in my bathroom.......

Lawrence/Maytagbear

 

[maytagbear]

Some places

get too cold in the winter to have the laundry in an unheated garage, just saying.

When we owned our built in 1915 house, the laundry was in the basement. Under-lit, but otherwise OK. Loved the double cement utility tubs!!

Apartments 2-4 had laundry in the kitchen, and I liked it. Two and three had partial walls which sort of separated the food section from the laundry.

First apartment, and this apartment do not have ANY in-suite laundry connections, which makes me extremely sad and broke. Both buildings have on-site laundry rooms on each floor, but the money adds up rapidly.

If I could have my choice next time, it would be in my bathroom.......

Lawrence/Maytagbear

 

[askolover]

Well I've never had a basement or a garage with laundry area in it but I think I'd prefer it to be in the basement since I wouldn't want any garage fumes to be sucked into the dryer, mixed with the gas flame, and make my clothes smell funny like when I paint cabinets and trim in the house with oil paint...I can smell the burnt diesel/kerosene odor on the clothes until everything dries and the house airs out.

 

[dermacie]

My home is a 1960s split-level and the laundry is located on the ground floor next to the gameroom. The room contains the furnace double wash tub and a hot water tank. maybe 11'x8'. I always thought that I wanted a laundry next to my kitchen until I saw one, way too small.

 

[vacerator]

Derek,

I like how houses there are built into the raised grades due to hills.
My cousin has a ranch, and the drive slopes down around the back. The garage is part of the basement, with the rec room, and laundry. You need a snow blower for sure with that steep grade.
They put a deck of the kitchen, and stairs down to the yard with a landing half way down. Other houses in their plan (subdivison) have front street level garages and raised front entries.

 

[wayupnorth]

My washer and dryer are in my bathroom as that seems to be where most of the laundry is generated.

 

[philcobendixduo]

Near the bedrooms...

.....would be where I'd place the laundry room. After all, most laundry is returned to bedrooms and areas near the bedrooms so why haul it all over the house? Some new homes being built today are placing the laundry room near the bedrooms and it makes a world of sense to me.

My laundry room is downstairs - a little room leading to the garage. All the bedrooms are upstairs. Lots of going up and down the stairs on laundry day!

 

[ea56]

Our laundry area is located in a closet in the upstairs hallway between the bedrooms and I find it very handy. The downside is that the space is limited because of the depth of the closet. Therfore, most all of the newer FL’s are too deep to fit without removing the bi-fold doors and putting up a curtain to conceal the machines when not in us, something I won’t consider.

But, if I was building a home to order, I’d have an old fashioned laundry room off the kitchen or on a back porch, with at least one laundry tub, so I could have a wringer washer if I wanted.

Unlike many people I am also not adverse to having the machines in the kitchen. The home I spent my teen years in had the washing machine in the kitchen, to the left of the kitchen sink, with a laundry tub in a cabinet next to the washer for the suds saver. We also had a Maytag Wringer for a few years in the kitchen, instead of the Whirlpool automatic. The dryer was out on the open back porch. I never thought this set up was bad,

And when I lived in apartments in my 20’s I had a Maytag A50 twin tub in the kitchen along with a Whirlpool portable dryer. This was very convenient and money saving too. I highly recommened this to anyone living in an apt. You can do almost all your laundry at home this way, save very large items.
Eddie

 

[48bencix]

Had them in all locations

I like this the best, in the Kitchen, down at the end next to the Refrigerator. Our Kitchen is a galley design open to the Family Room above the cook top. First pic is in 2010 before the Speed Queens. Next is the new units in their place. You can throw some laundry in and do other chores. Of course, the best part is to hear the machines work and if you want, run in to lift the lid and see the spin/drain.

 

[turquoisedude]

Me too!

I've had or lived in homes that had laundry equipment located in all three spots.  I prefer a basement installation, with a laundry tub or tubs (gotta use that suds-saver somehow... LOL) but that's probably because of what I have used most.    However as I get older and the ol' joints are starting to scream with every staircase I climb, I can see the utility of having a 'laundry alcove'.  We had such a set-up in our apartment when we lived in downtown Montreal - it was adjacent to, but not in the bathroom, and had a set of folding doors to hide the machines when not in use.  

 

[mrsalvo]

Very much enjoying this thread, always curious to see how others are set up. Enjoying the pictures, post more!!!!

Back when I was a young man, my grandmother had her washer/dryer/laundry sink in the basement. At the age when cousins were getting newly married or started out on their own, some of us would bring our laundry to grandmas and we'd all get together around the washer and visit with coffee and light food while we one of us would do the laundry, usually on the weekends when we were off from work. We'd pitch in and help get the laundry done. It was a family "wash-in" before the days of AW, we were ahead of our time without knowing it!!! Fun times!!!! And none of us wanted to buy a washer/dryer because we all wanted to go to Grandmas. We'd help Grandma around the house too, sadly her knees gave out and she could hardly get up and down those stairs. I miss those days so bad. Good for the soul.

 

[countryguy]

I'd choose to have a laundry room next to the bedrooms after all this is where most of the laundry originates. I'd have a room large enough to include a laundry tub, upper cabinets and floor to ceiling storage as well. I definitely would want to be able to shut the door so that if company arrives unexpectedly, they wouldn't see piles of dirty laundry on the floor waiting to be washed.

Gary

 

[lordkenmore]

Lord Kenmore thinks perhaps it would be best to have one of the wings of the mansion or the ancestral castle be dedicated to laundry. That way, one would have plenty of space, and could perhaps even have special rooms for various machines. Such as "The Laundromat Lounge" for Westinghouse Laundromats, and the Dryer Drawing Room.

[this post was last edited: 3/6/2018-17:38]

 

[lordkenmore]

My dreams of a mansion aside...

 

After years of living in rentals--some worse than others--I'm almost at a point of I don't care...just as long as the equipment works properly! Unfortunately, even that modest request has been problematic at times. For example, I used, for more than a year, a WCI Frigidaire that had trouble with the complexity of going into spin.

 

But thinking of ideals...a part of me really likes the idea of having the washer and dryer near the bedrooms. This seems efficient since most of my laundry historically has been clothes, bathroom towels, and sheets. My only reservation is the concern of the effects of overflowing washing machines and burst hoses. (I shut water off when the washer is off--but a hose can burst while the machine is running...)

 

A basement is lot less handy, but I see some points I like. First, there is more chance of space for more than one machine. Secondly, an older house might have a laundry chute, and I have fond memories of Grandma's laundry chute...

 

 

 

[circlew]

My new laundry room is in the basement, essentially in one end of where the old one was. I considered placing it on the first floor, but it just wouldn't fit into the floor plan unless I added on more than I did. I put in new basement stairs that are wide, have a landing, and good riser to tread ratio, so are easy to use.

 

[gusherb]

My current laundry is in the kitchen. I never liked how cramped the closet is and that it's a step up from the kitchen floor (good when I had a FLer though). But that closet is so small only an LG or SQ FLer would fit, or a TL machine. I like the convenience of having it in the kitchen but I'd prefer a spacious laundry room.