You know, at this point in my life, I might be happy with one that wasn't across the small house in an unfinished basement. Lots of light and rigged up with an ironing board and iron and not shared with a toilet in the same room.

Actually I spend so much time in my laundry room, I wish there was a toilet in there! LOL

I just lost my laundry room (5 x 8 with THREE doors in it) to my kitchen remodel. I wiped out the door from the laundry room to the bathroom and am installing a Blue Star 60" range where the washer/dryer once sat. It was VERY convient right off the kitchen but NO space for folding. I had a cabinet/ironing board that company used mostly because if I have to iron - I need entertainment so I take a folding ironing board to my living room and SIT and iron.
I had cabinets above the W/D for soaps, iron, etc - that was great. Three entry doors in one little room made it impossible to sort clothes on the floor space.

I moved the w/d into a full bathroom and LOST the bathtub/shower so I could install the W/D. We have 5 bathrooms but this was the MAIN guest bathroom. The tiolet is still used alot. I am really missing my bathtub/shower for guests and especially my 2 year old grand daughters bathes. We have another bathtub - just at the other end of the hall and the furtherest point away from her bedroom and the pool side of the house.

I am PRAYING that in a few years my husband will give in and build a garage that will connect the house to the exsisting garage (that he has turned into workshop) and I will then have a dedicated laundry room with more space built inside the new garage area. As for now - my set up is no better and maybe worse than what I had. I am going to have to have a custom cabinet built over the w/d for storage because my husband does not want a shelf with everything showing. The room is again too small to sort clothes or fold them. If my controls were in the front and not on the TOP of the w/d - I could install a folding shelf across the top of the washer/dryer so I wouldn't loose "things" down the sides and inbetween. That said - I just came up with a posibility. A slide out shelf? Maybe not.

Anyway, when we designed a possible new home I designed a HUGE laundry room with space for my flower vases so I could arrange flowers in an area that could hide my mess if I didn't get it cleaned up before the company arrived.

I would like an open below the counter shelf where different colored baskets held "white" "colored" "red" clothes for sorting. I would LOVE a folding area and hanger storage so I could hang things immediately. I would love cabinets to store extra tiolet paper, paper towels and cleaning supplies for the house up high out of reach for children. I would love a pantry size cabinet that I could roll my mop and mop bucket into and store brooms, vaccum cleaner. IF my room had a big window I would love my sewing machine and all supplies to live there but in our design - it was going to be in the middle of the house - no window. If you loved crafts - storage and work space for crafts would be wonderful. You have the work sink covered and I would have a counter space next to the sink to use for stain removal-which is ongoing at my house.

You have a GREAT space and long and narrow is perfect I think because a big middle floor space is usless.

Oh, tile. You COULD lay a less slippery tile on the floor. We re-tiled nearly our whole house in a tile that has enough roughness to it that we don't slip when coming into the house soaking wet from the pool.

Good luck and post pictures when finished.

We recently remodeled (created?) our laundry room. We went with ceramic tile because it goes with the rest of the house and I love it for cleaning up and spilling water, etc. I thought about the jentle jet laundry but decided I wanted a place where I didn't have to worry about what went in there- just went with a free-standing sink next to the washer which is probably my favorite part of the room! The Kenmore Elite washer and dryer with the pedestal are great. I hid the washer controls in the cabinet above. I debated the counter or table for folding clothes and while I temporarily used a rectangular folding table for folding the laundry I realized that it was the perfect dimension for the "counter" at 30" deep so that's what I use. I came up with that while laying out the potental area and it worked out great.

If I had it to do again, I would definitely put in a closet! It would be great to have someplace for the unwashed laundry. I would also put in some drying racks for things like sweaters that need to be reshaped and dried flat. I've seen some online that fold back into the wall but I still don't have the room.

I am in a similar process. Here's what I'm hoping to do:

1. counterrop built over the washer and dryer so that there's a place to fold clothes. This means that you would have to have machines w/ front controls. This part I did. Bought the Danby FL and Frigidaire dryer. See related post.

2. Built in ironing board into wall.

3. Pet shower. Also good for boot/vegetable washing. Sounds frivoluous, but if you're country people, have a garden, etc., this will help a lot w/ mud in the main part of the house.

4. Deep, two bowl sink of some indestructible material, built in.

5. One nice big window at the end, perhaps to let in as much natural light as possible.

6. A place to hang those freshly ironed clothes.

7. At least a small broom closet for the swiffer, vacuum, etc.

Please post pics when you're done!

What everyone else said, plus...

A big TV to watch while I iron.

Awesome ideas - I'm really rethinking the counterspace around the sinks now. Its a great idea to do the flower arranging in there! When I talked with my GC I forgot to add a length of counter for folding and extra cabinets (which I could always find SOMETHING to store).

Do you have recommendations for countertop material? I'll die before seeing another piece of granite come into this house (3 slabs worth in the kitchen/lanai!). Laminite is the only one that doesn't have a sq.ft. minimum but I have memories of them lifting up.

Are ironing centers worth the $$? I'm seeing them on-line for around $400, which seems high for a task I'd rather pay someone else to do!

My GC is suggesting Laminate for the laundry room. I am tempted to go with a dark color to hide stains, since it will be used as a utility area at times. I am thinking about an LG front loader & dryer. Also like Druidclark am putting in a pet shower. My GC wants to use a mop basin, tile walls and a shower hose to faucet. Does this sound good? We have 2 Standard Poodles and I know the shower will get used for muddy kid feet too. Also want an upright Freezer. Tired of digging for food!

I was so tempted to go with red countertops for the over the FL washer and dryer but I stuck to a white (actually marble look with muted colors of white). This, and a lot of light, has helped with seeing and treating stains and sorting socks out of the dryer. I am going to replace the laminate with a solid surface and will go with a white-ish.

I use the counter for a staging area for parties.

Consider making the folding area part of the counter top at waist height. This means you can stand and fold or fiddle with flowers or whatever without bending over. In most Laundromats I've used, the folding surfaces are higher than your standard kitchen counter.

I have my laundry-folding surface and also a large cutting table for sewing at waist height and it can make a big difference when you are standing for a long time and working with objects on the counter top.

When the work surface is lower, I end up with pain in my lower back because I have to bend just a bit to reach the work surface. It's a subtle difference in posture, but if you are standing there and working for any length of time, it adds up.

Just another option to consider.

CMC

My dream laundry room has space (probably above the w/d) for cleaning supplies and detergents, is not in my garage where the machines can gather dust, or be used as countertops when DH is brewing his beer, the washer does not drain into the sink, there's a broom closet that can hold the vacuum, too.

I like the idea of the mop sink/shower area.

A fold-out ironing board would be grand; my kitchen (20's) originally had one, but the ironing board and door are long gone, just leaving the long, narrow recession in the wall.

But hey, I'm happy to have a roof over my head and a new washing machine to play with!

If it's possible put a drain in the floor. Very handy for cleaning the laundry room and also handy if an accident occurs with lots of water.

My dream laundry room is one that includes a laundress - LOL. Actually, I saw my dream one in a home that I otherwise described as "Early Prozac" (everything was in shades of silvery gray). It was a laundry room/mudroom and the only room I liked in the whole house. It had large windows, a folding counter adjacent to the dryer with shelves underneath, a fold-out ironing board, counters with shelves underneath for present-wrapping and other projects, crafts shelves above that surface, a TV, a cabinet for mops/brooms etc, and cubbies for each family member. It also had a 2-person bench with a boot rack underneath and several chairs so that people could work together on projects or keep each other company. So what do I have? A laundry alcove adjacent to my kitchen but I sure love the convenience!!

My dream would be to have a larger space than the 6 x 8' one we are adding on presently!
However, my plan has a room with a pocket door to save space, the w/d will be Mieles, stacked, next to an outside wall, with a shelf above for laundry stuff, and a "partition" type wall on the other side with small shelves for other "sink-side" items. A counter and sink are adjacent to that partition. It is a small sink, and I plan to have a cover made for it so the counter top can be used entirely when folding laundry. But, I can't decided what sort of counter top material to use. Any suggestions? A closet rod will run above the counter.
The other side of the room will have shelves, and a small bench with a fold up top, with storage beneath, so a person can sit while removing muddy/snowy boots. Boot and mitten "cubbies", and lots of coat hooks also.

My last house had my dream laundry room and I loved it. The main part was 8 by 14. Plus you walked thru an alcove which housed a freezer and shelves for TP etc to get to it. Along the long wall was a deep cast iron laundry sink, w/d then a built in shelving unit. Each shelf had a pull out basket. Each person in the family had a designated basket. Cabs above w/d. On the end wall was a large window and under the window were 4 bins, white, colored, dark and delicate. I had enough width to keep an ironing board in the up position and I had a small TV hanging from the wall. This space was borrowed from our garage (we still had a 2 car). Instead of tiling, I faux painted the floor to look like tile.

We just redid our laundry room, too. Actually, we redid the kitchen and our new laundry room was our old kitchen. We took out everything and started from scratch. It is also a pantry/serving area, too, so we had to squeeze a lot of things into a relatively small space (8 x 10). There is a fridge, which has come in extremely handy and was something I fought hard to keep out (turns out dh was right about that), washer/dryer, sink, and folding counter along with pantry and cabinets.

I didn't have a huge budget for it so I bought cheap travertine for the floor (HD, $1.98 sq ft) and reused my old fridge and washer/dryer. I was going to use laminate for the counter, but because there is one area that needed to be notched, the cost was kind of high. I got Ikea butcher block instead for $120 plus $20 for the wood backsplash trim. The cheapest laminate I could get for that space was over $300.

I have a double-swing door (no room for a pocket) so I can open it with my hands full and it closes automatically. It also holds open in each direction at about 90 degrees. I have reed glass in it so I don't accidentally bonk anyone on my way out.

I also bought the MTI sink. At first I was tempted to get the Jentle Jet, but it required an outlet, more space, and was hugely more expensive than the same sink without the jets. It seemed to me it was more of a gimmick than anything since you still have to manually drain the water and rinse the handwashables. I do love the jetless sink, though - it has the washboard front, is nice and deep and has a soap holder. It was a little over $100.

I use my counter for folding clothes, hobbies, and serving prep. I have to disagree with making the counter taller than a kitchen counter. I find it much, much easier to fold at a lower height, but then I'm pretty short. I made my counter height 34" in the laundry room.

I also have very long drawers for wrapping paper and hobby supplies. I have a pullout that houses my sewing machine with a tabletop above it that pulls out. It has an outlet in the cabinet so it can be left plugged in and I just have to lift it up to the pullout table when I'm ready to sew.

Above the washer/dryer I have a cabinet that has doors on either side and open shelves in the center. I left one section of cabinets opposite the fridge as open shelves also. I have a few regular uppers and between the W/D and the fridge there is a ~2' wide x 2' deep, floor-to-ceiling pantry with pullouts all the way up.

I found a fold-down drying rack at Target that I like. It mounts on the wall and is white wire. It's almost flush to the wall when closed, then opens out once for hanging dainties with a drying shelf above and opens out again to make a large drying shelf. I'm trying to decide whether or not to put in a rod, but so far I haven't really needed one so I may skip that.

A couple of things I DON'T have that I wish I did are: broom-type closet where I could keep my step-stool and ironing board, or a built-in ironing board (but I don't have anyplace to put one).

Here is a picture of the counter side. Across from that is the fridge/pantry/washer/dryer wall.

First - thank you for these great ideas and pics
Second - sorry I didn't reply for so long!
Third - my laundry room...7 months later is still in progress.

The room is now 7x22, the water heater is enclosed with a door, and a folding table lays 4' across between the door and the wall (it folds down for accessing the heater). My GC was able to get a small amount of solid surface counter for the counter and the folding table. In retrospect, the butcher block would have been a great option! I have a 60" pantry that goes nearly to the ceiling for storage in addition to the top and bottom cabinets around the w/d and sinks. My sinks will be installed next week. My new favorite thing is my clothespin cabinet pulls :)

I love the idea of a pull out table, the TV, and stashing the ironing board in the pantry. I plan to put a rolling laundry cart under my folding table and maybe storing my laundry basket under one of the sinks. I am considering adding rods on the wall near the folding table for wrapping paper.

As for the idea of covering the sink for extra foldnig space...my mother does this with her range top for serving dishes at parties. It works awesome!

I'll post again soon with pictures of the progress!

where did you get clothes pin cabinet pulls? i'm looking for something cute to do in my new laundry room!

I also have the clothes pin cabinet pulls- I found them at home depot-Expo. They're (they look like?) brushed nickel and everyone that sees them likes them!

A year ago we got to build our dream home on our ranch and my utility room was very important to me and I put much thought into it....here is what I ended up with:

Size: 12'W x 16'L
Tiled floor
Tiled backsplash
Large, deep cast iron sink with pull out sprayer
Built in Cabinets on both sides
40" Drip Dry Bar with Drain
Washer and Dryer (F&P) are recessed with a drain
Two large closets, one for ranch type coats, etc. the other with shelves, for cleaning products, vaccum cleaner, brooms, etc.
Built in TV
Piped in Stereo
Large picture window
Ceiling fan
Under counter lighting
Silestone countertops
I really went overboard and even had crown molding put in there to match the rest of the house...lol

This is also our schnauzer's room, so she enjoys it, too! ha

I really do love it, have a wonderful view, down the hill, of a pond on our ranch, only trouble is, now I'm living in Houston, so don't get to enjoy it nearly enough, but someday, I will!!! Sure makes doing laundry a lot more fun! That is if we get back there before I'm too old to remember what all that stuff is even for!

Oh raybeck! I love the idea of piped in stereo! Do you find 40" of drip dry bar to be too much or just right? I bought a wall mounted extending/collapsing drying rack to fit above my utility sink.

Despite having started the project how many moons ago, I finally fired my contractor for not completing the work...so its STILL only half done. I LOVE my swanstone utility sink and am anxiously waiting for my handyman to install the faucet this week on my MTI jentle jet sink. My handwash is piling up in excitment. I've ended up paying way more $ than I wanted to on Moen Camerist faucets due to contractor stupidity.

Also, due to miserable contractor, my cabinets are a total fiasco. Still waiting for uppers.

I'm now planning on adding shelving near the top of the opposing wall to the cabinets to place my lifelong goofy collection of snow globes. DH is trying to figure out if we should construct the shelves out of crown molding or regular shelving (it only needs to be 2-3" deep.

The clothespin pulls are by Micheal Aram. I had to order them online. Try www.michaelaram.com or www.knobsandthings.com

ugly duckling, sorry, just now saw your post, haven't been on in several weeks and yes, the 40" of drip dry seems fine for our needs, we no longer have kids at home, and I don't have a huge amount of things that require drip drying, so I use it more for just hanging things as they come out of the dryer, but it sure works for me!

You're laundry room sounds like it's coming a long very nicely, I know you will enjoy it immensely!!! :)

Mine would have an in wall beer fridge with wet-bar, and a robotic folder and ironing rig.

LOL, Weedly, might as well just throw in a robotic maid for good measure, too!!!

For me living in a 100 year old house that was converted into 2 appartments. I can't have all the latest luxury item in laundry room furnishings. I am slowly workin on a bit of a fix up and freshining to the place. my laundry is in the basement. a basement that looks alot like the one from the movie Home Alone, dark and scary. after I get the upper floors done I want to repaint the walls down there with white masanary paint to brighten it up. Then I would like to move my washer and dryer to the front, put in a simple sink, a table to fold on and cover the cement floor with someting durable and easy to clean. some better lighting would be nice too.

I'll bet lighting and flooring in a scary basement will make a fantastic, homey difference! Since my laundry was originally the garage I also have masonry walls. I painted them and hung framed pictures to take away the harshness.

Ugly_duckling, how do you like the Jentle Jet? I'm considering one now to put in my kids bathroom which is right next to my laundry area in the hallway. Do the jets have enough power to get grit out from under one's fingernails after gardening?? I know they can be adjusted. I want to use it for hand-washables as well as soaking my son's feet and hands when he's been having too much fun in the sand and dirt outside. Would the Jentle Jet work for both these reasons in your opnion? Thanks.

Interesting thread. My laundry room is too crowded and smelly. There's a chest freezer and cat litter box in there. I'd like to re-locate both elsewhere.

In our last laundry room it was separated from the rest of the house by a dutch door....ingenious for dog owners. You can corral the pooch when you don't want to grant him/her free roam...yet the pooch is happier being able to see out. We didn't have a dog then and don't now but I've filed it away for the future!

If I had it to do over, I'd put my laundry room in my attached garage. I'd rather take my laundry out of my house since I've had my washer blow up and leave water all over my floors (not since I have my new FL).
My washer could have danced across the floor and I would never have known it, no spin cycle to listen to, lol.
I really don't want my laundry room so close to my carpeted part of my house and when tile gets wet it's hard to walk on (no matter what tile you use) and as for my wood floors, well I'd rather not get them too wet. I think plain cement flooring would be perfect in my opinon.

Holly

I like that our laundry room has a door to the back yard, perhaps left over from the days when laundry was hung to dry in the fresh air? We are putting a refrigerator in it, which will be handy when entertaining outdoors and will (theoretically) help keep the kitchen cleaner.

While we will have plenty of counter space (using a front-load washer helps there), the sink will be at the short end of an "L", leaving little room on one side of it. We don't think that will present a problem, but one is often surprised at how things actually work vs. how they were expected to work.

We're still wrestling with countertop material selection. Using a solid surface such as Corian, granite, or manmade quartz material will give an extra 1" of sink depth. We're going with a stainless sink with a disposal, in case any floral arranging or food preparation is done there, and putting a fold-down drying rack over it. The floor already has a drain.

I will (unexpectedly) have space for a 7 1/2' x 14' laundry between our new garage and new kitchen. I've worked on the kitchen for the last year, but not the laundry! This is an interesting and helpful thread! I'd never thought of a drain in the laundry room.

I need design ideas, though. Would anyone post plans and or pics of your laundry room?

My dream laundry room is about to be slightly modified but it is a dream. It's about 13'x10'. All cabinets are built-in and I have a single pane french door that leads to a deck plus a window so there's lot's of light. One side consists of room for my ironing board to always be down. I have a great heavy duty stainless drying rack and hanger that is positioned over the heating vent on the floor. I have a Jiffy 4000 steamer. I have a built in craft table with cabinets above and to the side that house my sewing machine, craft supplies, wrapping paper and ribbon and all my dog grooming equipment. I have 2 Bichons so I have a grooming table on the craft table as well.

The other side is long counter all the way with a 47" dual stainless steel built-in sink at the end. I wanted it large enough so a bucket could go on one side and I could still wash a dog on the other. I have a TV mounted under cabinet that I can't image living without, makes folding and ironing tolerable. Under counter, I have a True (Bev-Aire) restaurant grade double frig. That is where I keep my cocktails to make ironing tolerable....joking,maybe. I use it to store drinks for the kids and really use the extra space when entertaining as I can stage huge platters of food, etc. Above is all built-in storage for linens, rags, pool towels, dog shampoo, etc.

Modification will be happening very soon. When I designed it, I used undercounter washer and dryer but not only are they on their last leg but their capacity no longer can serve our family of 4. I'm going to cut into my beautiful long counter and put in some LG Steams. It will no longer be one long counter but I believe it's a sacrafice I have to make for capacity. i will also change to stone on counters.

Unless someone has a really huge undercounter washer and dryer they can recommend, the demo may start this weekend. I designed this laundry room when we did an addition about 7 years ago. I've yet to see a laundry that I love more than mine.

Our laundry room sees a lot of action, to put it mildly. No time for detail right now, but I want to mention that I used one of these sinks and I love it. We took the legs off and built it in, so hat I could have storage underneath. I wish I had added a garbage disposal for left over pet food because that's the room where the pets eat--oh, and a water filter for their water, which I will add one of these days.

My dream laundry room would be one that is entirely stainless steel with a self wash feature and a robot to do the laundry for me. LOL!

bichoncoco, you have fit in a lot of things in your laundry! It's nice yours is wide enough to have things on both sides. I have an LG Steam set. I really like it, and they have not had a moments problem. I hope you like yours! I don't think I would use an ironing board in the laundry room. In front of a window or TV makes the chore less boring.

kitchendetective, that look like an indestructible sink. Did you put cabinets under it? I will likely reuse the two 18'' cabinets in my island in the laundry.

Yes, it's built into a wall of cabinets, including underneath.

I dream of having one that isn't in a basement furnace room......but alas now I think I'd rather retire sooner from the rat race rather than work longer to pay for an addition to accommodate a nice laundry room......

gibby, you have a beautiful kitchen to take your mind off laundry :)

A real New England mud room that would be the main path to the garden and workshop. It would have the washer, dryer, stainless sink for greasy hands and tools, folding space, a clothes line just outside the door, bench for taking off Wellingtons, closet for winter coats, and a shower for muddy dogs and people

We have several Siberians, so I would include storage for harnesses, a grooming area with a wall-hung blower and vacuum. A plastic table in the shower would be enough of a grooming table.