skip to main content

Building a Home

mudroom cubby height-need help!

16 years ago

I am planning on a drop-off area that will have a bench, a row of hooks, and cubbies above the hooks. I plan on having outlets in the cubbies to charge cell phones, digital cameras, etc. I met with the electrician today, and I have to decide where to put the outlets, soooo I have to decide the height of the cubbies.

What are your dimensions?

Thanks!

Sort by:Oldest

Comments (5)

oruboris
16 years ago
Not sure it's the best spot for chargers-- it may be a little high for that sort of thing.

For instance: if your bench is 18 inches, you'll want the hook at least 40 inches above that for an adult, bottom-of-bum coat [add more for mid thigh or knee length]. You'll want 4 inches above the hook to conveniently reach the coats on and off...

That gets you to 62 inches, or 5 foot 2, not counting the thickness of the board that forms the bottom of the cubby.

You can wrestle a few inches off that, but more than a few and you'll start to loose functionality.

I'd place a storage tower [made to match the cubby system] at one end of the bench with some drawers below for gloves [etc.], a counter height charging zone, and some shelves above for whatever.
jennymama
Original Author
16 years ago
Thanks for the measurements, oruboris. I've made tooooo many decisions the last 2 weeks and my mind is on overload!

I will go down to the house and measure (I think I had it at about 5'6"...but I was thinking it may be hard to reach the back to plug the chargers in). One of my concerns was hitting our heads getting up or down or leaning over.

I think a storage tower is a wonderful idea. Wish I would've thought about it sooner! Unfortunately there just isn't the space to do the tower (It is only 4'or 5' long). But I will go down and look anyway, cuz it is an excellent idea!
Related Discussions
Need help with mudroom layout
Q
Comments (3)
How many lockers/cubbies do you want? And what is it do you not like about the layout of the six cubbies that are shown on the plans? Or, are you looking for suggestions for details on cubby design? (i.e., how tall? whether to have open storage for shoes underneath or some kind of shoe drawers, whether to enclose the tops or leave them open, how many hooks for jackets? etc?) You are right that the mud room is "large" but due to the various door placements, you are still pretty limited in what you can do with the room because you HAVE no choice but to to keep a "free aisle-way space" between every pair of doors. Thus, unfortunately, most of the mud-room space is necessarily "hallway". If it is not to late to do a little bit of reframing... consider flipping the 3070 door and shifting it over as close to the garage as possible. Then you would be able to have cubbies or closed lockers lined up all along the entire right hand wall. You have nearly 12 ft there so plenty of room for a great set of cubbies/lockers. If you do that, I'd probably just do simple bench seating under the window next to the patio on the left plus a few extra coat hooks on the walls on that side of the mud room. Or, I might put a "drop zone" countertop there with a cabinet underneath for stuff like recycling bins and space above (but still under the window) for mail, family scheduling calendars etc. Or you might want to enlarge the window above the countertop a little bit to let a bit more light into the mudroom. Other than that, about the only thing you might do other than what is shown on the diagram might be to line two sets of three or four cubbies up along either side of the double pocket doors leading to the living room and put a "drop zone" cabinet against the garage wall as you come in thru the 3070 door. If you do this, whoever uses the cubbies on the left side of the mud room will have to to deal with the space in front of their cubby being a relatively narrow "hallway". Plus you would have to stress to the carpenters installing the cubbies that there are POCKET DOORS in those walls and that they MUST NOT nail into the door pockets. (Good luck with that!)
...See More
Mudroom cubbies
Q
Comments (8)
I really like your inspiration pictures. Now, I get what you are doing. as pretty as that top section is, it's not very practical I'm afraid. I don't know how old your kids are but as they get older those top spaces are a great place to throw sports bags and basketballs and stuff like that instead of using the bench portion which will inevitably be used for book bags. The book bags get so heavy as they progress in school, you don't want them to be hung on your hooks. Besides that the hooks will be occupied with tons of stinky sweatshirts, lol. At least that is my experience. if you want to use with your plan, I see no reason why your doors can't be used. Just insist on it and use two hinges. It is indeed pretty. Doing the seat portion in a dark color is smart! I did not and it is not great looking years later. i love the idea of an open bench area as mentioned above since in my house no one uses their own locker and no one sits on the bench to put on their shoes.
...See More
Help! Need mudroom ideas
Q
Comments (4)
I would consider putting doors b/w Laundry Room and the Mudroom. It may not bother you, but I don't like having my dirty (or clean) laundry on display for everyone to see when using the Mudroom. The above looks a lot like SoonerMagic's Mudroom from 2008...
...See More
Need help with kitchen/mudroom floorplan
Q
Comments (1)
Bedroom 1 has the bed on a bathroom wall. It would be better to flip that room and bath 1 so the baths plumbing is on the same wall. Or put the master bath plumbing on the master closet side so the bed in bedroom 1 isn't on the plumbing wall. The office looks too small to have two people sit at 90 degrees. A long desk shared side by side would keep you from backing into each other.
...See More
kelntx
16 years ago
oruboris - the storage tower is a great idea! Jenny I am wanted to do a the same thing! If you get yours built first will you share pictures?! DH wants to build ours....I may never get it................
Kelly :-)
hoosiergirl
16 years ago
I don't know if this will help since you wanted your cubbies above, but here's our mudroom:

The bench is 22" high & 15" deep. The cubbies are each 16" wide and the opening is 8" tall. Hope that helps! I LOVE our mudroom!!!
soonermagic
16 years ago
I would steer you away from using top cubbies for your charging station. I read that idea here and built it. Sounds exactly like what you describe. Bench, with four open lockers with hooks and a cubby above each locker. I put an outlet in each cubby and thought I'd use it as for charging cell phones and I-pods. Once it was built, though, the top cubbies are way too tall to use as charging stations, unless we use the bench as a step up to the cubby, which is not what I envisioned. I'm 5-4, and I think the cubby begins at 5-6 or so. I ended up having the cabinet maker add doors to the top cubbies.

A tower as described above would be a perfect solution.

We're moving in two weeks from today (provided that the closing goes as scheduled). The mudroom is still a mess. Apparently, the subs find the lockers convenient for stacking things as they come in and out the back door. I'll post a picture when the construction mess gets cleaned up in there.

Related Stories

STANDARD MEASUREMENTS Key Measurements to Help You Design Your Home

Architect Steven Randel has taken the measure of each room of the house and its contents. You’ll find everything here

MUDROOMS 4 High-Performing Mudroom Ideas

By Mitchell Parker

Looking for entryway ideas with plenty of storage? Here’s how to make hooks, cubbies and drawers look great

Help! 5 Questions for Design Stars

By Annie Thornton

Do You Have an Answer for This Week's Design Dilemmas?

BATHROOM DESIGN Key Measurements to Help You Design a Powder Room

By Steven Corley Randel, Architect

Clearances, codes and coordination are critical in small spaces such as a powder room. Here’s what you should know

BATHROOM MAKEOVERS Room of the Day: See the Bathroom That Helped a House Sell in a Day

By Annie Thornton

Sophisticated but sensitive bathroom upgrades help a century-old house move fast on the market

Ideabook 911: Help Me Finish My Foyer

By Becky Harris

SELLING YOUR HOUSE Help for Selling Your Home Faster — and Maybe for More

By Laura Gaskill

Prep your home properly before you put it on the market. Learn what tasks are worth the money and the best pros for the jobs

DECLUTTERING Downsizing Help: Choosing What Furniture to Leave Behind

By Becky Dietrich, Interior Designer

What to take, what to buy, how to make your favorite furniture fit ... get some answers from a homeowner who scaled way down

Storage Help for Small Bedrooms: Beautiful Built-ins

By Becky Harris

Squeezed for space? Consider built-in cabinets, shelves and niches that hold all you need and look great too

SMALL SPACES Downsizing Help: Storage Solutions for Small Spaces

By Becky Dietrich, Interior Designer

Look under, over and inside to find places for everything you need to keep

Sponsored

More Discussions

Horrible Marvin Ultimate quality

18

Help me locate this tile manufacturer or where to find it please pleas

7

New Build floors

2

Help with kitchen design! Prep sink vs pot filler??

32

How to compensate for an off-center window?

17