Sorry, I do not like laundry hampers....Unless you wash every day they get "stinky". I have a laundry basket in the bottom of each closet and taught my boys to put their dirty clothes in there. That said, I would put doors with removable laundry baskets in it...Just pick up the basket and carry it to the washer. Drawers for your undies sound great.

I've had built in hampers in my last two houses and love them. The trick is ventilating them, either perforated bottoms, or like the one I have now, side to side vents, 4, that go almost the width of the front. The only thing I've ever done for further 'drying' or venting is leave them open occasionally if we are going to be out of town. No odors, not ever.

The hamper in my former house was a more contemporary build and was pull out. To make the space work, I had to choose between the custom hamper and a second sink in the master bath and chose the hamper, I wasn't sorry, it worked for us.

The one in my house now is actually an original built-in (1955) , and is tilt, also large. That tilt out hamper is heavy, do you have any little fingers (including your own) that could inadvertently get caught when closing it?

The storage in this house compared to the former is spacious, more than adequate, tons of cabinetry. I still appreciate having the hamper be part of that cabinetry.

I have a pull-out that's ventilated with holes on the sides, but I have to bring the laundry basket into the room and load it up. I think having something where you could grab the basket from the cabinet and take it to the laundry room would work better.

I have a very basic "hamper" in my bathroom. It has a small door at the top where the top flips forward towards you to drop things in, and a big regular cabinet door at the bottom. I just pull everything out and sort right there one the floor - maybe throw the darks back in while I was the whites. It is just basically a box, no basket and I have never had problems with lack of ventilation. But I wash a couple of times a week usually.

Thanks so much for all the input!! I'm now thinking a slide out drawer/shelf that holds two laundry baskets. That way, they should stay well ventilated (never would have thought of that!!) and I can just take them w me to do laundry. I do wash about 2x week.
Does anyone know, does the "slider" have to be something special or is it just a regular drawer slider? Full extension of course...

I would assume since your husband is building these they will be traditional face frame construction. I -think- the smallest cabinet that will hold a trash pull out mechanism is 18 inches wide, leaving 42 inches for drawers.

Have you explored having two larger "drawers" on the bottom that are the push to open kind for the laundry baskets? That might work well, you could then put two 30 inch drawer stacks above, one for each of you.

I guess it depends on what share drawers you want.

The island in my closet has a pullout in it. I just throw a laundry basket in it. It is a bit bigger than the basket is. I use the sides for dry cleaning pieces.

Stink has not been a problem.

The pull out looks like two doors, under 2 real drawers. This is the best pic I have.

My sliders are on the bottom. I think that is because of the weight as the cabinet box is built with melamine-coated MDF. I found out, though, when I had to remove one to get to a leaking water line that there's no real access to the sliders to completely remove the pull-out. We ended up ripping out the whole assembly including the sliders.

"Sorry, I do not like laundry hampers....Unless you wash every day they get "stinky". "

I have not found that to be the case.
We have always had a hamper; I wash once a week. No odors.

Is there still a shower in this room? If so, is there any concern about the steam that might make it into a drawer? I'd be worried about any clothing getting damp enough to mildew in a bathroom. If no shower, obviously not an issue, and maybe not an issue with one at all.

mrsmortarmixer- yes, there is a shower- this is actually our master bathroom. But we usually leave our bathroom door open when we shower, so the room doesn't get too steamy.
I am so thankful for all of your input. Keep it coming if you have it! :)

I'm thinking two of these might be perfect!!
wdyt?

Here is a link that might be useful: Rectangular Laundry Basket

I spoke too soon. I don't think that one will hold enough.
I have this one (link below) in my laundry room for dish towels. This is as small as I would want.

Here is a link that might be useful: square basket

We had one in the hall/kids' bath when I was a child. My mother loved it. That bathroom had a vanity that consisted of a 36" tilt-out hamper directly under the sink, with a bank of drawers to either side. It was very convenient for our clothes and towels and for sheets when changing the beds.

Nothing smelled, and this was in FL back when A/C was used only in July and August, not all the time the way people do now. (There was an annual argument and whinefest about when it was hot and humid enough to turn on the A/C.)

The whole hamper assembly could be lifted out if they needed to get to the plumbing, but IIRC, it took two people to do that.

EDIT for typo on hamper width--it was 36", not 48". Still pretty big, given the depth of it.

This post was edited by writersblock on Mon, Jul 1, 13 at 11:20

Maybe I should clarify what I meant by "stinky". Mother had a hamper in her bathroom.....one of the older ones with sort of wicker sides and front with a hard lid. Lots of circulation. Dad used to put his sweaty farmer clothes in there after he bathed, along with his bath towels. Mother washed once a week. This was an old farm house and they had no air conditioning. I am talking 60 years ago and I guess the hamper smell (sweaty clothes and damp towels) stayed with me. As several have mentioned, being able to lift out the baskets and carry them to the laundry would be very helpful. I believe Rockler Mfg. has heavy duty drawer slides.

This post was edited by grandmaof3 on Mon, Jul 1, 13 at 14:50

In my house, we always have a lot of dirty laundry waiting to be washed. I put together a sorting table / sorted dirty laundry system in my laundry room. I used Elfa Mesh Baskets from the Container Store as drawers. You could do something similar or use actual drawers. The mesh allows air to circulate. I can keep everything sorted by color and easily grab a basket and throw everything into the washer. I think it would be a great idea to build some type of hamper/dirty laundry storage into a bathroom.

We just redid our walkin closet that you enter through our master bath. We have two wire baskets that slide out, one for lights and one for darks. The top basket is a little smaller. Each has a washable canvas bag that can be taken out and brought to the laundry. DH does laundry once a week. No problems with stink. This fits everything fine for both of us.

What is under that area? If by any chance your laundry room is below, I would put in a laundry chute.

busybee3- any chance you could post a pic?? That sounds like the exact dimensions I'm working with! 60" wide.
How tall is yours? I am also toying with the idea of just sticking 2 smaller laundry baskets side by side in cabinets. I'm not totally sure the pull out mechanism is necessary.
cyn427- that would be awesome, but sadly, this is the first level and we don't have a basement.

Well, then, is there room to put your washer and dryer there? Although we have two levels in our ranch house (walkout basement), we plan to move our w/d out of the lower level and into our master bath at some point. I can't wait-it will be so convenient, I think. Our Bosch appliances are not so big, so I think it will work.

Cyn- good thoughts but not really an option... And laundry room isn't too far so I'm good w the location. However, no storage in our laundry room which is why I need storage in our bathroom for the dirty clothes.