What's the history behind this "custom"?

[browncow]

It seems that for laundry pairs, both old and new, the washer is depicted occupying the left side and the dryer the right side, almost all of the time.

What's the logic or history behind this?

I can see where it would make sense with machines with side hinges. Still, the engineers had to have a reason to go one way or the other when designing the machines.

For machines with rear or bottom-hinged openings, it wouldn't seem to matter, though I can see advantages to having the dryer on the right for the average right-handed person when transferring the load from one machine to the other.

 

[MrX]

Our miele set has the dryer on the left and the washer on the right.

The dryer is hinged on the left and the washer on the right, so it makes perfect sense.

 

[peterh770]

Two guesses...

One is that most people are righthanded. So the lady of the house would stand on the left side of the wringer washer to wring into the first rinse bath, and stand on the side of the second rinse bath to wring into the awaiting basket. So the basket sat on the right side of the wringer in front of the final rinse sink... (my WAG) (we really need to make a movie of how a wringer is used)

Second is that our good friends at Kenmore decided to hinge the washer lid on the left side, leaving the control panel exposed. Maybe this was to follow Bendix' lead as their front door was hinged on the left. So if Bendix was a top seller by the time Kenmore gained popularity, if the housewife was lucky enough to have a dryer to go with her washer (and had room next to the washer), it would have already been installed to the right of the washer.

Anyone know for sure how the first Hamilton dryer doors were hinged?

 

[peterh770]

Most Euro machines are hinged opposite for the same reason they drive on the left side of the road.

 

[panthera]

Peter

Only the British drive on the left side of the road. The rest of us in Europe drive on the right side. Since the English made so very many contributions to motor vehicles I am surprised that not more countries follow their pattern.
Every drier I have bought in the last 20 some odd years, like every refrigerator has reversible hinges.
Some washer doors open to the right, some to the left.
I imagine the left washer right drier is a remnant of the wringer days - back when washdays were followed by sad-iron days, I imagine women were thankful for every step or motion less.

 

[panthera]

Peter

Only the British drive on the left side of the road. The rest of us in Europe drive on the right side. Since the English made so very many contributions to motor vehicles I am surprised that not more countries follow their pattern.
Every dryer I have bought in the last 20 some odd years, like every refrigerator has reversible hinges.
Some washer doors open to the right, some to the left.
I imagine the left washer, right dryer setup is a remnant of the wringer days - back when washdays were followed by sad-iron days, I imagine women were thankful for every step or motion less.

 

[panthera]

ah, the joys of sticky mice buttons,

Sorry 'bout the second post...

 

[rp2813]

It doesn't make any sense to me that all doors aren't reversible. Growing up, the washer was on the left, next to the sink. I had mine configured the same way in a rental I lived in, based on the location of the laundry sink or standpipe. When my partner and I bought the place we're in now, the sink was on the right so the washer had to be on the right. It was a center dial so the way the lid opened wasn't a factor, and with the dryer hinged on the left things worked out fine. When I replaced that pair with an Amana set, I had to reverse the dryer door. It seemed like the manufacturers assumed that the most common configuration was washer on the left. This holds true with my new Duet HT pair. The washer door is not reversible and is hinged on the left. I had to reconfigure everything, re-install a shorter gas line to the dryer, and purchase extra long supply lines for the washer. Fortunately, Whirlpool provided a long enough drain hose to go past the dryer and into the laundry sink. I'm used to the new set-up but it would have saved me a lot of work up front if the doors on both machines were reversible. This seems like a no-brainer for any manufacturer. Since I live in a neighborhood of stamped-out late 50's ranch homes, there are mirror image floor plans so half of the homes wouldn't have had to do what I did to install my Duets, but the other half would. Seems like a good argument for reversible doors to me.

 

[exploder3211]

LoL.. I much prefer the washer on the left, dryer on the right. Easier to me, esp. with a left hand Kenmore!! Ours here in the apt. is across from one another. With the hamper door open on the dryer its a tight squeeze some times..

 

[gadgetgary]

Perhaps because we read and write left to right, we expect things to flow that way.

Also this direction is the natural motion of the right hand(as Mr. Toggles, the 'backwards' lefty, just pointed out to me).

 

[tomturbomatic]

Hamilton dryer doors were hinged on the right as were many except for Maytag. The Bendix washer in today's POD has a door hinged on the left. The matching dryer had the door hinged on the right, just like when Westinghouse had the side swing door on the mid 60s flat front Laundromat, the door was hinged on the left so that clothing could be easily loaded into the dryer which had the door hinged on the right. When my Maytag dryer had to be to the left of the washer, I kept a band aid on the front of the washer where the door knob rested when the dryer door was opened. I wonder if the majority of built-in dishwashers are to the left of the sink?

 

[hoovermatic]

If I had a front loading machine I would prefer the drier on top!

 

[jetcone]

In my basement

I have washers on the right and on the left and dryers on the left and on the right, so there is no symmetry here thats for sure. And Combos in the middle!!